Reloading for Cowboy Action Shooting

Papermaker

Papermaker

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I am interested in starting reloading for cowboy action shooting in 38 special only. I don't anticipate getting involved in any other calibers. What suggestions do you have for 38 special reloading? Thanks in advance for your advice.....Trying to stay simple.
 
You’ll hear from folks that like every press, but I bought a used Dillon Square Deal B (SDB) and find it to be great for pistol calibers. It’s reasonably priced, not hard to find, doesn’t have a case feeder or bullet feeder option to complicate things, and cranks out good ammo.

Buying any press, and especially any used press, will involve a learning curve, be prepared for that.
 
How many rounds per month do you plan to use?
 
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I started loading pistol ammo on an RCBS Rockchucker in about 1980. I started shooting cowboy action in 2010. Even shooting one match per month the single stage was too slow. I went to a progressive press.

For a beginning handloader (and pistol ammo) I recommend the Lee Classic Turret press. Not very expensive and about as simple as a single stage but it is more efficient because you are not handling the same cartridge case multiple times.

The .38 Special is an easy cartridge to load. There are dozens of suitable powders, used brass can be found cheap and it lasts a long time.

For bullets that work well for cowboy action ammo look up “Bullets by Scarlett” in Lexington, SC.
 
Crunchy Frog said:
I started loading pistol ammo on an RCBS Rockchucker in about 1980. I started shooting cowboy action in 2010. Even shooting one match per month the single stage was too slow. I went to a progressive press.

For a beginning handloader (and pistol ammo) I recommend the Lee Classic Turret press. Not very expensive and about as simple as a single stage but it is more efficient because you are not handling the same cartridge case multiple times.

The .38 Special is an easy cartridge to load. There are dozens of suitable powders, used brass can be found cheap and it lasts a long time.
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I second the recommendation on the Lee Classic Turret. (FYI, there are two Lee turret presses, the "Value" and the "Classic".)

I started with a progressive press and don't regret it, but I ended up with more than one press on my bench, for various reasons. The two presses I use the most are my Dillon 550, and LCT. I started out with the Dillon, loading 380, 9, and 40, but I load somewhere around 15 calibers now (who is counting?). I added 45acp and 223 to the Dillon - the rest I load on the LCT.

I normally recommend getting the Classic Turret press to learn on, it can be used in single-stage mode which is great for learning how to load. Once into it, you can install the auto-index rod and crank out 200-250 rounds per hour easily. With my Dillon, I can crank out close to 500 rounds per hour, but I find myself normally doing about 400-450 as I feel that is a comfortable rate.

If you know that you will only be loading one caliber, and you have lots of rounds to load, then the suggestion by @JimB to get the Dillon SDB is something to seriously consider. The only real downside to the SDB is that it uses proprietary dies from Dillon, where the other presses use standard 7/8" dies. You can buy extra toolheads and dies for other calibers, but you are limited to what Dillon makes for that press.

Hope this helps.
 
To be fair, the other issue wth the SDB is that the working space is small, so if you have huge hands it could be an issue. The proprietary dies are a little pricy, and are limited to straight wall pistol calibers.

I’ve never used the Lee Classic Turret, but lots of people seem to like them.
 
I don't shoot Cowboy but have friends that do and I was kind of amazed at the low velocity they load them to.
IIRC some of that stuff is around 600-700 fps or so. Obviously uses less powder and they use a really bulky powder to do so, I don't recall the name of the powder but if you poke around on their site I'm sure it will be mentioned....
 
If you can not learn to load 38 Special with a Dillon 550 or similar progressive, then you should not be anywhere near a reloading bench. I have never been convinced that you need a starter press to learn how to load before you get a press that fulfills your loading needs. Also, when you consider all the money you spend on components, a little extra spent on a good press becomes insignificant.

I have never seen much worth to a turret press. I suppose they do allow you to keep all your dies on the press if you only load one chambering. I have loaded on a friend's, so I have experienced one. I prefer to use my single stage and batch load one step at a time or go to my progressive to crank the rounds out quickly.

Trail Boss and light lead or coated bullets are the ticket. There are good data from the maker of Trail Boss for those light bullets. You can make them about as light and slow as you want as long as they get to the target and feed in your lever action. You might have to tinker with OAL to get the rounds to feed reliably in some rifles.

We generally do not have the rifle as the last firearm shot at each stage because some of those light loads are so quiet that they do not register on the timer.
 
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Catfish said:
How many rounds per month do you plan to use?
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From what I've seen so far, they shoot about 120 rounds of pistol caliber ammo per match. If I shoot one match per month, I will probably shoot 250 rounds per month minimum, depending how much I practice at my range. I will likely buy bulk 38 special ammo to start with. I can get it for around $0.26-28 per round delivered. Just received 500 rounds but it has been too hot to get out and shoot any.
 
JimB said:
To be fair, the other issue wth the SDB is that the working space is small, so if you have huge hands it could be an issue. The proprietary dies are a little pricy, and are limited to straight wall pistol calibers.

I’ve never used the Lee Classic Turret, but lots of people seem to like them.
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As far as the cost of the SDB dies, at least the dies are included in the cost of the caliber conversion. The other Dillon presses price the caliber conversions WITHOUT the dies. The 550 caliber conversion is $48 with no dies, the SDB is $91 with dies. They don't make that obvious on their website.
 
Charlie said:
If you can not learn to load 38 Special with a Dillon 550 or similar progressive, then you should not be anywhere near a reloading bench. I have never been convinced that you need a starter press to learn how to load before you get a press that fulfills your loading needs. Also, when you consider all the money you spend on components, a little extra spent on a good press becomes insignificant.
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I agree, anyone should be able to learn on a progressive (I did) but it is simpler to setup a turret or single-stage, IMHO. And since most people I know end up with more than one press on the bench anyway, why not start with the simpler one. I actually have 2 single-stage presses, along with my LCT and Dillon, mounted on my bench. They each have their uses. Truth be known, I use my LCT more than my Dillon. I use it for all my revolver and rifle loads (except plinking 223 loads) and I use it to decap all my brass before I wet tumble. Not decapping on the progressive keeps the press much cleaner.

But if a person knows they will be loading lots of rounds of a given caliber, jumping to the progressive to begin with starts to make sense.
 
Slacker said:
@Charlie

How does trailboss meter in a progressive?
Due to the flake size, I would guess poorly.
Never tried it though.
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I have never noticed a problem since you load such large volumes compared to many other powders. I meter it out of a Dillon 550 and out of an RCBS dropper without problems. I visually inspect each charge and have never noticed much if any variances among charges.
 
Papermaker said:
From what I've seen so far, they shoot about 120 rounds of pistol caliber ammo per match. If I shoot one match per month, I will probably shoot 250 rounds per month minimum, depending how much I practice at my range. I will likely buy bulk 38 special ammo to start with. I can get it for around $0.26-28 per round delivered. Just received 500 rounds but it has been too hot to get out and shoot any.
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I'm going to answer this differently and focus on workflow instead of gear.

250 rounds a month adds up to 3000 rounds per year. That's a significant number but doable with any type of press. You just need to decide how you want to go about it. Do you want to sit at the bench in lots of short sessions and make it as you shoot it or do you want to batch it up and make a year's worth then put your gear away until you need it again?

You can keep up with your demand in several ways:

Single stage, 250 rnds/mo = ~4 hours of unhurried careful work.
Turret press, 250 rds/mo = ~2 hours
Progressive, 250 rnds/mo = ~1 hr
Progressive, 3000 rnds/yr = ~2 weeks of daily 1hr sessions to fill up about 3x30-cal ammo cans and then you're set for the year.

Any quality press will do. If you have more money than time, buy Dillon. If you are cheap and like to tinker, buy Lee. RCBS, Lyman, Redding, Hornady, etc etc... all get the job done.

Things to avoid:
- anything that holds primers in tubes.
- Lee auto-disk
- cheap digital scales
- bullet feeders
- detailed case prep for pistol stuff.

Things I could not do without:
- a mentor
- a case gauge
- a good beam scale
- good lighting
- a visual check after every. single. powder. charge. always.
 
Toprudder said:
I agree, anyone should be able to learn on a progressive (I did) but it is simpler to setup a turret or single-stage, IMHO. And since most people I know end up with more than one press on the bench anyway, why not start with the simpler one. I actually have 2 single-stage presses, along with my LCT and Dillon, mounted on my bench. They each have their uses. Truth be known, I use my LCT more than my Dillon. I use it for all my revolver and rifle loads (except plinking 223 loads) and I use it to decap all my brass before I wet tumble. Not decapping on the progressive keeps the press much cleaner.

But if a person knows they will be loading lots of rounds of a given caliber, jumping to the progressive to begin with starts to make sense.
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I do about the same thing on my bench. I use my Rock Chucker quite a bit and would not want to be without it since I load so many different chamberings. 38 Special is one of the few chamberings I load on my Dillon that goes straight from the vibrating cleaner to the press without any processing on my single stage. I could do just fine without my Rock Chucker if 38 Special was all I intended to load.

250 rounds a month is certainly doable with a single stage but would be a whole lot quicker with a progressive. Once you get the dies and powder dropper set, all you have to do is feed in components and pull the handle while keeping an eye open to make sure everything works as it should and usually does.

With either system there is one other absolute necessity that will hopefully keep you from blowing yourself to bits. A good scale is needed to set the powder charges thrown by the powder dropper. I trust gravity more than electronics and use a balance beam. I have several but generally use the old Redding I got back in the 1960's. I have a set of check weights to make sure it is accurate. You live or die by your scale, and going cheap is probably not the best idea. There are lots of good brand name balance beams for very reasonable prices.
 
Catfish said:
Things to avoid:
- anything that holds primers in tubes.
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I think you just eliminated all progressive presses, am I wrong?

Single stage really isn’t a bad idea at all. Prepare brass in batches, clean, deprime and size, use a handheld or bench primer, calibrate a scoop for the desired load, set, seat and crimp. Progressive is just faster.
 
JimB said:
I think you just eliminated all progressive presses, am I wrong?
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My Loadmaster uses a tray that I can re-fill in about 45 seconds. I don't know if other brands have a similar system but loading those primer tubes looks like a huge PIA to me.
 
Papermaker, Since you list Wilmington as one of your locations, you might try the Cowboy shoots at Buccaneer to see if you like the game. They would be delighted to help you with any problems you might have. One or two of them cast bullets and sell them at very competitive prices. Look at the Buccaneer Gun Club web site to see when the matches are held.
 
Catfish said:
My Loadmaster uses a tray that I can re-fill in about 45 seconds. I don't know if other brands have a similar system but loading those primer tubes looks like a huge PIA to me.
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Thanks, I’ll have to look at the Loadmaster just for grins, have never seen one.
 
Charlie said:
Papermaker, Since you list Wilmington as one of your locations, you might try the Cowboy shoots at Buccaneer to see if you like the game. They would be delighted to help you with any problems you might have. One or two of them cast bullets and sell them at very competitive prices. Look at the Buccaneer Gun Club web site to see when the matches are held.
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Thanks. I have gone to two of their matches. They are a great bunch of folks and have just about got me hooked.
 
Papermaker said:
From what I've seen so far, they shoot about 120 rounds of pistol caliber ammo per match. If I shoot one match per month, I will probably shoot 250 rounds per month minimum, depending how much I practice at my range. I will likely buy bulk 38 special ammo to start with. I can get it for around $0.26-28 per round delivered. Just received 500 rounds but it has been too hot to get out and shoot any.
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120 rounds in six stages is typical for most clubs’ monthly matches (plus about 24-30 shotshells). When I got started I set a goal to get my Stage Times under 30 seconds (the top shooters might do it in half the time). Six stages of 30 seconds equals three minutes of shooting. I don’t want to spend two or three hours loading the ammo!

In all sincerity I enjoy handloading but I don’t have unlimited amounts of leisure time.
 
Papermaker said:
Thanks. I have gone to two of their matches. They are a great bunch of folks and have just about got me hooked.
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You might also want to try the Fast Draw matches at Buccaneer. They are a hoot and are about the least expensive shooting you are likely to do. I think they make 38 Fast Draw cases and wax bullets now.
 
for a newbie I`d recommend a Dillon, more for ease of use than anything.

I used to shoot Cowboy too, but in 45LC. I used a Lee Pro 1000 (yes, a Lee Pro 1000) the whole time. I probably loaded over 5000 rds with it before I bought my Dillon.

I`m glad I had the Lee during my CASS days, lol.

All progressives will occasionally get out of time or develop other issues. As good as it is when it`s tuned in, when it gets out the Dillon can be a real bitch to get back in.
 
Another big fan of the Lee Classic Turret press. I tend to use it in single-stage mode & just ratchet the turret to the next die when the batch is ready for the next step. I really like the convenience of the turrets & have individual turrets set up for all my pistol calibers, to include powder measures. Makes it so easy to swap between calibers.

It's also relatively inexpensive, which will help to ease the sticker shock when starting out. JMO.
 
Slacker said:
@Charlie

How does trailboss meter in a progressive?
Due to the flake size, I would guess poorly.
Never tried it though.
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I hosted a new shooter at my home today for a reloading session. We used Trail Boss powder through my RCBS Uniflow powder measure which is much like the measure on my Hornady LNL-AP progressive press. We dialed in the desired charge and weighed several charges on my scale. It metered well.
 
Bailey Boat said:
I don't shoot Cowboy but have friends that do and I was kind of amazed at the low velocity they load them to.
IIRC some of that stuff is around 600-700 fps or so. Obviously uses less powder and they use a really bulky powder to do so, I don't recall the name of the powder but if you poke around on their site I'm sure it will be mentioned....
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It may be true of some, but it's not what I do.





The top shooters in the sport don't shoot the uber-wimpy loads either.
 
I shoot bunny-burp loads when I shoot 357 rifles and revolvers but shoot fairly stiff loads when I shoot 45 Colt. My 45 Colt Marlin lever action gives a fair amount of blowback into my face so I shoot loads heavy enough to expand the case enough to seal the chamber. I do not have that problem with the 44 Magnum, 44/40, 357/38, or 32/20 rifles that I shoot at matches. Some of the folks shoot black powder and load them up to full power.
 
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Bailey Boat said:
Judging from the recoil you're not much above it.... I don't think it matters how fast your loads are traveling since it's all short range.
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SASS rules set maximum velocity at 1000 fps for pistol, 1400 for rifle, all with lead bullets. There is a minimum power factor; it's pretty low.

For what its worth, the revolver ammo I am using here is a 158 grain bullet in a .357 Magnum case loaded full of Goex black powder. Black powder recoil is more of a "push" than a "kick".
 
I think I am leaning towards the Lee Classic Turret Press Kit. I have watched probably 50 videos on how it operates, etc. Pretty sure I can handle it. I also like the price, as several of you mentioned. I think it will do all that I need for years to come. Also, it is not to pricey to add dies and turrets for additional calibers.

Thank you all for your insight. It has been a great help.
 
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Toprudder said:
I agree, anyone should be able to learn on a progressive (I did) but it is simpler to setup a turret or single-stage, IMHO. And since most people I know end up with more than one press on the bench anyway, why not start with the simpler one. I actually have 2 single-stage presses, along with my LCT and Dillon, mounted on my bench. They each have their uses. Truth be known, I use my LCT more than my Dillon.
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I am exactly the same as Toprudder- a 550 and an LCT. I crank out tons of 9mm on my Dillon, and once I have a load in .223 I do the same. For my 'match' .223 ammo (don't want to get into that- but in this meaning, it is ammo I shoot for matches) I also do the LCT since I only need 60 rounds per match. Everything else, my 308 and my load development is done on the LCT. It's great.
 
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