# Survival reloading with the Lee Loader



## unregistered41671 (Dec 29, 2009)

I thought this was good idea to use a Lee Loader and to scavenge powders and parts and use in a .38/.357 in a survival situation. Click on the link below for entire article.

http://www.alloutdoor.com/2013/07/2...ent=2014-10-04&utm_campaign=Weekly+Newsletter



*"Why 38 Special/.357 Magnum*

I have espoused many times my belief that the .38 Special/.357 Magnum round is âtheâ ultimate survival cartridge. The main reason is its flexibility. 
Letâs say in a survival situation, you stumble on a cache of 9mm, .40 S&W, and .380ACP rounds, but you need .38 Special round. The .38 Special and .357 round can accept any small or magnum handgun primer salvaged from nearly any handgun cartridge, and if tested cautiously can reuse nearly any reclaimed powder. So you can just knock out the primer and harvest the powder from those found rounds. 
At that point, all you need is a lightweight Lee mold and you can re-cast any reclaimed lead, giving you the ability to complete a round from salvage. No other round offers this flexibility. The flexibility is due to the longer length of the case, which gives a lot of options on what powders it can use. Furthermore, the non-semiauto actions of this round are not picky about getting the right velocities."


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

a 357 max rifle really takes you to new places 

my handy is off at H&R getting the 357 mag barrel , then I need to rent the reamer and bore it to 357Max 

then you can fire 38 357 mag and 357 max 

if you watch the powders in 357 mag there are several that you just can't get enough in to get the top velocity , but if you seat long or add cartridge length to MAX you can make it do some awesome things 


a hand loaded 357 max with the right components is putting 158 gr jhp down range at 2400fps keeping you over the 1000 fpe at 200 yards 

make up sub sonic 38sp and put a muffler on the gun and you can also do some interesting things 

load with 105 gr swc can help stretch the lead supply 


you can load basic target level 38spl with light cast boolits that could take small game or face it no one wants to get shot especially in a survival situation so a 105gr swc at 800fps that is very accurate may be plenty to denture a problem you can load 2800 on a pound of powder that is 42 pounds of lead down range on a pound of powder


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## Jolly (Jan 8, 2004)

Throat erosion with the Max?


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## hawgsquatch (May 11, 2014)

I don't worry about the shortage of 22. anymore because I can reload hornets with a Lee and still kill squirrels.


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## Malamute (Sep 15, 2011)

The article is biased towards the 357. Its a good round, but I find his reasoning on case length and flexibility to be somewhat oversimplified and laughable. Any caliber can be so loaded and used. If you have a loading manual, you can extrapolate the approximate type powder in any given round and make educated guesses on how to use it for your needs. Just having some different caliber guns gets you over the first hurdle of having the incorrect ammo. "Surviving" with a single caliber gun and a Lee Loader is way way down my list of things to do*. How about just laying in some more powder, primers and lead, or bullets?

I didn't even begin to run short of 22's, it would take far more than a couple years of being in short supply to run out, but like the 22 hornet shooter above, I can shoot extra-light loads in a centerfire rifle for less than what ammo was costing on the inflated 22 market.

*I probably don't play well when the subject comes around to "survival" or so called SHTF. I haven't seen or heard much of the proposed scenarios that sound very realistic to expect.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

Jolly said:


> Throat erosion with the Max?


haven't heard of any , your not going any higher pressure than 357 mag , just more room for slower burning pistol powders that you just can't stuff enough of in a mag 

there are also guys with long 357 throats that long seat bullets figuring out how to just get about 1/3 in the case and crimp that can push 357 mag to near max in a mag 

then again i see some long seating in max brass to .010 off the lands they figure out how to use that added case capacityto push 158gr jhp to near 2400fps when book is 1998fps but hten again the book thinks of it as a pistol cartridge and most are using it in a rifle real world factory ballistics in a m94 rifle with a 16 inch barrel factory loaded federal hydra shock can get 1735fps
http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/357mag.html 
while the same factory round in a 5-6 inch pistol gets around 1200fps so adding 10 inches of barrel gives that powder time to burn and add 500fps 


it does make for some interesting ideas about loads , rifle loads for 357 mag and 257 max just don't have the data of pistol loads for the cartridge


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## MichaelK! (Oct 22, 2010)

I've taken the Lee Loader route, but I myself decided to take the .44 magnum lane. Anything the .357 magnum can do, the .44 can do a little better. I've got both special and magnum brass, and I can load to whatever power level I want. Not the ideal squirrel caliber, but my .44 rifle HAS put meat on the table.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

MichaelK! said:


> I've taken the Lee Loader route, but I myself decided to take the .44 magnum lane. Anything the .357 magnum can do, the .44 can do a little better. I've got both special and magnum brass, and I can load to whatever power level I want. Not the ideal squirrel caliber, but my .44 rifle HAS put meat on the table.



I definitely agree anything 357 can do 44 can do better unless you want to go smaller or lighter 

I think part of what the OP was trying to point out is just how common 38 9mm 357 stuff is and how it could be reused 

44 isn't so common

so the answer is clearly to have both barrels for a simple single shot 

then you can even short start shutzen style , really adding to versatility


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