.38 Dimentia

[Petrol & Powder]

There's a reason I use a progressive press for handgun cartridges and that reason would be negated if I ran every case through a sizing die before I put the casings into the progressive press

And I have a 550, so no extra station for a separate expander die.
You are correct that with a 650 you could take advantage of that extra station.

Of course the easiest solution is to just have a special powder funnel [powder through expander] made and the problem is solved.

 

[Rally]

I believe the older RCBS .38 WC dies worked the cases less and had a larger expander in them also.

 

[Charles Graff]

I believe the older RCBS .38 WC dies worked the cases less and had a larger expander in them also.

the only difference in older rcbs wc dies was the bullet seating stem. expanders were .356 or .357. rcbs dies before carbide dies did indeed size cases less. at one time rcbs offered a special long .3585 expander for hbwcin wadcutter brass.

 

[Rockydoc]

I have pretty much decided that brass is an expendable. If I can get 10 loads on a case I am happy enough.
I have this far more with 45 Colt than anything but 38 special is second. I use Hornady or Dillon carbide dies for 38 special and I figure on 15+ loads per case. Case mouth splits are the problem and changing dies won’t solve that.

Would annealing the case mouths help prevent splits?

 

[Petrol & Powder]

Would annealing the case mouths help prevent splits?

Not sure if annealing the case mouth would help but if you're getting 10-15+ cycles out of a 38 Special casing (and that's entirely possible)
why expend the effort of annealing? The case mouth will eventually split but after enough cycles I don't feel like I've lost anything.
The time & effort to anneal handgun casings is probably not worth the reward of one or two more cycles in the life of the casing.

The 38 Special is a fantastic cartridge. One of its many attributes is its economy and long life.

 

[Bisley]

In 1986 I scraped together $380.00 in tip money and presented Dad with a stack of $5s and $1s to purchase the Colt Officer's Model I wanted. Dad mentioned annealing rifle cases for resizing. I thought I would try a batch of .38 special cases. I ran them through the Star Reloader as a segregated lot. I never saw a difference in either case longevity or accuracy. The tips I have gained here with regard to fitment, lube and case sizing have done more to improve accuracy than spending an hour with a shallow pan of water and a propane torch against a bunch of segregated .38 casings. YMMV...

 

[RBHarter]

Someplace around 20 cycles my Colts started smoking cases . I annealed them got to 10 more and wandered off to play with something else . At 10 cycles those are as much as primers .

38s ......maybe not , 357 though .