So I’ve just begun to get into reloading. I am going to be loading 38 and 357 for some revolvers and a lever gun. I’ve got a progressive three positions press from Lee. But I’m looking for dies, and I can’t tell which ones are decent or not. I thought I should go with Lee as it’s the same as the loader press. However, I keep hearing RCBS is better.

Any advice from you guys would be greatly appreciated.

I have RCBS, Lee, and Lyman dies, I have had no problem with any. RCBS has the best customer service in the business. Buy what you can find at the best price.

Lee.

For the money they can’t be beat and they last forever. Good customer service. Titan Reloading I have found to be pretty good when I comes to finding reloading dies or pretty much anything reloading at decent prices.

Lee is fine. RCBS makes high quality stuff and has great customer service, but the Lee stuff is just fine, will last forever, and are easier to adjust (I hate their new splined lock rings, though. I've taken to replacing them with the Hornady ones). Get the 4-die set with the Lee Factory Crimp Die. The FCD makes it much easier to set your crimp, which is really important with revolver ammo. The pistol versions also have a carbide ring in them that will size out any bulges or other anomalies with your loaded cartridges, which pretty much guarantees they'll chamber.

Oh, pick up a few spare decapping pins while you're at it. Eventually you'll break one.

In those cartridges, the brand isn’t that important. Just be sure to get a carbide sizing die. There’s no need to fool around with lube on such simple, straight-walled cases.

+1 on a Lee factory crimp die. You have to have Lee Derangement Syndrome to not love their FCD. I used to go nuts trying to load 30-30 until I got a FCD. Now I crank them out like they’re 223.

I agree, often go with Lee or what’s close in sale. I do usually use the Lee FCD with most handgun rounds.

LEE carbide dies…just remember to order the die set with a factory crimp die…I also like the Dillon carbide sizing die for the primer extraction (with a positive “snap”)…but I usually deprime my cases prior to tumbling with the LEE depriming die so it’s the LEE die 4 die set all the way (my pistol carbide die sets are in the neighborhood of 20 years old and still work flawlessly)!

I've used RCBS Carbide Dies for YEARS...especially with .38 Special/.357 Magnum. You won't be disappointed at all. Please note I'm not trying to insult your intelligence, but be sure to get the die set with roll crimp versus taper crimp.

Midway Link

Lee pistol die sets give you 4 separate dies. This allows you to use 2 separate dies for seating the bullet and the crimp. So why do that, it would be faster to seat and crimp at the same time.

The reason you do not want to do that is because you will be squeezing the case inwards on the bullet at the same that you are pushing the bullet into the case. The result of this is that you will always shave material off the surface of the bullet be it jacketing, lead, or polymer hard coat. Those shaving will then end up lodged into the rifling in your barrels. If you have ever spent 12-14 hours scrubbing a barrel with a bore bush you will conclude that doing this in two separate operations is actually a time saver.

My personal preference for most pistol and revolver cartridges:

Lee Carbide sizing die. All brands do pretty much the same thing, so Lee wins here for low cost.

Lyman M neck sizing die. These are slightly undersized which provide better neck tension. They will bell the mouth just enough to seat everything including lead without swaging soft lead. I have one for every pistol cartridge, as well as .45-70.

Hornady seater die, with a stem for flat nose bullets, and a stem for round nose bullets. These seat everything including short round nose fmj as straight as any seating dies I've tried.

Lee Factory Crimp die (revolvers).
RCBS Taper Crimp die (autos).

If you load lead, the Dillon take apart seater and crimper dies are great to clean out the lube and shavings without losing your settings