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Old 05-27-2010, 07:41 PM
Harrison Harrison is offline
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Default Starline 38 spc brass??

I have used Starline's 45 AR brass and it is fine stuff. Does anyone have any experience with their 38 special? Can you get a fair amount of reloads before you have to worry about split necks?

I just finished a batch of new/old Midway brass that started splitting necks at the 2-3d reload. I barely bell cases and bullets are sized to .380
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Old 05-27-2010, 08:09 PM
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Unless you are crimping the heck out of them, and really hot loading, anybody's .38 brass should last for many dozens if not scores (hundreds!) of reloads. There are some number of Starline shells in my mixed brass inventory and have been there for many years. They keep coming up for reload. Can't recall ever having to toss one. Good stuff.
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Old 05-27-2010, 08:47 PM
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They are great, I ordered a thousand of their .38spl+P, and load it with too much 2400, to no visable problems. I consider it the best available brass for loading, or reloading.
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Old 05-27-2010, 09:58 PM
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Starline is some of the best brass you can get for pistol calibers.
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Old 05-27-2010, 10:21 PM
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I reload all of mine till they split, and inspect them carefully several time during my reloading process. StarLine is one of the best.
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Old 05-27-2010, 11:08 PM
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Many years ago,one of the gun mags did a wear test on 38 sp brass and quit at 50 rounds or so. Unless you are really loading hot, it should last forever.
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Old 05-27-2010, 11:40 PM
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I presume it is a typo, but if you are really loading bullets sized to .380, therein lies a problem.
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Old 05-28-2010, 07:48 AM
David Sinko David Sinko is offline
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Starline .38 Special brass has a wider extractor groove than all the other brands have. If you have a moonclipped 8 shooter, Hearthco makes special thicker moonclips just for this brass. Many shooters find this combination much more desireable than using the ordinary thin moonclips.

Dave Sinko
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Old 05-28-2010, 12:13 PM
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Most brass fails from too much neck expanding and crimping. You should expand the neck only as much as it takes to get the bullet to start in. Maybe .360 ID max. You only need a "reasonable" crimp, not a hard deep crimp. Save the really hard crimp's for the heavy magnum loads.
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Old 05-29-2010, 02:20 AM
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You will be surprised how long .38 Special brass will last. I have been reloading the same 1200 pieces of Remington .38 Special brass for well over 5 years now and I haven't had to throw away any. I've hear of people reloading .38 Special brass so long the head stamp wears away.
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Old 05-29-2010, 09:21 AM
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Thanks, It was a typo. Sized to .358. Small bell, light taper crimp, and avg 775 fps for a 158 gr. lead bullet. Not loading hot, that is a waste of powder for punching holes in paper. The Midway brass was not splitting at the necks. It was splitting halfway down the case on the 3d or 4th reload, although a few splint on the 2d reload. I just threw away about 300 Midway cases, I figgure the entire lot must have been bad.
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Old 05-29-2010, 09:56 AM
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I've had my best results with Norma, Starline, and IMI .38 Special brass, in that order.
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Old 05-30-2010, 02:36 AM
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Harrison, was that brass nickel plated?
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Old 05-30-2010, 07:31 AM
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Starline brass is good stuff. It is also made in Sedalia, MO (USA). Spinoff of Sierra Bullets. I think the husband runs Sierra and the wife runs Starline Brass. I have heard that Midway is really going cheap and getting a lot of their name brand (Midway USA) in China!. Think about it.....
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Old 05-30-2010, 08:50 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by geddylee10002000 View Post
Starline brass is good stuff. It is also made in Sedalia, MO (USA). Spinoff of Sierra Bullets. I think the husband runs Sierra and the wife runs Starline Brass. I have heard that Midway is really going cheap and getting a lot of their name brand (Midway USA) in China!. Think about it.....
Unfortunately most US retailers are hawking Chinese goods. We American consumers let them get away with it in our never ending quest for bargains. We are bargain shopping ourselves right away from the dinner table.
That said, I haven't noticed much if any Midway headstamped brass in their catalog. There is no question that many other goods sold there are offshore sourced, including loaded ammo.
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Old 05-30-2010, 09:08 AM
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The Midway brass was not nickle. It was some older stuff I found when cleaning and rearanging my loading area. I thinkI must have bought it 8 or 10 years ago, set it aside and didn't use it.
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Old 05-30-2010, 10:01 AM
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Mr. Harrison,

IMHO...it's kind of a waste of money to buy new .38 Special or .45 ACP brass. I say this because:

1) generally it's fired at low pressures/low velocity and needs very little crimp...in other words it will last FOREVER!

2) once fired is just as good as new and it's available free lying on the floor of local many ranges. It's also available for a fraction of new price if you look around. (once fired .38 Special brass is not priced up there with other more "in demand" calibers...because it's VERY plentiful and not considered an "in-caliber" by many reloaders)


BTW, if I were to buy new brass for my .38 Specials...it would be Starline. It's what I buy when I do buy brass.

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Old 05-30-2010, 10:20 AM
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if your cases are spliting in the middle of the case, than it's not from to much belling or crimping. is it doing it from the same chamber? it seems to me that either you have an over sized chamber or something is causing high pressures. or maybe you just got a bad lot of brass.
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Old 06-01-2010, 02:30 PM
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There must have been something wrong with that Midway brass. It shouldn't have split after only 4 or so loads especially with such a light charge. I have loaded Remington, Winchester, Federal, Starline, Speer, CCI, Magtech, Fiocchi, S&B and a bunch of others and none have ever split on me. I end up giving them away and the new loader gets years out of them... Something had to be wrong with the Midway brass...
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Old 06-02-2010, 12:27 AM
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Default starline brass quality

I would not hesitate to buy any of the Starline products as they are of good quality. On the subject of Midway brass with there headstamp that was made over 20 years ago. I have Midway .357 brass purchased in the mid-80s and I am still using it. It is on its 11th loading and to be fair some has had to be discarded. I started with 150 shells and am down to about 125. Not too bad. The loads have 38 plus P level for use in my Model 19 which was born in November of 1979 and purchased new by me. I used to get lots of brass at my favorite state rifle and pistol range but since prices have gone up it seems most people have taken up reloading. Some can still be found though. Some of the more vastly affluent shooters will give you there brass. I shot next to an attorney, a doctor and a medical secretary ( they were using SIG556s) and they gave me the contents of a Remington 200 round economy pack. The brass of course. So those persons are out there too.
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Old 06-02-2010, 04:48 PM
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Default Starline Brass

I'll echo everyone else's sentiment. I've used Starline cases for many years in both .44 Magnum and .38 Super with no failures that I can remember. Also, .38 Special unplated brass, as long as it's not old and corroded, will last essentially forever, no matter what brand. I have had a few nickel plated cases crack, however. I have accumulated thousands of .38 Special and .357 Magnum empties over the years, but seem to keep using the same several hundred over and over.
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Old 06-02-2010, 10:08 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by epj View Post
I presume it is a typo, but if you are really loading bullets sized to .380, therein lies a problem.
Yep, that would make them split.
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Old 06-03-2010, 11:43 AM
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By any chance are you shooting the 38's in a Victory model? Possibly a 38 S&W that has been reamed out for 38 Special? That can cause your brass to split, as the chamber is several thousandth's larger than 38 Special.
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357 magnum, 380, 38spl, 44 magnum, crimp, extractor, fiocchi, headstamp, model 19, remington, starline, victory, winchester

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