I am sorting about 1000 empty 38 special once-fired brass. I'm going to reload 158 WC's to a standard velocity. Is there a difference between standard brass, +P and +P+ that will affect pressures? I don't want to measure the internal volumes if someone who knows can help me out. I'll shoot them sorted by brand just for consistency but I didn't know if there was a difference other than the markings. Thanks!

Can't comment on +p+ but I use +p brass all the time for standard velocity loads. Hope that helps some.

The brass is all the same size. Since the .38 case is so large, there's a lot of room for extra powder to make a +p or +p+ load.

Chuck

weigh 10 of each, that should tell the tale

I'll bet they're all the same.

/c

I could see sorting brass for consistency if shooting formal target competition, but then I wouldn't have to because I'd have a huge quantity of brass of the same brand and lot number for better consistency.

Since I don't shoot formal target competition, I feed everything through the Dillon 550 and then shoot it till the brass splits.

It won't matter(sorting brass) if you are just plinking or informal target shooting. Using the same head stamp, triming all cases the same, measuring each load might be fine for world class matches, but the average shooter will not notice the difference.

Is your hobby shooting or sorting to perfection? Sort your brass by caliber and get on with it. Things come to an abrupt halt when a 357 mag gets in place of a 38 spl case. The 357 mag case will really be belled out (into next week) for bullet seating. 38 spl mixed in with 357 mag gets no bell, short powder, and the bullet won't start.

Happy shooting. You are reloading, not doing the laundry.

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S&WHF 366

When I first started reloading about 30 years ago I would sort my brass by head stamp as well as by how many times it was reloaded. I did this for about a year or so and then I just started dumping them all into a 5 gallon bucket and I no longer worried about separating them due to the fact that it did not seem to make one bit of difference. Now, the only thing I do is to separate the nickel from the brass, and I have 2 buckets for each caliber. I use bucket #2 for dumping in fired cases, and I load from bucket #1. What this does is rotate the brass somewhat evenly. I used to also keep track of how many times each case was reloaded, but now I just discard cases that are cracked or worn out. Since I do not load my target ammo up to maximum specs, the brass tends to last a long long time.

chief38

The only time I sort brass is when I build up some .38-44 loads using +P brass so I can keep it separate from my standard loads. With my other .38's, I just divide them up by manufacture if I have the time and just load up and shoot.

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Vaya con Dios

What Chief38 said.

Regards,

Tam 3

I know there is no difference between mid-range and +P brass and I'm pretty sure that the +P+ is the same too.

Brass that is made to SAAMI specs will all be withing certain tolerence ranges so there is no real reason to sort them by brand, unless you have some that aren't SAAMI compliant.

If you are concerned about extreme consistency you will not only want to seperate the brass by brand, but also by lots, which is difficult if you don't have the boxes it came in as the brass itself isn't marked. There is a SAAMI classification for ".38 spl. match" which has tighter tolerences and it will say "match" on the headstamp.

Howdy

What the heck is +P+? That's a new one on me.

I too no longer separate my brass by headstamp, I only separate nickel plated from plain brass.

I have never bought a single piece of 38 Sp brass. I have been working from a big bucket where I threw all my 38 Sp empties for the last 20 years or so. Guess I have never bought any of that +P+ stuff.

+P+ is ammunition that is loaded to even higher pressures than +P. It is carried by several law enforcement agencies.