Interesting thread.

When I first joined the Michigan State Police in 1966, we were issued S&W model 10, heavy barrel revolvers. We also were issued the old LRN ammo. So, that had to change and since I loved to hand load (the rules were a lot different back then), I worked up a hard cast, gas checked SWC bullet over the max of the old 2400 powder. I was using some once fired military brass I think I had picked up at the Naval Reserve Center.

In 1968, I was transferred from lower Michigan to the Upper Peninsula at the Marquette Post (next to the KI Sawyer SAC base). An OSI buddy of mine gave me a bunch of once fired .38 brass from the base. I then loaded the same formula for my partner using this recently acquired brass.

My partner told me several days later that when he shot these rounds, they seemed very hot. He also had some difficulty getting the fired cases out of the cylinder.

He stopped carrying my hand loads (about the same time the department began to prohibit any non-issue ammo for carrying). However, in thinking this through later, I believe that the .38 brass that my OSI buddy gave me probably had substantially thicker case walls than the military brass I had first used. Thus, the chamber pressures were probably way over board. Lucky those old model 10's were so tuff and well made. I of course had no way to measure pressure so I should have worked up the loads for this new (to me) brass like I did the first time. I could have backed down when excessive pressure was starting to be noticeable.

I don't hand load any more (may get back into it someday) and I don't want to get off thread, however, this suspected case thickness issue may fall right into this discussion.

Trooper Joe