38 brass

[Keith Cservak]

Probably a stupid question but do you all have a favorite brand 38 brass you like to load and why.
Keith.

 

[rebel0994]

I don't have a favorite brand, but for wadcutters I like to use double cannelure wadcutter brass, and for other style bullets I like to use brass cases with no cannelure. I generally don't like nickel plated brass. JMHO

 

[PeterK]

I usually prefer Winchester brass, but I have found that in 38, brass is brass, although I don't shoot wad cutters. Just finished up loading 150 38 rounds for the weekend.

Peter

 

[gutterman]

Starline is a good brand and has been available from Midway and also Missiouri Bullet co. I've loaded with Starline for about 5 yrs now and have no complaints.

 

[Waywatcher]

I can't stand any nickel brass; the nickel partially wears off in tumbling and looks awful, plus I got premature neck splits.

My favorite is Starline brass because the primer pockets are perfect and the case walls are just right.

Remington are second best. I don't care for Winchester, because I found they had shallow primer pockets, or Federal whose primer pockets feel too loose to me.

 

[ACP230]

I prefer Winchester brass but load whatever I have around.

 

[Troystat]

If it is brass or nickle plated brass I load it all, wadcutters on top of bullseye. I keep reloading it until it splits, I have some that I think is older than I am, (50 years old) I don't think I am a good enough shot to tell if any brand is better than another. Just for fun though I do sort it by brand. I do notice that some brands size easier than others.

 

[Cdog]

Overall, I prefer Winchester brass.

Brass, not nickel stuff from most vendors will all yield a good long service at normal velocities in the low pressure .38 Special round.

 

[steamloco76]

Winchester is my favorite , however I load just about any .38 SPL headstamp including W-W, Western, GFL & Fiocchi, PPU, Remington, R-P, CCI, Speer, Starline, C-B-C, Federal and others.

Most nickel plated brass does fail a bit earlier than unplated so you have to watch for neck splits and cracks down the case body.

 

[Steve in Vermont]

My favorite brass is..........free, range picked or donated (to me).

 

[SMSgt]

Makes little difference to me. I stuff it and shoot it.

 

[Keith Cservak]

Thanks guys thats what I was figuring my self just load and shoot it all.

 

[moxie]

Brass is brass. All good.

Any cannelure in the case is essentially ironed out during sizing, so is useless as a cannelure. It's still there but doesn't do anything. The brass is fine though.

 

[David Sinko]

Federal and Remington fit into the cheap moonclips that I use so I guess you can say that I prefer these two brands. And I like them nickel plated too.

Dave Sinko

 

[BLUEDOT37]

If your going to be loading to standard 38 Spcl. pressure then you probably won't have any issues using whatever. I read an article that said some of the factory brass on target loads are thinner cased & weaker & if you're going to be loading hot loads to avoid those. So for target/plinking loads use whatever, but if you're loading anything hot, I'd start with new (Starline) brass. I gave up on nickel plated cases. They just don't seem to last as long & have other issues when reloading.

 

[max]

I have been accumulating 38 brass for 40 years or so. I started with WW, but I have reloaded every major and some minor brands over the years and have found no difficulty with any. I like nickel brass and have used lots of it also. If I was just starting and was going to buy a quantity of new, Starline would be a good choice.

 

[Me239]

I love Starline, but it's just so damn expensive for just plinking. One of my favorite to reload is CBC. The cases are thick and maintain a pretty good luster.

 

[Brettitt41]

I acquired 1500 Lake City brass I am currently swaging the primer pockets on, other than that I load my 105 SWC and 148 & 158 WC in whatever I got.

 

[Bush Pilot]

I load and shoot bunches of .38 special, as long as it isn't split it gets loaded and shot.

 

[Dave T]

I like StarLine and particularly their +P 38 Special. The reason for that is I load the 38/44 cartridge in the +P brass so I won't accidentally get it in a 38 Special not intended for that heavy a load (158g & 1150 fps).

Dave

 

[loc n load]

38 Brass

Over the years I have loaded and shot most of the different brands...my preference is WW....I have some WW 38 brass that I have reloaded 25 times ( wadcutter loads).....and finally retired them because the primer pockets would not hold the primers in any longer.....I personally don't care if they are nickeled or brass as I have loaded thousands of both during the past 40 years using carbide sizing dies and never had any issues with them.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Most commercial brass is good. I use Win, Fed, Rem, Speer, CCI, Starline and a bunch of other and all seem to do well. The only brass I refuse to use is A-Merc.

 

[bgrafsr]

If it is brass or nickle plated brass I load it all, wadcutters on top of bullseye. I keep reloading it until it splits, I have some that I think is older than I am, (50 years old) I don't think I am a good enough shot to tell if any brand is better than another. Just for fun though I do sort it by brand. I do notice that some brands size easier than others.

Me too, but I use W-W 231, HP38, or lately, Tite Group, and I don't sort the brass as to brand. I also have some WCC cases (Military?) that I use and have no problem with those. Lately my "Dirty Harry" scores have been going up and I'm happy. All shooting is one handed, double action only at 50 feet. Last week I shot a 282 out of 300, and Slow Fire, Timed, & Rapid were all in the 90's, so I was really pumped.

 

[bgrafsr]

My favorite brass is..........free, range picked or donated (to me).

My brother gave me a couple thousand cases of .38 Spl. that he got from a guy he works with, who doesn't reload and didn't want them. I think I'm set for many years to come.

 

[daniel lawecki]

My brass in 38 is mixed I load 158gr swc over 3.6 grs of Clays this brass has many reloads and is from about 2001. The nickel started splitting at the top after about 10 reloads. With lite loads the nickel will last fairly long. So IMHO brass is brass and my nickel has not flaked off or dulled.

 

[parabarbarian]

I have a few thousand Speer cases so that is my current favorite. If those were Federal then Federal would be my favorite. I've never really seen much difference in 38 spl brass. Except Amerc -- horrible stuff.

 

[imakmst]

Makes little difference to me. I stuff it and shoot it.

same for me....my M10 loves it all

 

[HKSmith]

I've been reloading .38 Special since 1964, so I've tried just about every brand and type of brass and have accumulated what I consider a lifetime supply. I've never noticed a difference in performance, but some brands are thicker (harder to resize and bulge more when loaded), although I've never had a problem with chambering. I agree that nickeled cases split sooner.

In answer to the original question, I do have 2 lots of .38 brass that I like because they have a bit of a "cool factor". The first is Norma .38 SPL +P, which I got years ago from Grafs on sale for $25/500. I've never seen this brass anywhere else and I don't know if it's still available. The other is Peters .38 SPL - I got it on eBay when you could still buy and sell guns and ammo there. The brass was once fired and was in boxes marked Peters Police Match, with a drawing of a very old-fashioned policeman firing a revolver. I've loaded these many times with HBWC's and shoot them in my Model 0f 1899 or other classic S&W's. The boxes, which I think are from the 1940's or 1930's, always draw comments at the range.

 

[Keith Cservak]

Thanks for all the reply's guys.

 

[johngalt]

Federal brass + Hornady HBWC. My brass came from old
Federal Gold Match ammo I used to buy before I started reloading.