.38 Special Brass with large primer pocket

[beerbelly]

I have accumulated .38 brass from many places and people over the years. While loading some recently, I came across 6 brass (not nickle) Peters .38 Special cases with large primer pockets.
How old might these be? I`ve never seen any before. Are these back from the days of the .38/44 or something?
Thanks.

 

[sjmjax]

Interesting find.
Never seen large primer 38 brass.
Lots of small primer 45 ACP shows up at our range.
Hope someone has an answer to the origin of the 38 oddity.

 

[robertrwalsh]

Never saw any. The very early .357 cartridges were loaded with large pistol primers. It is reasonable to speculate that early .38/44 cartridges may also have been so loaded. Perhaps some REALLY old fart (older than me) or heavy duty cartridge collector will chime in.

 

[Reloader Fred]

When I started reloading in 1963, one of the local gun shops had two fish bowls full of .38 Spl. brass. One was large primers and the other was small primers, for .01 cent each, your choice. I still have a few samples of LP primed .38 and .357 brass in my collection.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[DWalt]

Not unusual to find old .38 Super and .38 ACP brass with LP pockets. Not sure when that started and stopped. Perhaps some makers used LP while others used SP.

 

[dubshooter]

I could go for some of that. I have some large pistol primers that could have a use n

 

[stansdds]

38 Special brass with large primers? Balloon head case perhaps?

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

357 mag brass started with large primers. 38 Special came from 38 long which was small primered. I assume, LP 38 brass was a war time (WWII) expedient. My F-I-L had a large quantity of WW I 38 long ammo with brass cases and steel jackets, and I found several thousand WWI 45 ACP Brass case Steel Bullet AND small primer. In WWII it was reversed, Steel case and Copper Jacket and either size primer. Forger trying to reload the steel cases; been there done that, no joy!

Ivan

 

[HeloMt]

I have several myself. I think you are on the right trail with the 38/44 assessment. I believe they date to the 20's or 30's when the high powered 38/44 loading was occurring. This makes sense when coupled with the first .357 magnum loads using large primers.

 

[Reloader Fred]

38 Special brass with large primers? Balloon head case perhaps?

No, all solid base. I've had many in the last 62 years of loading the .38 Spl. I currently load around 6 to 8 thousand rounds of .38's a year to keep my wife and I shooting in SASS matches. Bullets are cast with a Magma Master Caster and loaded on a Hornady LnL press.

If you want to do something interesting, start collecting variations in .38 Spl. headstamps. I've got a couple hundred in my collection.

Hope this helps.

Fred