Is + P rated brass needed for .38 Special + P loads?

[97th Signalman]

I am going to be making up some + P loads in .38 Special. Some of my factory loaded + P ammo has the "+P" on the head stamp. I also see the Starline offers +P brass as well and standard brass for .38 Special. Is there really such a thing as + P rated brass and is that what I should use for such loads?
Or, do they just headstamp it that way to help ID what level the round is loaded to?

 

[97th Signalman]

I am going to be making up some + P loads in .38 Special. Some of my factory loaded + P ammo has the "+P" on the head stamp. I also see the Starline offers +P brass as well and standard brass for .38 Special. Is there really such a thing as + P rated brass and is that what I should use for such loads?
Or, do they just headstamp it that way to help ID what level the round is loaded to?

 

[Alk8944]

Originally posted by 97th Signalman:
I am going to be making up some + P loads in .38 Special. Some of my factory loaded + P ammo has the "+P" on the head stamp. I also see the Starline offers +P brass as well and standard brass for .38 Special. Is there really such a thing as + P rated brass and is that what I should use for such loads?

NO

Or, do they just headstamp it that way to help ID what level the round is loaded to?

YES

 

[musicmanbass]

I load lots of std level 38s and lots of +p, and have never bothered to separate my brass by headstamp. I'm not a bullseye shooter either, so remember that, too!

Some companies say the only difference is the headstamp, meaning that the std pressure casings are strong enough (because they are identical) for the +p levels. I have heard that some other companies make brass with thicker case heads to contain the (slightly) higher pressure. In theory, the more metal there is, the less case volume, which would lead to increased pressure.

I dunno. To be honest, all of my guns are of somewhat recent manufacture (post 1970 or so) K frame and up, all steel (no scadium or what have you) so I'm not that worried about it. I don't tend to load my 38s on the bleeding edge of sanity, so even if I had a case with a healthy charge of whatever powder and bullet, I'm not in the least worried about any problems. (Of course, I could make some stupid error with a doublecharge or something, but I doubt a case being std or +p woul really make a difference there!)

That was probably a lot of rambling for nothing, but I hope it helped!

 

[Steve C]

Information from brass manufacturers say that the +P and the standard pressure .38 spl brass is the same, the +P stamp is for load discrimination only. The same is true for 9mm.

In the .45 ACP there is a difference, with the +P being thicker in the web and with smaller case capacity.