Paucity of Nickel Plated .38 Spec Brass

[GeoJelly]

I guess it's an old age thing, I like to load my .38's in nickel brass. I found some earlier this year on our VA gun board, but it wound up being so-so at best. So, you say, just go to the Google and buy some. Well, no one has new nickel-plated brass in stock. Some places on GB with decent once-fired, but none of them accept electronic payment. Lotsa smart and savvy folks here - has anyone seen any nickel brass anyplace? I would appreciate a heads-up, only looking for a couple hundred.

I've taken to sorting my .38 brass by headstamp, since I weigh all of my finished rounds. I load on a single-stage and triple-check the charges, but the prospect of a double-charge still makes me nervous. I'm sure most of you know that (probably all calibers) .38 brass varies quite a bit among manufacturers, and a couple of grains + or - even among same headstamp. My current go-to load is 4.0 of 700X with usually Berry's 125-g plated bullets of some sort. I have no idea about velocity but it's pretty consistent and shoots to point of aim-ish with my snubs.

Added: I intended to put a winky-face after paucity - but I re-discovered that the forum doesn't allow or process emoticons in the middle of the post title. When I did my English larnin' - from Mizz Smiff in 7th and 8th grade, she used to make us stand up in class, then define a new-ish word of her choice. It was pretty embarrassing back then, and I would fare even worser now!

 

[ms]

I have several thousand .38 cases I got maybe 20 years ago. I use them for standard .38 loads, nothing hot. They've been loaded around 10 times. About half of the nickel cases have split, none of the plain brass.

 

[Rogeronimo]

I have 1000 new Starline nickel-plated 38 Special (now discontinued) I may never use. All or none.

 

[Just another 22 shooter]

Learnt a knew word today:

pau·ci·ty
/ˈpôsədē/

noun
the presence of something only in small or insufficient quantities or amounts; scarcity.
"a paucity of information"

 

[mikerjf]

The contrary of muchness, as it were.

 

[mtgianni]

I got about 25,000 used pieces of 38 special brass a few years back my FIL's neighbor was going to junk out. About 1/3 were nickel, almost all of that was wadcutter brass. I sold it all and had to discount the nickel to move it.

 

[1sailor]

I like to use nickel brass to distinguish between my practice ammo and my defense ammo. Any ammo loaded with expensive SD bullets gets a nickel case. It's not necessary but I do it anyway.

 

[DWalt]

My experience has also been that almost every instance of a split case I have experienced involved a nickel-plated case. The original purpose of nickel plating cases goes back to the days when cops carried spare ammunition in leather loop cartridge belts. Nickeled cases did not corrode in contact with the leather loops as brass case ammunition did. In some cartridges, nickeling was used to distinguish different loads, most notably to indicate .38 Super ammunition vs. brass-cased .38 ACP ammunition. Mostly, I believe the main reason for nickeled cases was cosmetic appearance. They look better for longer than brass cases do. I like them because ejected cases are easier to spot in the grass and weeds.

 

[Baltimoreed11754]

I only reload nickel 38, I sort clean and sell the brass 38 to cas shooters. I also have a bunch of 45acp that I was using as revolver ammo, brass being for 1911s or pccs. My nickel 45colt is revolver while 45brass is for rifle. Both use the same charge but rifle is 225-255 gr while pistol is 160-200 gr.