Explain the difference and use of these 3 38 Spec R-P cases

[JWFilips]

I have a feeling I asked this question in the past but my mind does't remember stuff like it should!
Below are 3 R-P 38 special cases with different canalure lines! What do the mean, what are they used for & what is the purpose?
I'm pretty sure it has something to do with wad-cutters

 

[462]

Someone at RP did it to keep us awake at night, practice cannaluring for a new employee, or RP employs a Shirley.
Beyond those plausible explanations, I've no idea.

 

[david s]

I believe (don't actually know) that the singular cannelured case got a jacketed bullet something along the lines of a personal defense loading. The multi cannelure brass was wad cutter loads.

 

[RicinYakima]

The one on the right is a wadcutter case, thin walled down to bottom mark. Middle is lead bullet for standard velocity load. Left is jacketed bullet load with thicker side walls.

At least that is what I have been told in the past. What are the head stamps?

 

[JWFilips]

So it has to do with case wall thickness?

 

[RicinYakima]

So it has to do with case wall thickness?

Wadcutters are seated full depth to feed in Colt 1911's and Smith 52's. Historically, the case walls got thicker below where a 158 grain round nose bullet was seated. If you have any 1930's 38/44 cases you can measure the wall thickness below the bullet.

What happens is that a full length resized thick case squeezes down the bottom of the wad cutter when seated, decreasing accuracy. The work around is to use a HB wadcutter.

 

[fiver]

they do make wadcutter brass that's thin and straight almost all the way to the bottom.

the canellures are just where the base of the bullet would sit. [probably some 125gr. metal wrapped stuff on the left case]
funny thing is they don't always do it, and different makers [factory] do it at different times.
i pretty much throw it all together unless i know for certain that it's the wad cutter stuff then i keep that separate.
if i don't want to take the time to measure out the suspect cases it all goes in the bucket.

 

[Bret4207]

Their main purpose, IMO alone, is to make sure you only get one or 2 loadings out of the brass before a crack develops!!!

 

[Outpost75]

I have old 158 LRN Police Service loads which look like the case on the left.

 

[CZ93X62]

I don't understand the variations of cannelures on 38 Special brass. You can feel them as they pass through a T/C sizer die's ring, though. Most of my decrepit multi-make 38 Special brass has been scrapped now, and Starline has replaced it.

I am not fond of nickeled brass or cannelures.

 

[Ben]

I am not fond of nickeled brass or cannelures.

That's 2 of us ! !

 

[Alstep]

What's the purpose of nickel plating brass?
I was given a whole bucket of nickeled brass off a law enforcement range. Been using it for years. The plating flakes off occasionally. No other problems tho. But no advantages either that I can tell.

 

[RicinYakima]

What's the purpose of nickel plating brass?
I was given a whole bucket of nickeled brass off a law enforcement range. Been using it for years. The plating flakes off occasionally. No other problems tho. But no advantages either that I can tell.

In the old days, you carried your extra rounds in leather loops on your belt. Brass cases would corrode from the leather and turn green. Sometimes they would not fit into the cylinder.

 

[Bret4207]

Nickel kept the brass from corroding. Wasn't all that long ago that corrosives in primers or powder would sort of crystalize the brass. The nickel, inside and out, prevented that. In later times I suppose nickel was more "bling". All the 357 and 38 ammo we carried in loop loaders was always nickle so it didn't clash with our silver/chromed/stainless/nickeled uniform snaps, belt buckles, etc. And yet, our shield was brass and was never worn on the uniform! Huh, never thought about that before.

 

[L Ross]

Never had a problem with nickel plating or cannelures. The only .38 brass I ever had problems with was some too thick +P brass that squoze "putty plug" bullets down.
I have seen some nickel flaking after about 20 reloading cycles.

 

[dale2242]

I have loaded nickel plated and/or canneluered brass for 50+ years.
I find absolutely no difference between them and uncannelured brass cases.
I`m not sure what the issue is.
Can you explain it to me?
I have never had nickel plating flake off and harm my dies.

 

[Bret4207]

I've had old canneluered brass crack at the line a bunch of times. Even had them break off in the sizing die. Now that I think on it, I have no idea how old that stuff was and wonder if maybe it had been shot back when the corrosive primers/powder were in use. I know from reading old articles from the 30's and 40's that they were still around into that period and considering that the brass I got could easily have been that old, that may have been the cause.

I've had nickle plating separate from the brass, but that brass was pretty well worn out by the time that happened. Never had any damage to dies I'm aware of.

Am I the only guy that would try and "save" cracked cases by trimming 15 or 20 in a group to a shorter length, far shorter than the listed minimum, and use it for light loads? Yes, I am/was that cheap!!!

 

[Rick H]

I have reloaded nickel plate and brass 38 cases for near 50 years. Hard to tell which lasts longer. I toss split cases when I find them. I seem to find bad ones of all types. I don't sort 38 cases and I don't load them up to get the last bit of velocity either. When I carry a 38 it is mostly with factory ammo. My reloaded stuff is for practice and playing with.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

..............
I am not fond of nickeled brass or cannelures.

Ditto

I use nickel plated casings to differentiate loadings when I cannot use the type of bullet to tell them apart. For example, full charge wadcutters get loaded into nickel casings to make the cartridge visibly distinct from target wadcutters using the same bullet.

When the mouth of those nickel casings split (and they seem to split with fewer loading cycles than brass casings) I happily discard them.

 

[RBHarter]

I've had old canneluered brass crack at the line a bunch of times. Even had them break off in the sizing die. Now that I think on it, I have no idea how old that stuff was and wonder if maybe it had been shot back when the corrosive primers/powder were in use. I know from reading old articles from the 30's and 40's that they were still around into that period and considering that the brass I got could easily have been that old, that may have been the cause.

I've had nickle plating separate from the brass, but that brass was pretty well worn out by the time that happened. Never had any damage to dies I'm aware of.

Am I the only guy that would try and "save" cracked cases by trimming 15 or 20 in a group to a shorter length, far shorter than the listed minimum, and use it for light loads? Yes, I am/was that cheap!!!

I don't know. Seems like there's all sorts of data from 38 Short and 9×17 with stops every couple of mm all the way to 357 and most of the data overlaps or picks up/drops off where the one above or below starts or ends . 9×23 Rimmed shoots very well in a security 6 357 ....... it wasn't bad in the 1894 Marlin that would take 13+1 instead of 10 .