38 Special wadcutter brass

I looked into turning the 38 cases like I do rifle brass. This requires special equipment, as the short revolver case must be held by the base, and a special turning mandrill is required. The cost gets daunting and then there is the hand work, I really needed a power driven turner for the number of cases I planned to do. It was looking like north of $400 to do it right.

I wondered, how much IS the difference between regular cases and wadcutter cases? Are all non-wadcutter cases thicker? Is current wadcutter brass thicker walled than older brass? Is there a difference in the internal taper? Perhaps there is commercial brass I can purchase and avoid turning cases.

I used an RCBS 38 rifle expander plug, which is long enough to expand down to where the base of my solid base wadcutter sits in the case. The expander plug is 0.35770. 38 Special cases were sized in a carbide sizer, lubed with graphite and expanded on the expander plug. The cases were measured while on the plug with a Mitutoyo electronic micrometer to the nearest 0.00005. Five cases were measured, diameters around the case were measured to check variation, and the maximum diameter was recorded. The diameter minus the plug diameter divided by two gives the wall thickness. Wadcutter Brass Average Wall

FEDERAL (new) 0.00977

FEDERAL (80's) 0.00947

FEDERAL (60's) 0.00903*

WINCHESTER 0.00941

WW (Winchester Western) 0.00933

R-P (Remington Peters) 0.00901

S & B (Sellier and Bellot) 0.00990

REM - UMC (Remington Union Metallic Cartridge) 0.00909

PETERS 0.00887

WW nickel 0.00907

WESTERN nickel 0.00894

Regular Brass

NORMA 0.00991

REM - UMC 0.00965* A - MERC 0.01059**

FEDERAL (new) 0.00964

PMC 0.00990

• • • (Starline) 0.00984

S & B 0.01002

WINCHESTER 0.00953

WCC 1980'S (MIL) 0.01018*

R - P nickel 0.00911

WESTERN nickel 0.00989

WW nickel 0.00944

REM - UMC nickel 0.00926

PETERS nickel 0.00891

R - P nickel 0.00908

WW SUPER +P nickel 0.00962

WINCHESTER +P nickel 0.00982

FEDERAL +P nickel 0.00952

Group variation over 0.001 *Group variation over 0.002 Variation may not be important as none of these cases are single lot. Some are original box, but this may not be one lot. Wall variation around individual cases was small, usually under ±0.0002.

The A-MERC cases were an exception, variation between cases was large. Diameters around an individual case could go from larger than any other commercial case to much thinner. It was hard to get a good reading on individual cases because variation around the case was so extreme. A-MERC case heads were thin and also variable, this is the headspace dimension and indicates lack of quality control.

I was not surprised to find the military brass was thicker, I have experienced problems reloading it and generally throw it away. It and the +P brass are harder, pushing them onto the plug required noticeably more force.

Except for the military cases, I did not see a significant difference in the wall thickness of any cases at the tip of the expander plug compared to the middle or top of the plug. Differences were of the same order as differences in different diameters around the case. Therefore no internal taper interferes with loading solid base wadcutters in any of the commercial brass tested.

I expected nickel plated brass to be thicker, but the difference was not great compared to same headstamp regular cases. In some, the nickel plated cases were thinner walled.

Of the older wadcutter cases, Peters had the thinnest walls, however the Peters nickel plated cases were also the thinnest of the regular cases. Older cases do tend to have thinner walls, however there is variation. It appears from this small sample manufacturers do not make special thin wall cases for wadcutter loads. Wadcutter loads appear to be loaded in standard cases with a special cannelure.

I was pleased to find Remington, Winchester and Federal standard cases are the same wall thickness as their wadcutter cases. The only difference is some of the regular cases have a heavy cannelure where it would interfere with a wadcutter, these are not useful hand loading wadcutters. A single lot purchase of new commercial brass should work well for producing match quality 38 Special loads.

Is the generally slightly thicker walls on new brass a problem with large diameter cast bullets? I notice the nickel plating on some of my much fired cases is wearing off. Case cleaning in dry media does wear the case. What if I used a more aggressive media, like used in a rock tumbler? Would the wear be even enough to make thin walled cases from new commercial brass? Hmmmmm. Steve Hurst