38sp. vs 45 acp brass life

[tinsnips]

I just got into 45 shooting an was wondering how long or how many times i can expect the brass to last. No hot loads . I can shoot 38 sp for 20 plus times most of the time.

[76 WARLOCK]

I think I have loaded some at least 50 times, If the pistol does not beat them up on ejection I think they could be used almost indefinitly.

[John Traveler]

Hear, hear!

I too agree that case life for both the .38 Special and .45 ACP is almost INDEFINITE. The things that ruin a pistol case for reloading: split mouth and/or loose primer pocket are actually rare in these calibers.

I'm still using cases that I have accumulated for more than 35 years on a daily basis.

[geargnasher]

.45 ACP brass wears out? Oh, you mean when the rim gets about thirty ejector burrs on it and starts binding in the shellholder, then maybe it's time for the recycle bucket.

.38 Special will also last virtually forever if you draw the mouths in a pot of lead every ten or so firings so the mouth doesn't split from the repeated belling/crimping.

Starline brass outlasts everything I've ever used for some reason.

Gear

[9.3X62AL]

What John T said. 38 Special and 45 ACP both last forever, assuming they don't get lost when ejected. Avoid excessive case mouth flaring, and they'll be usable for a LONG TIME.

[Gunsmoke4570]

I am using a batch of 38 special brass I got from a friend that got his brass from the local sheriffs dept in the early 80's. Been reloaded countless times. When I load a batch I'll loose a couple every 100 due to a split during sizing. I've got some pretty old 45 brass too, never had a split. I only load standard pressure stuff, no +P loads.

[mike in co]

in my pocket are three pc's of 45 acp brass...dates (19)18 and (19)19.... is that a clue?
one of the three has damage and connot be used anymore..the rest are fine....


mike in co

[nicholst55]

in my pocket are three pc's of 45 acp brass...dates (19)18 and (19)19.... is that a clue?
one of the three has damage and connot be used anymore..the rest are fine....


mike in co

My oldest .45 brass is 'new' compared to Mike's! It's headstamped FA (19)37!

[shooterg]

I'm using and reusing a batch of WCC53 brass from a late friend's staff that was reloaded many many times before I got 'em. My "new" stuff is 1967 dated.

I should do the lead dip thing with .38's as I do start getting splits in batches - but I have so many I don't bother yet.

[evan price]

I'd say both of them last darn near forever. The 38 tends to eventually split the case mouth, as has been said. The 45's tend to fly into the tall grass and get lost. I also have had to scrap 45s that were so dinged up on the rim they looked bad and I have lots of brass- so why keep stuff that's questionable.

So 38 special FTW simply because I eject into my hand and I don't lose any that way.

[*Paladin*]

I've got .45's that you can barely make out the manufacturer on the head of the case. I just shoot, clean and shoot. I don't bother serparating .45 into 2-times fired vs. 50-time fired. I just shoot it til it's split. .45 ACP is such a low-press round the brass lasts FOREVER! One of the many reasons I love the .45...

[casterofboolits]

Case life for 45 ACP and 38 Special is quite long with medium loads.

When I first got into IPSC I had 300 rounds of WCC 45 ACP brass that had been loaded over 50 times and continued to reload that batch until the rims were so dinged up that they would not feed into the extractor groove.

As I was using a CH Mk 5A progressive press which does not use shell holders, but a spring loaded guide bar, the dinged cases would feed thru with no problem. I began using a Lyman shell holder to check my brass before a match. If the case would not rotate freely in the holder, that round was rejected into the practice ammo can and into the scrap can after the next use.

At one time a friend purchased a Case Pro machine that refurbishes cases to factory spec., and does the rim, extractor groove and the base of the case. I ran ten thousand 38 Super brass thru this machine and it did a beautiful job on the brass. Sadly, the Case Pro is no longer produced. It went out of production before we could get the 45 ACP conversion.

Magma sells a Case Master that will refurbish the rim and case base, but does nothing for the extractor groove.

[Tom W.]

One does not buy .45 acp brass, one merely rents it. I dunno how many times I've gone to the range and come back with less than I took.

[Big Boomer]

Several years back there was an article in the American Rifleman on this very issue of the relative life of .38 Special brass. The writer got together a number of samples (I believe 20) of the various brands (headstamps) and proceeded with the project. Not expecting the life of the cases to be so enduring, his first conclusion was that he had way too many of each brand or headstamp and reduced the number to about 6 of each brand. Even then he had too many pieces to load and reload with a midrange load. It was turning into quite an extended project!

He continued loading and firing and finally began to experience brass failures somewhere around the 85th firing (if I recall correctly). The failure was neither mouth splits nor expanded primer pockets, but with the cannelure around the circumference of the brass. The cases began to have blowouts at the cannelure.

The author tossed the failed cases and continued the reloading and firing of the remaining brass until around the 135th reload when he decided he had enough and called it quits. The remaining brass was still going strong.

When treated reasonably well, the life of both .38s and .45 ACPs just keep on going.
I have some RA 40 .45 ACP brass I picked up at the range and had to eliminate the primer pocket crimp before I could reload them ... i. e., they were once-fired when I found them. I have lost count of how many times I have reloaded them. I just inspect them all before reloading and toss any defective ones I find during the process. 'Tuck

[tinsnips]

Thank you everyone for the great answers. It was a good day today i leanered something!

[MtGun44]

I have some .45 ACP that has had the headstamp literally beaten flat and erased by
hitting the ejector so many times. I have been using some of it since 1981 shooting almost
every Friday night until the last year or so.

Bill

[Frank46]

Tom W, you are doing something wrong. The trick is to come home with more than what you started out with. Observed a lotta louisiana bug life doing exactly that. As far as usuable life for 45 brass, I still have about the same 1200 cases I started shooting steel plates with. Standard factory velocities, easy on the belling and easy on the crimp. Course my arthritius has slowed me down some, but usually manage to add a few cases to my stash. Frank

[FISH4BUGS]

pistol cases of all types wear out because of two factiors: excessive belling and crimping, and overloading.
I use cast bevel based bullets of all kinds and set the expander ball to just BARELY bell the mouth enough to get the bullet started in the case. I also don't shoot them loaded to +p pressures.
Works for me.......I have been using some of the same 2500 38 special cases for 25 years or more. I am fairly new to 45 auto but will be shooting them in my SBR Uzi by the hundreds.

[jcwit]

I've used nickle plated 38 spec. cases so long that they're now brass. Yup, what everyone else has said, they last forever, well almost.

Glad I added that almost, can't let folks take me literally now can we.

[Blammer]

45acp brass wears out? who knew!

[Char-Gar]

You will lose the cases before you wear them out.

[45 2.1]

In the dim past, when the Scheutzen shooters held sway, they said they lost a case when the primer pocket wore out............. That was in the area of 2,500 or so reloads. I once tried to wear out a pair of cases that were fitted closely to the chamber of a Sharps...... I gave up at 500 reloads of each....... and they still looked new.

[Dannix]

That's some serious case life.

So many cartridges, so little time. :groner:

[59stude]

Check out Guns & Ammo February 1980 and the article on page 54, " Torture Testing The .38 special case".
After 146 reloadings of a Federal nickle plate case they detected a small burn hole in the cannelure area, so as others said 38 spl will last forever.
I have a lot of Norma 38 Spl Re cases that I got from an old gentleman that bought them in the 50´s and of the 250 he bought I got 246 in the mid 80´s so he lost 4 of them in 20+ years and I still have 246 of them but now the nickle finish is nearly gone but still use them in my slow fire target loads.

59stude

[Recluse]

.38 Special will also last virtually forever if you draw the mouths in a pot of lead every ten or so firings so the mouth doesn't split from the repeated belling/crimping.

Starline brass outlasts everything I've ever used for some reason.

Gear


What John T said. 38 Special and 45 ACP both last forever, assuming they don't get lost when ejected. Avoid excessive case mouth flaring, and they'll be usable for a LONG TIME.

These two guys just told you everything you need to know about the two calibers of brass you mentioned.

I've been annealing my .38 Special and .44 Special brass for years and years, and along with doing as AL says (not overflaring the case mouth), it's extremely rare that I ever have to toss a case in the recycle bin.

I anneal my magnum cases as well, which greatly extends their life.

:coffee:

[Tom W.]

Frank 46, I dunno what happens, but I think that they morph and turn into .40 S&W cases.

I need to find some kids to take to the range. They can find anything....