Blast from the past, .38 brass

[Mytmousemalibu]

I found this piece of .38 brass the other day while collecting some brass left behind from someone else. Since it was a piece of nickel plated brass and has only a trace of nickel left, it must have been reloaded and fired many a time. Just thought it was kind of neat find a piece of Super Vel that is still perfectly functional but is probably a good bit older than me!

180942

180944

[twc1964]

That is old, lol. I have some 20+ y.o .357 brass that I still use. The last time I tumbled it, I could see the brass showing thru the nickel. There are now only used for light loads. Cool find for you though.

[runfiverun]

I got a couple of nickel plated steel cases with large pistol primer pockets.

[dtknowles]

I think I have some once fired Super Vel brass. I would think old would mean something before WWII.

Tim

[mozeppa]

dang!

that's not old,

i've several that's been fired so many times...you can see the new powder in them!

[NoAngel]

That is old. It used to be an immediate identifier of a reloader; carbon stained brass.

I have some .38 special ammunition here somewheres that US military. It has US stamped on the primer of all places. LOL

[varmintpopper]

Nice find.
I recently found what I believe might be an old .38 Spl case with a headstamp of "MARKELL".
The case is not plated. Anyone have info ??

Good Shooting

Lindy

[Bad Water Bill]

Well in my collection I have some 22 Hi Power brass.

Some have small primers and others have large primers and they in their original boxes.

As close as I can find they were manufactured in the 30s and NO I will not fire them.

[dubber123]

I have some 45 ACP brass stamped "18" with a stake crimp in the side. Pretty sure that doesn't mean 2018 ;) I stopped loading it when I noticed, but it went through the cycle several times, it's still good.

[OptimusPanda]

I think my oldest brass was a 38 special marked RA 57. I bought a whole bunch of oddball 38 brass from some guy at a show that looked like he'd been loading and shooting it since the 60s. There's a couple super vel just like the pic above I see every year or so at the press. Still load and shoot fine.

[fatelk]

I have some 45 ACP brass stamped "18" with a stake crimp in the side. Pretty sure that doesn't mean 2018 ;) I stopped loading it when I noticed, but it went through the cycle several times, it's still good.

I've used a fair amount of WWI brass over the years, even a few older a time or two. I recently picked up a 20 round box of WWI GI 45 acp dated 1917. I thought I'd fire a few of them next year just for fun, to see how 100 year old ammo shoots.

Some years ago a friend's dad pulled apart a bunch of perfectly good hunting ammo, in his garage with pliers, and threw it in the garbage. It had been sitting on the shelf for over a decade and he figured it must be too old and dangerous.

[paul h]

I still wish I had some of the WWII surplus 45 acp my dad had. We didn't think much of shooting it up. Even in the 80's when we shot it, you could tell it was down on power compared to modern ammo and a few rounds barely cleared the 1911.

[Mytmousemalibu]

Sure it's not the oldest stuff we've all crossed paths with but stuff like this is kinda rare to find these days. I did get a couple pieces of US Military .38 brass when I found the Super Vel but I just had a wash of nostalgia hit me looking at it. The nickel worn almost completely off it tells a little bit of a story. For a long time, some fella had been firing this piece of brass and picking it up, taking it back home and loading it up to return to the range another day. Same guy had left the old US military .38 behind too. If you noticed, there's 2 distinct bands of plating left near the mouth of the case. Kind of odd but whom ever this piece of brass used to belong to, probably been seating the same bullet, same load all this time. Little nickel at the case head where the brass really doesn't obturate upon firing. I would guess most of the plating was rubbed off from dropping it into the cylinder, and extraction of it afterwards. It's the analytical side and the curious side of me that thinks of things like this. I have a lot of appreciation for things that are nostalgic, vintage, or things that were once popular. I know the Super Vel story and what it was to the shooting world back then and it's a really neat sub-chapter in firearms. I have an appetite for things that were made to last, things of quality, things of pride and I appreciate the past. I come from a family that for a long time has been in the business of antiques, and I dabble in that stuff too. Going to sales, flea markets, estate sales, farm auctions, etc. One of my other hobbies is collection & restoration of Gas Pressure Appliances and Kerosene heaters. It's mostly fairly old stuff. Some of the prizes in my collection are a couple of my early Coleman lanterns, Depression era and earlier. When I got them and like most, they were nasty, dirty, filthy and in sad shape. Now the original nickel plated brass gleams and they are in perfect working condition! So my tastes gravitate to the quality things of the past. It made me a little sad to see that old piece of well used Super Vel brass finally discarded. I would be having none of that so home with me it came. I know it's a bit silly of me but thought maybe it might make a few of you guys smile. I may be a young whipper snapper (just shy of 34) in comparison to many of you guys but a select few of us feel we were born too late and not all of us are disposable junk, instant gratification, participation award type of crowd. It's more than a piece of worn old brass, its an ideology....

180966 Pictured are 2 of many of my Coleman's I've restored. The left one, the red single mantle is a 1953 Model 200A, the 1st one I ever owned. The right side, a 1920-1921 Coleman Quicklight. It's not wearing the proper mica globe at the time I took this and it was still using the cheapo Coleman mantles for first few runs. It now has some nice, proper thoriated Peerless mantles. I also have an R55 generator in it to preserve the original Q99 genny. That lantern is probably older than any member on this forum yet it works as it if was made yesterday! Just a taste of one of my other hobbies and shows my flare for things of the past... :)

[Sasquatch-1]

I have 38 nickel plate that I have been loading and shooting that is 30 to 40 years old. I have seen the Markel cases and I think I have a few tho they may be in 9mm. I wonder if it is the same company that makes the Z Gauge trains?

[runfiverun]

Markel used to make and sell cast boolits back in the day too.
they were a smaller family run company that had enough clientele to buy their own brass head stamped for them.
their booits come in little 100 round count yellow and black cardboard boxes stacked 2 rows to a box separated by an inner flat piece of cardboard.
I still have a full box and a partial box of 44's that look an awful lot like the rcbs 240gr plain base and they have a moly type lube in the groove [graphite type maybe miracle lube] it's still soft and useable.
it was 2 full boxes but I shot some of them recently.