38/200 S&W in copper cases

[15meter]

I have a Noe http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/images/...PB)_Sketch.Jpg

on the way, the majority of cases I have are NOS Winchester and Remington COPPER primed cases.

Does anyone have any experience with copper cases? They look cool. I have one box of Remington in normal brass that are once fired.

I'm going to start with them.

I'm looking for case life expectance/or any pitfalls to be aware of.

Thanks.

[Tom W.]

Got a picture?

[sqlbullet]

I don't have any experience with them. But I would be very cautious of respecting max loads. Copper has a tensile strength about half that of cartridge brass.

[Outpost75]

Copper cases were used for loading black powder blanks and older industrial power loads.

They are OK for standard-pressure .38 S&W loads up to 14,000 psi or so, but don't try to "hot rod" them.

[15meter]

I don't think these were intended for blank or industrial power loads, if they were, I would have expected the boxes to marked as such.

The loads are going to very light target loads for a friend, he wanted the original long round nose bullet is why I ordered up the 200 grain mold.

The cases are cool, I have never loaded copper cases before I was hoping someone had experience with them before.

[Outpost75]

Check flash hole size! Blank cases will have a larger than normal flash hole. Standard is 0.078-0.082"

[15meter]

Check flash hole size! Blank cases will have a larger than normal flash hole. Standard is 0.078-0.082"

The copper cases DO have larger flash holes, the plan is very light loads. I think they are plated in copper, polished up some and had one that looked like copper plating flaking off. Need to check further.

[Thin Man]

Neat topic. Many years ago I was gifted several boxes of copper 38 S&W cases, all in the white boxes that resemble a government issue product. A few of the cases had primer residue from having been fired with just a primer. There is no indication they were loaded with a projectile. Further examination revealed some flash holes were standard size and others were oversize. I have no explanation for the variation in flash hole sizes other than to guess that these cases could have served dual purposes - large flash holes for blanks and small flash hole for loaded rounds. My source for these was a WWII veteran and I suspect he brought them home from his service time with the Army Air Corps. I have not used these cases for anything other than conversation pieces and have no immediate plans to load any of them. These cases remind me of the need for cartridges and the scarcity of brass during wartime demands. If it works (brass, steel, copper, whatever), all is well.

[15meter]

Load up some today, lightest load in the latest Lyman cast manual, both copper plated and regular R-P cases.

They look very cool, bullet is almost as long as the case.

Hopefully get to try them tomorrow.

[Outpost75]

My understanding is that early 1930s through WW2 era explosive bolts for releasing wing mounted ordnance used .38 S&W black powder power loads.

[15meter]

Got to the range today, mousefart loads in both enlarged and standard flash holes shot the same.

Fun load.