Vintage .38 wadcutter brass

[6GUNSONLY]

I've finally gotten started on a project to process and load all this vintage .38 wadcutter brass I bought awhile back. Working on the Remington first then we'll do the Western. All is fired factory wadcutter brass from quite a few years ago. While I'm at it, I'm covering all the original boxes in clear packaging tape because I'm weird and like using the original paper boxes better than them new-fangled plastic ones, but the tape job makes em hold up pretty good. These are Magnus 148 grain hollow base wadcutter, load is CCI-500 and 3.1 grs 700X. I've heard complaints about 700X not metering well, but my old Lyman 55 throws it fine, right on the money every time. Good for me cuz I've got about 5# of it, a lot of shooting at 3.1 grs per.

How old do you reckon these boxes to be? The Western look like 60s to me, later than that they would have been Winchester-Western. The Remington look older to me, but not sure how much.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1586/13748079/24747904/413520448.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1586/13748079/24747904/413520449.jpg

[Low Budget Shooter]

Wow---very cool. What will you be shooting these out of?

[6GUNSONLY]

Well, I have several .38/.357 guns; a S&W 28-2 4", a 5-screw pre-27 6", but also some will feed my daily carry model 60 no dash snubby, my woods-walker 60-4 3", and my do-all 2 1/2" 66-1. Yeah, I like S&Ws. Now when we start talking .44s, the Ruger single-actions take over...

[ReloaderFred]

1960's and 70's on your boxes. I was buying them new like that in the mid 1970's when I was shooting a lot of PPC matches, and used them for the 50 yard line.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[rintinglen]

RP Green box. Bought a case of them back in 74 or 75.

[Petrol & Powder]

I gave up on 50 round boxes for handgun ammo years ago :). Completed rounds now go in ammo cans or coffee cans. I think I went through the natural progression of most reloaders: re-use the cardboard boxes and plastic/Styrofoam trays from factory ammo - followed by the same boxes held together by tape - then the molded plastic ammo boxes with the hinged lids - and finally some type of reuseable metal container.

The OP has some prime old wadcutter brass there; hang onto that.

As for the original boxes, Remington used that style for a long time, well into the 70's. I can't help you with the Winchester ones. Those boxes probably have lot numbers on them, bet you could date them that way.