Anyone ever seen old .38 Special brass with large primers???

[mikenbarb]

I acquired a bunch of .38 Special brass from old Police Match ammo from the 50's and 60's and while sorting them I came across a bunch that are primed with large primers instead of small. They looked odd so I checked the case length and they all mic out to 1.112" which is shorter than the current .38 Special specs. Has anyone ever seen these made with large primers and know why the oal is shorter, Im lost on this one.:confused: Im gonna try some light loads to see how they shoot and im hoping that they shoot better than the ones with small primers. I figure they will ignite better and have a more consistent velocity.
Their headstamped "Super Speed(Winchester), 38 Special".

[Guesser]

Yes, I've got some; REM-UMC and WESTERN head stamps. I've got some 357 with large primer pockets too. I've got 38-44 cases that take a large primer also. Not that uncommon, even at this late date.

[ReloaderFred]

I've got some. When I first started reloading in 1963, the local gunshop had two big fishbowls full of .38 Special brass for $.01 each. One bowl contained large primed cases and the other one contained small primed cases.

I was kind of glad when they decided to standardize on one primer size.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Lloyd Smale]

yup used to run into it all the time. Havent seen any in a couple years though.

[Shiloh]

Haven't seen it in years. The small pistol primed .45 ACP seems to have disappeared as well.
Hated that stuff.

Shiloh

[mikenbarb]

Its a PITA when you get them in progressives. I was wondering why primers were dropping.LOL.

[azrednek]

Years ago I got some, back in the good ol'days when we could buy brass on Ebay. Mine came from a New York police range. They were head stamped Armscor and had the cannulure at the half-way point on the brass. The seller claimed they were originally loaded with 148 gr wad cutters. Out of the thousand or so I bought I only turned up about 5 or 6 with the large primer pocket.