Old Peters 38 Special brass

[DukeInFlorida]

I spent the weekend loading 38 Specials, using brass I got from an old timer. The brass was all outdoor range pickup, and quite a bit of it was current.

However, I bumped into about six odd 38 Special pieces of brass.

They all had the same Peters head stamp. They were all nickle plated. They all had two external cannelure stripes around the outside.
The head stamps all say, " Peters 38 S&W Spl"

And, the primer pockets are all for LARGE PRIMERS!

I have never seen anything like these before. Large pistol primers on a 38 Special?

Does anyone have any clue as to when these were made, and why?

[w30wcf]

Duke,
I'm thinking 1930's give or take. I have some early .357 cartridges that have large primers in them. Don't know why but I remember reading that some of the early .357 mag ammo used large pistol primers.

w30wcf

[runfiverun]

both the 38 and 357 were done with large primers for a while.
I have a handful of large primer 357 cases kicking about here, wouldn't mind a bunch more to simplify the buying process.
airc they changed to help control pressure pushing back on the primer, the 454 done the same thing too.

[ironhead7544]

Probably 38-44 cases. That was the older (1930) +p ammo for the 38 Special. There were a number of loads, 158 gr at 1150 or so FPS. Some cases were marked 38-44 and some were not.

They had a hard time getting the slower powders burning in the short 38 Special cases. 2400 cured that problem.

[oso]

I have a few of these. Came out of boxes labeled PETERS RUSTLESS AMMUNITION 147 Grain Target Wad Cutter Bullet No.3828. Sorry, no date.
Great for target reloads with light charges of quick powder.

[Shiloh]

Never seen this type of animal. Post pics please. I have some .38 special brass that is older than me, But has small primer pockets.

Shiloh

[williamwaco]

I shot lots of Peters ammo growing up but I never saw a .38 with a large primer.

That said, anything I shot before about 1954/55, the brass was tossed.

[GLL]

The double cannelure suggests target wadcutters to me as well !



Jerry

[kmag]

I shot some of the lp peters years ago. They were packed in blue and white boxes. The cases looked like the ww match mid range target wad cutters that we shoot today, which has two channelures. except the ww is brass and the peters is nickle. The boxes were labeled peters police target.
I still have several hundred of them and some of the factory boxes. I keep them along with a couple hundred sp 45 acp cases in case this primer shortage keeps going. That way I can load something to shoot as long as I have either size of primers. Also have some 308 win cases that use srp.
I have several good cameras, but don't know how to post photos. Better with the camera than I am with the computer.

[390ish]

I shot about a hundred of these a few months ago. Wad Cutter. Shot great. Looked to be factory ammo, not reloads. Consistent. Was given to me loose.

[GLL]

390ish:

If you do not reload your double cannelure wadcutter brass and want to sell them please drop me a note.
I have some but would like 4-500 more !

Jerry

[Cherokee]

I have a few of those LP 38 Special cases put away in my "odd" brass drawer. A few of them look new, never loaded. I think I acquired them in the early 60's.

[mold maker]

Look inside at the web. I had some of what it think were called balloon head. They had a recess around the primer pocket.

[DukeInFlorida]

I'll get some pictures up as soon as I figure out how to take them properly.

Never seen this type of animal. Post pics please. I have some .38 special brass that is older than me, But has small primer pockets.

Shiloh

[Char-Gar]

I recalled I had a lot of Peters match wadcutter brass in my reserve stash. So, I haul it down and took a look at what I had.

The Peters like the Remington and Western have the double cannelure typical of wadcutter brass. Both the Peters and the Remington bear the same headstamp "R-P". The Western are nickel plated but not the Peters or Remington. I note two of the Peters boxes are marked "38 Special Police Match" and the rest are marked 38 Special Targetmaster". Despite the difference in labeling the index/produce code is the same 3847. So it is the same ammo, apparently sold to different markets.

By the time is ammo was made, Peters was a part of Remington and I strongly suspect Remington and Peters came off the same assembly line, but we packaged in different boxes.

Western and Winchester maintained separate headstamp longer than Remington and Peters. The Western "Super-Match" cases in the boxes bear the headstamp "Western".
The cases are from the late 60s and all have small pistol primers. To get 38 Special cases with large pistol primers you are going to have to reach way back in time.

I have another lot of 1,000 38 Special wadcutter cases that I am loading and using. If I ever wear them out, I have this stash to fall back on. I probably won't live that long, but it is good to know they are there. No guys, they are not for sale..to hard to come by these days.

[Screwbolts]

In Remembrance of Duke, I just came across 11 of the old Peters " 38 S&W Spl " case with large pistol primers. The brass cases appear to be unfired with original primers still. These cases have a single heavy cannelure .

Ken

[GhostHawk]

RIP duke!

[Finster101]

Sadly, the majority of posters in this thread show no recent activity. We have lost a lot of talent and knowledge over the years.

[TRAPDOOR 4570]

I have a few handfuls of those in my oddball and balloon head bucket. I think I remember reading years ago that large primers had to be used for a while during the transition to noncorrosive primers because the compound used at that time was not strong enough to be used in small primers.

[beagle]

Got a can of .44 Special cases from a local gun shop about 10 years ago. A few .357s mixed in. About 75% of the .44 Special was Remington balloon head. The remaider boxer. The 8 or 10 .357s had large primer pockets.
Reloading .45 ACP this week, I ran into half dozen Peters .45 ACP casings and a bunch of milspec RA 60 and 62 .45 ACP. Hard to realize I shot that stuff in VN when it was newly made in a Thompson. Hard to realize it's 60 something years old./beagle