Rings around .38sp brass

Hardcase · September 18, 2011, 06:41 PM

I've been working my way through a couple of thousand .38sp cases that I've accumulated over the past year and I've found quite a few that look like this:

See the two rings around the case, about halfway down? One is kind of serrated and the other is solid. Some are more pronounced than this. What are they and should I be concerned?

IllinoisCoyoteHunter · September 18, 2011, 07:48 PM

Looks like a case crimp for a wadcutter bullets to help keep it in place, and not get seated deeper in the case.

Disregard and load like any other case.

Shootest · September 19, 2011, 07:17 AM

The serrated top one is normal for some manufacturers. The lower one looks like a crack to me, but it might just be the picture. Don’t fire or reload cracked brass, ever.

wncchester · September 19, 2011, 08:46 AM

The cannalure depends on the maker, it may be purely decrative OR an internal bulge-stop for a wadcutter. But the lower ring/bulge is where you stopped the carbide sizer die.

Hardcase · September 19, 2011, 11:18 AM

Thanks for the answers. That lower ring isn't a crack, but it could be where a sizer was stopped. Not mine - I haven't reloaded this bunch, but they may have been reloaded before.

The warning about cracked brass isn't lost on me - I tossed out about a hundred with cracks or splits. And maybe another 250 that just looked questionable.

Nnobby45 · September 19, 2011, 01:25 PM

Quote:

The cannalure depends on the maker, it may be purely decrative OR an internal bulge-stop for a wadcutter. But the lower ring/bulge is where you stopped the carbide sizer die

I agree. The crimp appllied below the bullet is to keep if from slipping deeper into the case. Don't know if there are decorative crimps (not cannelures). A cannelure is on the bullet and the case mouth is crimped into it.

The other "ring" does look like where the sizing action stopped caused by improper handloading. The proper technique is to adust die so it sizes as much of the case as possible without without the shell hitting the die on the up stroke. Raise the shell plate all the way up, then screw the die down until it bumps it. Then uscrew 1/16th of a turn. Run a case up into the die and THEN tighten the lock nut.

TIP: On a progressive reloader, with a case in each station and the shell plate at the top of the stroke, LOOSEN every locknut so the dies all self align, and then retighten.

Yes, that's extra fine tuning, but you're aligned as well as you can be--necessary or not.

September 18, 2011, 06:41 PM	#1
Hardcase Senior Member Join Date: April 14, 2009 Location: Sunny Southern Idaho Posts: 1,909	Rings around .38sp brass I've been working my way through a couple of thousand .38sp cases that I've accumulated over the past year and I've found quite a few that look like this: See the two rings around the case, about halfway down? One is kind of serrated and the other is solid. Some are more pronounced than this. What are they and should I be concerned? __________________ Well we don't rent pigs and I figure it's better to say it right out front because a man that does like to rent pigs is... he's hard to stop - Gus McCrae

September 18, 2011, 07:48 PM	#2
IllinoisCoyoteHunter Senior Member Join Date: December 23, 2008 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 1,527	Looks like a case crimp for a wadcutter bullets to help keep it in place, and not get seated deeper in the case. Disregard and load like any other case. __________________ ~~IllinoisCoyoteHunter~~ ~NRA LIFE MEMBER~ ~NRA CERTIFIED INSTRUCTOR~

September 19, 2011, 07:17 AM	#3
Shootest Senior Member Join Date: February 9, 2011 Location: Just outside Cleveland, Ohio Posts: 722	The serrated top one is normal for some manufacturers. The lower one looks like a crack to me, but it might just be the picture. Don’t fire or reload cracked brass, ever. __________________ The private ownership of firearms is an American Heritage. Anyone who disputes that is Anti-American and unpatriotic. NRA Life Member

September 19, 2011, 11:18 AM	#5
Hardcase Senior Member Join Date: April 14, 2009 Location: Sunny Southern Idaho Posts: 1,909	Thanks for the answers. That lower ring isn't a crack, but it could be where a sizer was stopped. Not mine - I haven't reloaded this bunch, but they may have been reloaded before. The warning about cracked brass isn't lost on me - I tossed out about a hundred with cracks or splits. And maybe another 250 that just looked questionable. __________________ Well we don't rent pigs and I figure it's better to say it right out front because a man that does like to rent pigs is... he's hard to stop - Gus McCrae

September 19, 2011, 08:46 AM	#4
wncchester Senior Member Join Date: December 1, 2002 Posts: 2,832	The cannalure depends on the maker, it may be purely decrative OR an internal bulge-stop for a wadcutter. But the lower ring/bulge is where you stopped the carbide sizer die.