.38 special rim thickness variation

SAAMI spec for 38 Special rim thickness is .059 +.000/-.011. so any thing over .059 is out of spec.

ducky123 said:

The over SAAMI rim sized cases had an assortment of head stamps including Federal and Winchester. They went into the trash.

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I do the same. CBC seems to be the primary culprit.
Funny thing is my 357 brass is always in spec.

I have about 5 gallons of .38 brass. Most of it is 30-50 years old. I dont recall ever having an issue with any fitting in a shell holder.

Yeah all mine is at least 25 years old and none of mine are too big to fit the shell holder either. Mine is a Lee shell holder.

mcb said:

SAAMI spec for 38 Special rim thickness is .059 +.000/-.011. so any thing over .059 is out of spec.

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A better way to state this is that only those rims between 0.048" and 0.059" are 'within spec'.
Rims can be over or under and be 'out of spec'.

Odd I've always used ww brass for target work in the 38spl's.

Decades ago we'd go up to camp perry and buy ammo cans and boxes full of the once fired wwc match 38spl brass. I'd get it home and clean/trim/primer pockets & weigh them. The culls went into a bucket & the rest got 3 reloading then went into the bucket & sold as range brass.

The same with ww wc brass, I'm down to my last 2000 pieces of it. They will last me the rest of my life, don't compete anymore.

I guess there's a difference in the ww match grade brass and the blammo ammo range fodder ww sells to walmart.

I had a problem once in my S&W Model 19. It has a recessed cylinder, and I had one particular batch of reloads that had problems seating because some of the case heads were too wide. I’ve never had a problem with too thick.