38 special case questions

[woodlecj]

I purchased a bag of shot once mixed headstamp 38 special brass. Couple of questions:

1. Why is there a crimp ring at various places on the case?

2. Why does one of them have 2 crimp rings?

3. It's hard to tell in the photo, but one is silver. Are the silver (nickel?) cases as good as or better then brass? Can you get more life out of them?

4. The shorter one on the right has a headstamp of 38 special; are there shorter 38s? Where and when are they used?

5. One of the cases has 38 +P on the headstamp. I assume +P cases are stronger or can you only load +P charges in 38 +P cases?

Thanks,
Craig

 

[kingmt]

The short case is junk. I'm not sure what you are calling two crimps but if it is what I'm thinking the one at the top is the crimp & the other is the setting ring. +P just means that it was a hot charge in the case but the cases are the same. The "silver" cases load just fine but try to make sure you use lube with them because they are a lot harder then brass.

 

[Sport45]

First of all, Welcome to The High Road!

I'll give your questions a go although I'm no expert...

1. Why is there a crimp ring at various places on the case?
Manufacturers used to apply a cannelure to the case at the base of the bullet to help prevent setback. Anymore it's just for decoration. Setback isn't a problem with revolver cartridges as much as pull under recoil impulse.

2. Why does one of them have 2 crimp rings?
Decoration, more than likely

3. It's hard to tell in the photo, but one is silver. Are the silver (nickel?) cases as good as or better then brass? Can you get more life out of them?
It's Nickel. Makes it more resistant to turning green when stored in a leather cartridge belt. In my bucket o'brass nickel and brass are used interchangeably.

4. The shorter one on the right has a headstamp of 38 special; are there shorter 38s? Where and when are they used?
Don't know about that one. Someone may have trimmed it down to try to make a .38S&W but that's only a guess as I don't know the dimensions of that cartridge. I do know it uses a bullet that's larger diameter than the .38 special.

5. One of the cases has 38 +P on the headstamp. I assume +P cases are stronger or can you only load +P charges in 38 +P cases?
In some brass the +P may be different, but I believe for most .38 specials the only difference is the headstamp. I use them interchangeably.

 

[fecmech]

The short one someone trimmed,not much good to you. The ones with 2 cannelures in the middle of the case were originally loaded with wadcutters from the factory. The others were just loaded with different weight bullets, that's the reason for the cannelure being in different places.