Military 38 special brass

[Elk Creek]

Well, tonight I was loading some 38 special for no particular reason. Anyway, most of this batch of brass is headstamped FC56. I did notice the previous loader had problems with the primers, they were flat and had a ring around them from being seated. I had the same problems. The primers wouldn’t fully seat, they had the same telltale ring around the outside of the primer. I tried them in my tightest headspaced 357 and they wouldn’t turn freely. After a few minutes of thinking I used the large primer seat to fully seat the primer works like a charm….. I only primed 100 so if it doesn’t pan out I’m not out a ton of loading time…. We shall see.

[Bigslug]

Pretty common on military rifle ammo - crimp the primers in for better moisture sealing and to prevent blowouts with higher pressure loadings like the 5.56. Never heard of it being done on .38, but there you go.

RCBS and Dillon both make swaging options to make that ring go away. As I recall, reamers exist for the task as well.

[Elk Creek]

I measured the primer pocket depth on both surplus and commercial brass. The primer pocket on Commercial brass
measured .115-118 deep, while military brass measured .109-111 deep! No wonder! I measured about 50 to make sure.

[Wambli Ska]

And that’s why I don’t usually play with Military brass. It’s a PIA…

[Elk Creek]

Pretty common on military rifle ammo - crimp the primers in for better moisture sealing and to prevent blowouts with higher pressure loadings like the 5.56. Never heard of it being done on .38, but there you go.

RCBS and Dillon both make swaging options to make that ring go away. As I recall, reamers exist for the task as well.

It had no crimp, just shallow pockets.

[Elk Creek]

And that’s why I don’t usually play with Military brass. It’s a PIA…

I received this brass years ago as primmed brass from a friends estate…. Normally I don’t play with military brass

[Bigslug]

Pretty common on military rifle ammo - crimp the primers in for better moisture sealing and to prevent blowouts with higher pressure loadings like the 5.56. Never heard of it being done on .38, but there you go.

RCBS and Dillon both make swaging options to make that ring go away. As I recall, reamers exist for the task as well.

It had no crimp, just shallow pockets.

Depth-uniforming reamer in a hand drill set to low speed and held in a vise will probably get you there then. A bit of a PITA for plinkers, but stuff you might do for rolling match grade wadcutters anyway.