Manufacturers of 38 Short Colt Brass

[357454]

My latest batch of 38 short colt brass from Starline is starting to split after many reloads, Does anyone know of a source for new Brass other than Starline? I am looking for something that can readily be identified as new brass which I will shoot at major matches and use up the life of my existing brass at local shoots?  My process is not thorough enough to separate the cases before cleaning and reloading!

[dannyd]

Starline may be the only manufacturer of Short colt,   I make mine out of 38 special cases. 

[pskys2]

If your moon clips are sized tight for starline I think your stuck with it.  Unless you want to buy new moon clips.

Might be better to just use some coffee cans to keep the brass separated.  For loaded ammo in moon clps use different marked plano boxes.

[Daniele]

Fiocchi makes ammo in 38 SC, but does not sell brass alone

[revoman]

Remington makes 38 Short Colt ammo maybe they would sell you some brass. 

[pskys2]

Several manufacturers make 38 short colt rounds, few sell brass.  But the issue is what works with your moon clips.  Unless you only have a handful of moon clips and/or they're not competition quality tight it's important to match the case to the moon clips.

One of the reasons starline is so popular is their QC on rim groove dimensions across the whole 38 caliber line.  Couple that with the premium competition moon clips being designed tight for maximum performance and it's been the most popular and trouble free solution.

The dimensions of the rim groove in any other 38 caliber cases do not work well, or are hit/miss,  with TK or Hearthco competition moon clips.

[357454]

I will give Remington a call on Monday, the issue of fit is somewhat overrated, when I first purchased an 8 shot I found that RP brass worked very well. After I switched to Short Colts I use a combination of Starline only and those I purchased for the RP Brass, I mix both on my  holders and can not tell the difference. Yes the RP Brass will not fit in the Starline Holders however I have a sufficient quantity to complete almost any match without needing more. If Remington will not sell brass only I will have to invest some time into marking the old brass to differentiate it from a new batch.  The idea of separating old and new sounds great until you inadvertently mix them.

[Tampa-XD45]

On 12/14/2018 at 8:25 PM, 357454 said:

My latest batch of 38 short colt brass from Starline is starting to split after many reloads, Does anyone know of a source for new Brass other than Starline? I am looking for something that can readily be identified as new brass which I will shoot at major matches and use up the life of my existing brass at local shoots?  My process is not thorough enough to separate the cases before cleaning and reloading!

That's strange.  I used Starline brass when I shot 38 short colt and never had a single case problem after many reloads.  I wonder if you got a bad batch.  It might be worth calling Starline to inform them of your issue.

 

Magtech also makes 38 short colt ammo but the label theirs as "38 spl short".

[MikeBurgess]

What is  "many reloads"  I ask because all brass will split eventually from being fired and resized.

 

I am starting to loose a few cases every batch of reloads . I started with 2k new Starline cases and am just passing through 20K rounds loaded with them. I have made no effort to batch my brass so some cases may have many more loadings on them than others. ( I only replace the fired rounds on any given moonclip so the old loads and new loads are forever mixed)  

 

With on average 10 loadings on each case loosing 1 or 2 % to splitting doesn't bother me too much, but if this is an unusually high loss rate I would look into it further. 

 

 

[357454]

Most of my cases have been reloaded more then ten times, some certainly exceed twenty reloads, thus my concern about mixing brass. I have contacted Remington and am waiting on a response.

[357454]

Received word from Remington, they are not offering 38 Short Colt for sale as components. On to plan 2 !

[jcc7x7]

Try a "Markel" DURA-INK 55, marking pen.

I use it for my 9mm major brass to keep it separate from my minor brass etc.

After its fired and dry media tumbled there is still enough on the base to easily tell it's major brass.

Local copier store keeps them, mine is blue.

Seems to hold up a lot better than the sharpie colors FWIW

[pskys2]

One down side of Revolver, we rarely lose brass.  If we do the tears and sobs are connected to the loss of the moon clip, not the brass.

 

Another option though is different bullet colors for different uses.  For instance Bayou has several colors for each, use "Red" for practice and "Gold" for matches (you know to reinforce what you're striving for.  Of course if it's jacketed?

[Water63]

I'm wanting to go to 38 short what bullet are you guys running. Got a 627 and I'm running spl brass with TG

 

[Mcfoto]

32 minutes ago, Water63 said:

I'm wanting to go to 38 short what bullet are you guys running. Got a 627 and I'm running spl brass with TG

 

I’m new to short colt but having good success with blue 147 gr. I think the cool kids favor Bayou 160s which I’ve tried in .38 sp. they were good too but the blues are comparable and are more than a penny each cheaper.

[357454]

I have had equally good results with the BBI 160 and the Blue 147 (which averages @ 149 grains)   The Blue bullets require  more powder for the same power factor (I like VV320), Both are clean burning and more accurate than I when trying to go fast. I have also heard  good things about Revolver Supply's 147s,  other than color and perhaps alloy they look identical to the Blue bullet.

[357454]

9 hours ago, jcc7x7 said:

Try a "Markel" DURA-INK 55, marking pen.

I use it for my 9mm major brass to keep it separate from my minor brass etc.

After its fired and dry media tumbled there is still enough on the base to easily tell it's major brass.

Local copier store keeps them, mine is blue.

Seems to hold up a lot better than the sharpie colors FWIW

Thanks  for the tip, I will pick one up in the next few days!

[jcc7x7]

16 hours ago, Water63 said:

I'm wanting to go to 38 short what bullet are you guys running. Got a 627 and I'm running spl brass with TG

 

160 Bayou, 2.8-3.0 grs of TG. Shoots ragged holes at 25.

I use the .358 dia. and they shoot great in my 2 627's

Also used them in the 929 I "had" it shot almost as well as the 627's

[MikeyScuba]

We switched to the Ibejheads 165gr in .358.  After our last 2 IPSC matches the ro’s kept mentioning how quite our 929’s are.  They make ~125pf and shoot flat, it’s like a BB gun.  Hard to believe 5gr can make that much of a difference?  I stocked up on 52k of various 40s, 9mm and the 165gr .358’s.  Got 15%off for 50k+,  I’ll have to double check my math but I’m saving 1 or 2 cents per round compared to the 160gr bayous bought on Black Friday.

[mchapman]

MikeyScuba, what powder and charge weight are you using?

[MikeyScuba]

Not 100% but 2.65gr N320 GM200 primer @1.185oal in a 9mm case.  Reason I’m not sure I can’t get my scale to consistently sit, I keep meaning to bring the better one but it’s a .1 deviation and the chrono is giving the right numbers so everything is set from here on in.  I use the federal spp magnum primers as they are a few $ cheaper.

 

btw did u find our leftover rounds by the club entrance after the irc?  We were at our ammo limit to fly home.  Those though were 160 bayous.

 

Ibejheads sponsors a few ICORE matches we’ve been too.  Made sure Alex knew we were thankful for it.

[Water63]

On 12/22/2018 at 3:06 PM, Mcfoto said:

I’m new to short colt but having good success with blue 147 gr. I think the cool kids favor Bayou 160s which I’ve tried in .38 sp. they were good too but the blues are comparable and are more than a penny each cheaper.

I'm running 165 extremes now and want to go to the lighter 147 thanks for the input.

[Water63]

On 12/23/2018 at 6:48 AM, jcc7x7 said:

160 Bayou, 2.8-3.0 grs of TG. Shoots ragged holes at 25.

I use the .358 dia. and they shoot great in my 2 627's

Also used them in the 929 I "had" it shot almost as well as the 627's

Thanks I am running .355's now but the.358 run good too just looking for a shorter load.

[Gregg K]

In all the years that I have shot and reloaded the same Starline 38 Short Colt brass I have never split a case. I'm wondering if you might be overworking the brass by belling it out a little too much. I adjust my press so that it only flares out the case mouth just enough to get the bullet in and seated without shaving any lead. It's possible that you got a bad batch but trying to consider other factors too.

 

After Bayou changed their coating way back I started getting lead and coating streaks in my barrels, Donnie said he had to switch since he was having too hard a time with the supply of his old coating. I switched over to Ibejihead bullets and they have great accuracy and run clean. Alex at Ibejihead  is a great guy and fills orders quickly. The bullets are also about 1 cent cheaper too. The prices listed on his web site include shipping.  https://www.ibejiheads.com

Edited December 30, 2018 by Gregg K

[pskys2]

On 12/30/2018 at 8:12 AM, Gregg K said:

In all the years that I have shot and reloaded the same Starline 38 Short Colt brass I have never split a case. I'm wondering if you might be overworking the brass by belling it out a little too much. I adjust my press so that it only flares out the case mouth just enough to get the bullet in and seated without shaving any lead. It's possible that you got a bad batch but trying to consider other factors too.

 

After Bayou changed their coating way back I started getting lead and coating streaks in my barrels, Donnie said he had to switch since he was having too hard a time with the supply of his old coating. I switched over to Ibejihead bullets and they have great accuracy and run clean. Alex at Ibejihead  is a great guy and fills orders quickly. The bullets are also about 1 cent cheaper too. The prices listed on his web site include shipping.  https://www.ibejiheads.com

 I don't overwork the brass and still see splits, not a lot but it does happen.  Not that much different than what I've seen with semi-auto brass it's just we don't lose many and it seems like it's a more frequent problem.