38spl first loads

[hermosabeach]

Skip trimming

I had some once fired military brass that I must have reloaded 20+ as a kid.

If you crimp - just enough- and not too much, brass in the 38 can last a very long time.



Measure OAL of 6 rounds
Load 6
Fire 5

Re measure the unfired round. Has the bullet moved during recoil?

No movement - either good crimp or too much crimp.

[smoothy8500]

on the hodgdon site that it lists a min of 5.7 to a max of 6.3. I just chose 6.0 as it was in the middle

Should be good. If using a progressive press it's better to have a buffer for the powder dropper's potential +/- .1gr variances. The crimps look OK and should tolerate the extra few thou of case length.

[Cowboy T]

Thanks for all the replies. I loaded some rounds before all the replies came in, picture below. The left round is crimped on the lube groove, the middle round is crimped to the OAL specified in the reload book and the one on the right is crimped to the crimp groove. All three are within the maximum OAL by saami. Should I go ahead and pull them or shoot them? They fit in my LE Wilson case gauge as well as my revolvers cylinder. I'm using 6.0 grains of HS-6.

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As long as your powder charge is within what the reloading manual says, and your subsequent posts indicate that it is....

Go ahead and shoot 'em. Me personally, I would do a light roll crimp at the crimp groove, like your third round shows. As hermosabeach pointed out, .38 Special brass can last for a very long time if you don't crimp it too much.

[Che762x39]

... the one on the right is crimped to the crimp groove. All three are within the maximum OAL by saami. Should I go ahead and pull them or shoot them? They fit in my LE Wilson case gauge as well as my revolvers cylinder. I'm using 6.0 grains of HS-6.

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The one on the right is correct.

Go ahead and shoot them all.

[eaglemike]

Thanks for all the replies. I loaded some rounds before all the replies came in, picture below. The left round is crimped on the lube groove, the middle round is crimped to the OAL specified in the reload book and the one on the right is crimped to the crimp groove. All three are within the maximum OAL by saami. Should I go ahead and pull them or shoot them? They fit in my LE Wilson case gauge as well as my revolvers cylinder. I'm using 6.0 grains of HS-6.

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Many times the OAL you see in the manual is not for your specific bullet.
As noted above, use the crimp groove. Lyman has a cast bullet handbook (don't know if it's still in production), the NRA has had cast bullet info, as well as others. Since you are a beginner, use lighter loads until you get experience. Ask if you feel like you could use help, and most people will be reasonable.
.38 special is the easiest round to reload I can think of, and great to learn doing it. It's helpful to develop good habits shooting powder puff loads. Many powders will work well in .38 special, including your HS-6. You can get a lot of rounds from a pound.

Good luck!