Western 38 Special Mid Range Cases

C

CodeJunkie

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I recently acquired a substantial quantity of Western (Winchester) 38 Special ammo that appears to be in mint condition. The cases appear to be nickel, but I was hoping someone could comment.

Boxes read:
38 Special Mid-Range Match (OilProof)
148 Gr. Lead Clean Cutting

The boxes are yellow with red Western logo. Looking online I see that Winchester makes the equivalent, but in a brass case. Otherwise the two loads seems to be identical from what I can tell.

I've been reloading for my 270 Win for a couple of years and am just venturing into reloading territory for the 357 Mag / 38 Special. I've been using factory ammo for a while to accumulate some brass and get the feel of the handgun which is new territory.

Any comments / suggestions on what to do with these loads / cases would be greatly appreciated.
 
I'd yank a bullet and look inside with a flash light. I have some Western cartridges in .38 Special that are most likely from the 1950's and these are balloon head cases.

They are pretty old and pretty neat-- but when you consider how cheap, easy and available .38 Special brass is, the is NO GOOD REASON for me to load balloon head cases. No way. Nothing to be gained from it.

You say "substantial quantity" and that makes me respond... oh yeah?! How much?! If substantial to you is 75 rounds, then I say make them a nice looking item on a shelf or a shadow box.

If you are talking 500 round or more, and the boxes are in pristine shape, take 'em to a gun show and look for a cartridge collector.

Otherwise, I'd bet they are safe and fine to go ahead and shoot... but given the availability of new or recent .38 Special brass, I can't see the point in reloading them.
 
Quantity is around 700 total cartridges. They were acquired from a family member that used to head up the range for a local sheriff's department and they used them for qualifying. He found out that I now own a 357 and gave me some.

The plan was to use them for plinking and then possibly reload. I already have the dies, bullets, etc. for the 357/38 so I was hoping to reuse the cartridges for reloads after they're fired. The condition is mint and my main concern was if regarding the apparent nickel cases (I have carbide dies so that shouldn't be concern).

I would also hate to use these for plinking if they were more of collectors item.
 
I seriously doubt you will find any balloon head cases in anything made after WW2, although some low-pressure revolver rounds like 32 S&W and 38 S&W were supposedly loaded in balloon-head cases well into the 1960s. Your ammo was made between 1960 to the mid 1970s because of the color of the boxes. You are good to go.

148 gr wadcutter loads are very common. Typically, velocity is around 750 fps, very mild, and typically very accurate. Nickeled cases and brass cases are the same for most intents and purposes. Nickeled cases are a bit thinner, and crack in the neck area after several reloadings.

Cases are nickeled to reduce corrosion and ease extraction of high-pressure loads. This was very common "back in the days" when almost all police officers carried revolvers, and you still see it in situations in both rifle and pistol where someone wants positive extraction.
 
I'd rotate the older ammo to be shot. I've had some older cases crack & split during loading or firing. I'd still use them but brass(& nickle plated) seems to get brittle with advanced age. I would use them with milder loads.
 
Hi CodeJunkie,

do you still carry these 38 special mid-range match ammo?

I have a COLT NATIONAL MATCH 38 SPECIAL MID-RANGE PISTOL and these are the only bullets that can be used for this gun. They don't make these bullets anymore. Are you planning on selling these bullets?
 
To respond to EAGLE's post:
I have a Smith Model 52 that is labeled mid-range on the barrel. This is a term that they use for light 38 wadcutter rounds. If you are not reloading, remington makes targetmaster wadcutters that will shoot really well in your gun. If you reload, try this:

148gr HBWC over 3.3gr of W231 with Winchester primers
or
148gr HBWC over 2.8gr of Titegroup with Winchester primers

Bullet should be seated flush to the case mouth.

Both of these loads shoot about 1 -1.5 inch 10 shot groups @ 15 yards
Both of these shoot under 2 inches at 25 yards

These results are out of my smith model 52!!

Good luck!!
-George
 
l98ster,
Funny thing, my 52-2 is barrel marked .38 SPECIAL MID-RANGE, too. ;)
It's been living on diet of 148s over 2.7 gr of Bullseye in Federal +P+ plated cases with admirable results. The other day a buddy suggested that I should come out of the stone-age and give TightGroup a try. Have you noticed a significantly cleaner burn and better metering with the TightGroup?
 
.38 special midrange

I've tried Clays, Titegroup, 231 and even Trailboss and keep coming back to 2.7 - 2.8 gains of Bullseye. In this low dose it is the least smokey and most consistent in my 52-2's.
Trailboss was a complete disaster - fortunately I only loaded 10.

Jeff
 
CodeJunkie,

Those are just standard wadcutter match ammo. They'll work fine. The nickel is of no advantage except for corrosion resistance. It was made mainly for the days when LE had ammunition belt loops, and standard brass would get verdis gris (green corrosion) sitting in them for very long. The nickel will actually flake or rub off during reloading, sometimes scoring dies, but don't worry too much about that with carbide.

The guns labeled mid-range, means they are not intended to feed standard length or full power rounds, but rather just the wadcutters which are seated at or nearly flush with the case mouth and are loaded mild. A full length round nose .38 Special won't fit, and if it did, it would cycle the slide too hard for best gun life. I don't know why the mid-range terminology was started or dropped? No matter what you call it, anyone's modern 38 Special wadcutter target loads are the same thing, whether made by Remington or Federal or whoever?

You can load them yourself as described above. If you like shooting wadcutters and are equipped to cast bullets, I particularly recommend the Lee Tumble Lube wadcutters that are fired as-cast (without sizing). Over 2.7 grains of Bullseye, I found them to group almost exactly half the size I can get from Federal match wadcutters in my Smith K-frame revolver.
 
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