AmBraCol
Way back in the 20th Century
Saturday, October 16, 2021, 07:08

I could scrounge primers and powder and lead, but brass wasn't easy to track down - until I started offering a 6 for 1 deal. Bring me six 38 spl empties and I'd give you one 38 spl reload, featuring a Lee hollow point lubed with my "secret forumula" stingless bee wax lube and pushed by a reasonable charge of Especial de Caça powder. At one time I had a collection of about 50, maybe more, CBC 38 spl headstamps that probably reached back to the early 20th century. Most of them were standard small pistol primer, but there were a few Berdan primed cases as well. I found that by running a small drill bit into the center of the primer pocket from the front of the case, the Berdan anvil would break loose and one could punch the primer out in a normal resize operation (as long as one didn't recklessly drill through the primer cup). This gave a cleaner hole and didn't break my decapper pin like happened prior to learning to first drill. I reserved those cases for light wadcutter loads and they gave good service. An acquaintance brought me some 357 "brass" to load for him one time, including four CCI Blazer Non Reloadable cases. Did the same thing with them, but used a starting load of Unique from the Lyman manual to propel the projectile. I never heard if he shot those loads or not. They were the only 357 ammo he had for his illegal (all magnums were illegal there at the time) revolver for which he had "legal" carry papers. Anyway, it's good to see someone else try the same thing, I've never taken the time to reload them more than the once.