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38-40 Balloon Head Cases


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Anyone want 3 Western .38-40 balloon head cases for free?

Just pay me the shipping...

 

Cat 

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Howdy Pards

 

This probably qualifies for “do as I say, don’t do as I do” or it serves as a bad example.

 

Multitudinous years back at a gun show I saw a box of 38-40 brass for sale. It was in the Remington box. Seller believed it was once fired. Now … to put in perspective… this was before the advent of SASS and other CAS clubs. Winchester and Remington claimed to be producing 38-40 ammo but good luck finding any. Even 44-40 brass (which easily sizes down to 38-40) was hard to find.

 

It looked okay but was balloon head and not solid head. 

 

Gritted my teeth, bot it, and decided to reload a few to test them. I painted the heads with auto touch-up paint so as not to mix them in with my solid-head brass. Purposely used a light load (5 grains of Unique or Bullseye). They shot just fine. No signs of stress or splitting. 

 

Fast forward to the present. 
 

Still have the brass. Still use it with mild loads. No issues. The numbers have gradually decreased as split necks occur, as with any frequently reloaded brass, but most continue to give faithful service.

 

Have more recently used 5 grains of Titegroup with similarly satisfactory results.

 

Again, this not a recommendation but rather an example that worked for me in this particular instance.

 

Keep on the sunny side 

 

Adios

 

Fort Reno Kid 

 

 

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