Henry Rifle Forums

Thinking about reloading .357 and .38 rounds since this is so fun and cost-effective -
First question is I bought fairly cheap reloads from Defender Ammunition and they did ok and I saved the brass.
So now I have 100 cases from a dozen or so different companies. Never heard of half of them.
Are there any quality differences between them? I have some popular ones but the rest who knows.

.357 (not sure how many times they were used)
These I know:
Federal
Starline
Winchester
Sig
Blazer

These no idea:
A USA
G.F.L.
PPU
R•P
Aguila
X-TREME
HRTRS
CBC

.38 (new, used once)
All my .38's are factory so I have 50 of this and 50 of that and they are new. But if I'm reloading .357 should I also do .38? My faux Colt and .357 brassie shoot these OK as well.

There are better brands of brass, Starline is generally considered the best, and I certainly like it most. You can mix headstamps for plinking ammo, but you will never get even acceptable groups that way, you must separate and load them by headstamp. There are variations in material, dimensions (case volume, rim thickness) and other specs that make your loads vary too much. If you only have a few of each oddball stamp, consider selling them on a local gun trading site, if there is one, or sell them at a scrap metal recycling center. Keep the more mainstream ones, and try to buy factory ammo from those brands. Refer to this page for some brand help.

https://www.cartridge-corner.com/uscenter.htm

In this time of component drought, do the best you can with what you have or can locate to buy. Whether or not you reload your .38 Spl brass is up to you. I hope you understand that the .38 ammo will work fine in the .357 Mag guns, but not vice versa. The same .357 die set is used for both calibers, you just set the .357 dies to a different height for the shorter .38 case. You could shorten your .357 brass to the .38 length, and use those in both gun types, but it requires a special case trimmer tool.

John Davies
Spokane WA

PPU is Serbian. Seems to work fine.
R-P is Remington. Good.
CBCis Mgtech, Brazilian. Good.
Others, ?

Thinks I'll use the Federal and Starline and Wins and get a bag of Starline .357 and weed out the rest. Did not know there were accuracy issues with different shells. Thought it was all about the bullet - interesting

Kissmybrass wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 10, 2021 4:40 pm

Thinks I'll use the Federal and Starline and Wins and get a bag of Starline .357 and weed out the rest. Did not know there were accuracy issues with different shells. Thought it was all about the bullet - interesting

Keep the R-P. In my .45 auto, I load whatever brass I have on hand. Never made a difference. In .357, pretty much the same, tho now I stick with Starline and R-P. In 45 Colt, Have only used Starline. No factory rounds thru those[3]. You should be good with your choices.

Average shooter won't notice a difference with the brass. I would use it all for 38 Special and mid .357 Mag loads for plinking work. Use the Starline for your hotter loads or self defense loads.

X-Treme has their own web site. I've used their plated bullets and brass. Both seem to work fine. https://www.xtremebullets.com/
GFL is Fiocchi. They make some ammo that's great for the price. "GFL" (Guilio-Fiocchi-Lecco). They have a plant in Ozark, Mo.
Aguilla is made in Mexico. I've not had much luck reloading Aguilla brass. I usually just toss it.
HRTRS is Herters but I don't think they make their own brass. I may be mistaken. They're a Cabella's brand. I've not seen any of it around here.
Jake

I deprimed and cleaned the Starline, Win, Fiocci and Federal - that's about 40 rounds so the rest are going to the spent bucket.
Bag of 100 Starline is looking like 25 bucks so that'll be the go to if I can find em

I think Starline is going exclusively to my rifle and the rest can go to my Colt copy .357

So I think there are better rifle bullets and better revolver bullets? More research here
Y'all have been tons of help.

What bullets are you looking for?

Rifletom wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 10, 2021 6:18 pm

What bullets are you looking for?

For the rifle... FMJs for now, maybe some HPs
Might get Missouri Bullet Co. or grizzly lead for the revolver.

Rose Dist. Zero Bullets. Good jacketed bullets for plinking. Xtreme Bullets. great bullets for plinking also. I like plated bullets for most of my shooting. But those MCB 180 pugnose are some great hard hitting bullets for spanking that steel. If you can locate any 2400 powder for those you will be set. 2400 works good in 357.

BigAl52 wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 10, 2021 6:56 pm

Rose Dist. Zero Bullets. Good jacketed bullets for plinking. Xtreme Bullets. great bullets for plinking also. I like plated bullets for most of my shooting. But those MCB 180 pugnose are some great hard hitting bullets for spanking that steel. If you can locate any 2400 powder for those you will be set. 2400 works good in 357.

Yeah once again it's gonna be on powder and primer availability.
I'm in no hurry

Kissmybrass wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 10, 2021 6:28 pm

Rifletom wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 10, 2021 6:18 pm

What bullets are you looking for?

For the rifle... FMJs for now, maybe some HPs
Might get Missouri Bullet Co. or grizzly lead for the revolver.

http://www.rozedist.com/mm5/merchant.mv ... de=ZBJ-38S

I'll give you my 2 cents worth here on brass. Unless you plan on being a bench rest shooter, whatever brass you have will work fine. For 38 Spl or 357 Mag you will not see a difference in performance. Back in the 80's I shot custom built revolvers in PPC (Police Pistol Competition). My friends and I did a lot of testing from a Ransom rest at 50 yards looking for an accuracy edge. We experimented with all Federal or all R-P brass and also mixed head stamp loads. My revolvers both shot 1 1/2" groups regardless of what brass I used. Using bullets from a quality supplier was the key factor in accuracy. Cast bullets will provide good accuracy for most shooting you will do. We used a specialized swaged bullet that was only suitable for competition.

I agree with Forty on this the average shooter won't notice any difference in performance. Load them up and have fun.

Paul

Shakey Jake wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 10, 2021 7:34 pm

Kissmybrass wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 10, 2021 6:28 pm

Rifletom wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 10, 2021 6:18 pm

What bullets are you looking for?

For the rifle... FMJs for now, maybe some HPs
Might get Missouri Bullet Co. or grizzly lead for the revolver.

http://www.rozedist.com/mm5/merchant.mv ... de=ZBJ-38S

Thanks! Hopefully they come back in stock. Dime a bullet sounds great!

My last remaining brain cell just fired and I forgot to mention the only brass I will toss out. AMERC brass is the pits. I haven't seen it in about 10 years, but it was pure garbage. If by chance you come across it just toss it. And don't take my word for it, just do a Google search for it and you will find nobody has anything good to say about it. May not even be made anymore.

Paul

Good choice with the Starline brass. I bought 250 .357's just as the ammo crunch was starting. I have used about 80 of them several times and I am sure they have a lot more life in them.

leverjc wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 10, 2021 11:02 pm

Good choice with the Starline brass. I bought 250 .357's just as the ammo crunch was starting. I have used about 80 of them several times and I am sure they have a lot more life in them.

Did you have to anneal the tops? That's supposed to extend the life but seems more of a 5.56 .308 neck shell thing

Two bullet sources for cast/coated:
T&B bullets in Oregon
Missouri bullets in, well...

When I was reloading it was usually 5,000 rounds at a time and that was enough to separate by brand. I never noticed any difference except with NATO and non-NATO brass.