Can you shot 38-55 brass from a 375 Win?

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Can you shot 38-55 brass from a 375 Win?

Post by andym79 » 07 May 2014, 5:06 pm

Hi,

I can only get 38-55 brass and not 375 win brass.

Should I just buy 38-55 brass and run it through a 375 die and trim it?

From what I can see the difference is neck diameter and length!

Surely 38-55 brass sized and trimmed should be fine so long as you keep the loads at 38-55 levels, until 375 brass can be found?
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Re: Can you shot 38-55 brass from a 375 Win?

Post by Seconds » 08 May 2014, 3:21 pm

Yes, mate you can do that.

Run the 38-55 brass through your FL .375 sizing die and you're away.
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Re: Can you shot 38-55 brass from a 375 Win?

Post by Old Fart » 08 May 2014, 3:25 pm

You may not actually need to trim it initially.

Often when you neck down a case the pressure of resizing it will push the neck down slightly.

As you fire your cartridges it will obviously stretch back up and go over spec, then you'll need to start trimming it. You might get a few shots out of it before this happens though.
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Re: Can you shot 38-55 brass from a 375 Win?

Post by Aussier » 08 May 2014, 3:29 pm

andym79 wrote:Surely 38-55 brass sized and trimmed should be fine so long as you keep the loads at 38-55 levels, until 375 brass can be found?


If you mean use 38-55 load data for your .375 Win? No, no, no!

Use load data for the cartridge and calibre you are firing not what the brass used to be.
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Re: Can you shot 38-55 brass from a 375 Win?

Post by Carter » 08 May 2014, 3:31 pm

Yeah, it's cool.

.38-55 is the parent case of .375 Win.

Necking it down you're basically doing the same as what they do at the factory. They just stopped a fraction sooner.
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Re: Can you shot 38-55 brass from a 375 Win?

Post by Yelp » 08 May 2014, 3:40 pm

andym79 wrote:Surely 38-55 brass sized and trimmed should be fine so long as you keep the loads at 38-55 levels, until 375 brass can be found?


Be careful with this. Seems to be a bit of misunderstanding here about what's being done to the brass.

To clarify when sizing up or with within the same family of brass, all you're doing is changing the diameter of the neck. The rest of the brass is the same (in some cases a neck may be a mm or two longer or shorter, but the rest will be the same)

e.g.

.243 win and .308 win brass are all the same except for the neck diameter. It's not like the walls of the .243 are thinner because it's a smaller calibre, or the .308 is made stronger because it's a larger one.

Same for .270 and 30-06. No difference except for the neck.

Same for .375 and 38-55... Once necked down you're using .375 win bullet weights and should be using .375 win load data.

Forget 38-55 once the resizing is done.
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Re: Can you shot 38-55 brass from a 375 Win?

Post by Aster » 08 May 2014, 3:42 pm

Yelp wrote:To clarify when sizing up or with within the same family of brass, all you're doing is changing the diameter of the neck. The rest of the brass is the same (in some cases a neck may be a mm or two longer or shorter, but the rest will be the same)


To OP,

.308 and 7mm-08 is an example of the neck length.

.308 brass length is 2.015" and 7mm-08 length is 2.035"

(This is brass only, not COAL)

If you neck down .308 to 7mm-08 you won't need to trim the brass immediately because it's already shorter.

If you neck up 7mm-08 brass to .308 you will need to trim straight away.
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Re: Can you shot 38-55 brass from a 375 Win?

Post by Tonit » 08 May 2014, 3:56 pm

Old Fart, Seconds,

Your guys avatars look like father and son or something.

New and old :lol:
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Re: Can you shot 38-55 brass from a 375 Win?

Post by Old Fart » 08 May 2014, 3:56 pm

I'm not old.

I'm classic ;)
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Re: Can you shot 38-55 brass from a 375 Win?

Post by 1290 » 08 May 2014, 5:53 pm

No doubts its done, 38-55 in 375 and vice versa, but,
375 Win. is the modern 38-55 Win.
375 uses thicker brass (for higher pressures, almost 2x), a slightly smaller proj at 376 vs 377 so the 376 if crammed into the 38 chamber will not generate super pressure from the smaller proj... and a shorter by 1.65mm case.

38 brass should need a trim but may not have enough brass to sufficiently tension the standard proj...

thickness of brass at neck:
38-55 - 0.19mm
375 - 0.31mm

I would source 375 brass
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Re: Can you shot 38-55 brass from a 375 Win?

Post by andym79 » 08 May 2014, 5:57 pm

From my understanding the 38-55 is .378 and the 375 .376!

Externally however the 375 is .006 wider (because the brass of a 375 is thicker than a 38-55 cartridge) and less tapered as well as shorter than a 38-55!

The reason I said to stick with 38-55 loads is because the 38-55 brass is thinner and rated for less pressure!

Correct me if I am wrong.
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Re: Can you shot 38-55 brass from a 375 Win?

Post by andym79 » 08 May 2014, 6:28 pm

1290 wrote:I would source 375 brass


I am really trying, I called up 4 gun shops here in Adelaide, three in Queensland and two more gun shops in Sydney!
If anyone knows where I can buy 375 Win brass I will gladly!
QGE told me Winchester haven't done a run of it for around two years!

From my understanding it can also be formed from necking up 30-30 brass, which can take 40,000 psi instead of 30,000 for 38-55!

Does anyone know how thick the neck brass is on a 30-30? I'm guessing 0.011"?
Last edited by andym79 on 09 May 2014, 6:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Can you shot 38-55 brass from a 375 Win?

Post by 1290 » 09 May 2014, 7:54 am

andym79 wrote:
1290 wrote:I would source 375 brass


I am really trying, I called up 4 gun shops here in Adelaide, three in Queensland and two more gun shops in Sydney!
If anyone knows where I can buy 375 Win brass I will gladly!
QGE told me Winchester haven't done a run of it for around two years!

From my understanding it can also be formed from necking up 30-30 brass, which can take 40,000 psi instead of 30,000 for 38-55!

Does anyone know how thick the neck brass is on a 30-30? I'm guessing 0.11"?


You may need to try a bit wider than Adelaide, there must be a few dealers with boxes tucked in the back, else Bertram is worth a try...

30-30 is close to 0.01inch
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Re: Can you shot 38-55 brass from a 375 Win?

Post by Lorgar » 09 May 2014, 11:38 am

Try Magnum Sports in Roseville, NSW.

I'm in VIC but order a bit of stuff from them over the phone.

They've always been happy to call suppliers, order in, and ship it down.
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Re: Can you shot 38-55 brass from a 375 Win?

Post by bunnybuster » 25 May 2014, 12:31 am

Try Claremont firearms in WA,they have a good stock,might be able to help.

Be Safe,BB.
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