I have a bunch of old 38S&W brass that was originally for use in a nail gun or a similar tool.
I’d like to use them for wax loads. But most of them have a pretty extreme crimp at the mouth of the casing. What’s the best way to open up the cases to fit the cylinder chambers? Is there a recommended way to load up blanks with sufficient pressure to straighten the cases out?
I saw there’s a die for removing crimps on the 38 blanks used for 37 & 40mm reloadable launcher cases, but I don’t really think I’d need it and would rather not spend 100 bucks on a one time use item.
Maybe I’m overthinking this and theres a quick and easy solution, if so I’d like to hear it.

I’ll get a photo up of my brass, but for now this is pretty similar to what I have (but much of mine has already been popped off - with most crimps remaining)

You'll need to pop them off first to render them inert, I wouldn't try removing the case contents while the case still had a chance of being live. Even primers going off will hurt you. If you have reloading equipment the obvious first thing to try is a flaring die to see how much of the crimp it can remove.

The first step is to see if they fit in the pistol you intend to use.  38 S&W and 38 Special are not interchangeable.

After what those dudes said, my next step would be to see if a M die will fit in it.

Thanks. The only reloading equipment I have is 38sp/357 whack-a-mole Lee loader. But I’m planning on picking up a single stage press later this month. The crimp on most cases was too extreme for the flaring tool with the primative Lee loader. Hopefully a real die set for 38 S&W will work better.

I personally did the popping off of the ammo I have (with an enfield 38s&w top break), and the ignition was inconsistent. You can tell how much powder was set off by how flared each piece of brass was after ejection. Most looked unchanged but some of them opened up almost like normal factory brass. That’s why I was thinking maybe loading up some stout blanks would do the job.

You can see the middle one opened up enough to work with. On the right is normal brass.


Wax loads with some non-tool brass I had.

I'd just keep using some regular 38 brass. You'l also want to open up the flash hole with a 7/64 drill bit or you'll run the risk of a primer setback. Be sure to keep these separated from your normal brass

Here's an old archived post that may help you out some.


Wax bullets



JETA: Just adding, if you do end up buying a single stage or other press, do get a Universal de-capping die. All they do is knock the primers out which is about as much as you need to do with the modified brass besides putting a new one in which you can obviously do with the lee loader you have. I use a Lymans but here's an alternative for short money: Natchezs's offering

The one on the far left could easily be “fixed” with a Lyman M die, followed by resizing for one last time. After you drill the pockets (they will, in fact, set back and tie up the gun), a single stage that you can prime on-press with makes reloading wax bullets less tedious.

Those power set cartridges were sold in different "powers" so the inconsistencies you're seeing could be simply different strengths of the cartridges. There are tools for loading wax bullets, I have one for 38/357 that I've never used.