[jtg452]

It's marked .357 but is .38 length, right? Somebody only had a .38 and got a hold of a batch of .357 brass and trimmed them all down?

It also looks like somebody got WAY too happy with the crimp die. All that mess up at the case mouth looks like it was deformed by crimping the crap out of a bullet. I've seen a band like area like that before- not as far down the case, though- and it was caused by the crimp die being set too deep and the round being forced through the entire stroke on the press.

Then again, there's some sort of deformation right at the lip of the case (center of the lighted area, right at the lip and just below) that I can't quite make out, too. That may just be where the lip was forced deeply into a lead bullet when it was over crimped but I can't tell enough from the pic to be sure.

 

[jtg452]

I have seen something like that before, Movie gun loads. Blanks that will work in more than one caliber firearm. The ones I have most often encountered were head stamped 5 in 1 and would fit .38-40, .44-40 and .45 Colt hand guns plus the .38-40 and .44-40 carbines.

Don't blanks usually have an enlarged flash hole? That would be something to check.

 

[jtg452]

Movie blanks have a roll crimp at the case mouth to facilitate ease of loading through magazine fed guns- sort of like the .45ACP shotshells.

That would explain the seriously jacked up case mouth area. Those roll crimps are more like a shotgun roll crimp and take up more real estate than the normal revolver style crimp. The wad blows them open on firing.