Old .38 brass for reloading
 

Just found some .38 special brass from WWII and was wondering if it's safe for me to reload?

If it's brass (use a magnet), not corroded, or split, uses boxer primers (one flash hole), I can't think of why not.

should work just fine. the only problem with old brass is sometimes it is too hard and needs to be tempered.

Brass gets hardened by "working". Repeated sizing and firing will eventually harden the mouth area to the point it splits. .38 Spl will do this gernerally after about 6-10 loadings. If the brass was once fired sometime after WWII, it is still once fired and fine. Anealing to remove the work hardening is a PITA for somthing like .38 Spl. Shoot it till it splits and recycle it.

Brass does harden with age. But I don't know if 50 years is enough. I shoot many old guns, some that factory ammo has been discontinued for 80 years or so. I could easily see that ammo being brittle. But 38 spl brass is easy to come by so I would not bother to anneal it either.