38/40 day -- Addendum

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earlmck
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38/40 day -- Addendum

Post by earlmck »

I finished loading a nice batch of the 38/40's and thought I should mention to anyone thinking the bullet pictured would be neat to have -- it has a design flaw. The top groove is just a narrow lube groove and not much use as a crimp groove. This would be a bad deal if loading for a revolver especially, or if you are using loads that don't fill the case so the bullet could slip the crimp and drop down. My load fills about 105% so that isn't a problem and I only load this bullet for rifles. But if I got another of these moulds made I'd ask Tom to make the top groove into a nice crimp groove instead of the little wimpy grease groove that is in no way adequate for the little wimpy neck on a 38/40 case.

At our monthly shoot last week-end I shot kinda' mediocre to fair except for "pistol caliber levergun" where the old 38/40 just got on fire and made a perfect score. In our match we shoot 2 shots as "sighters" and 5 for score at the 50,100, 150, and 200 yard targets. So "perfect" is when you get both sighters plus the 5 score shots at each target for a total of 28 hits. I had two rounds left over afterwards and shot them at the little round gong we use for qualifying "Berdan Sharpshooters", which looks pretty dinky out there at 200 yards. But both of the leftover rounds found the little round target, so the kid was 30 for 30 for the final shoot of the day. Wow! hadn't even come close to getting a perfect score with the pistol cal lever before. Feelin' pretty good.

Get home and inventory and dang! not enough 38/40's left for next month's match let alone popping tin cans with the gkids. So... size, bell, prime my brass and ...dang again! only about 20 bullets left in the bin.

Casting session a few days ago and then warmed up the old Star today and used the last of the gas checks (sage's "41 BSS") putting out 350 or so bullets.
Star401200_9771.jpg
3840_9772.jpg
And here's the Win 92 that did the damage
win38409652.jpg
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Last edited by earlmck on Thu Jun 11, 2020 7:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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gamekeeper
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Re: 38/40 day

Post by gamekeeper »

Excellent, here's to your next perfect score 🍺 cheers.
If more men loved and cherished their wives as much as I love bacon the world would be a much better place.
historicfirearms
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Re: 38/40 day

Post by historicfirearms »

Excellent pictures! That Winchester is beautiful. What bullet mold is that? Mine is a plain base mold and was thinking about trying a gas check design.
hondo1892
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Re: 38/40 day

Post by hondo1892 »

Nice looking Winchester and glad you had a good day shooting.
Bill in Oregon
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Re: 38/40 day

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Aw, shucks, Earl. Y'all are making me "turrible lonesome" for Oregon and getting burgers at the Tastee Treet in Prineville en route to the COSSA range. Phooey! 8)
Merle
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Re: 38/40 day

Post by Merle »

earlmck wrote: Mon Jun 08, 2020 6:15 pm At our monthly shoot last week-end I shot kinda' mediocre to fair except for "pistol caliber levergun" where the old 38/40 just got on fire and made a perfect score. In our match we shoot 2 shots as "sighters" and 5 for score at the 50,100, 150, and 200 yard targets. So "perfect" is when you get both sighters plus the 5 score shots at each target for a total of 28 hits. I had two rounds left over afterwards and shot them at the little round gong we use for qualifying "Berdan Sharpshooters", which looks pretty dinky out there at 200 yards. But both of the leftover rounds found the little round target, so the kid was 30 for 30 for the final shoot of the day. Wow! hadn't even come close to getting a perfect score with the pistol cal lever before. Feelin' pretty good.

Get home and inventory and dang! not enough 38/40's left for next month's match let alone popping tin cans with the gkids. So... size, bell, prime my brass and ...dang again! only about 20 bullets left in the bin.

Casting session a few days ago and then warmed up the old Star today and used the last of the gas checks (sage's "41 BSS") putting out 350 or so bullets.Star401200_9771.jpg 3840_9772.jpg
And here's the Win 92 that did the damagewin38409652.jpg


congrats - that was a very good day! :D
Merle from PA
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fordwannabe
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Re: 38/40 day

Post by fordwannabe »

Well Done Sir!
a Pennsylvanian who has been accused of clinging to my religion and my guns......Good assessment skills.
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earlmck
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Re: 38/40 day

Post by earlmck »

historicfirearms wrote: Mon Jun 08, 2020 7:10 pm Excellent pictures! That Winchester is beautiful. What bullet mold is that? Mine is a plain base mold and was thinking about trying a gas check design.
My bride insisted that rifle come home with us from a local gun show somewhere around 35 years ago. And I try not to argue with that girl when she decides something.
And the mould is Accurate's 40 - 200B. In my case a beeeyoutiful 5-cavity aluminum that turns out bullets in a hurry, which I need to do because my back doesn't like to spend more than about 45 minutes in a casting session. So that 350 bullet batch was one casting session and will last me for several months at the rate I go.
Bill in Oregon wrote: Mon Jun 08, 2020 7:56 pm Aw, shucks, Earl. Y'all are making me "turrible lonesome" for Oregon and getting burgers at the Tastee Treet in Prineville en route to the COSSA range. Phooey! 8)

Well come on back Bill, at least for a visit. We'll get us Mountain burgers and shakes to go and be almost out to the range by the time we finish 'em! And if you really want a treat we can also spend a day cutting junipers as I have another cutting contract going.

(As a matter of levergunner interest, this fellow "Bill in Oregon" likes to build on his resume' doing different sorts of work things. One day he came along on a juniper-cutting expedition with me. And came back again on another day too!)
The greatest patriot...
is he who heals the most gullies.
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ywaltzucanrknrl
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Re: 38/40 day

Post by ywaltzucanrknrl »

Very nice shooting Earl! I take it this is pistol caliber cowboy silhouette---offhand, correct?
Catshooter
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Re: 38/40 day

Post by Catshooter »

Perfect score days don't come by very often, nice work.

Now, you're never going back, right? :)


Cat
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Grizz
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Re: 38/40 day

Post by Grizz »

all around Excellant. great times. and really sharp eyes !
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OldWin
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Re: 38/40 day

Post by OldWin »

Don't you just love days like that?
Good show!
Can't beat the 38-40. My favorite of the pistol calibers.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
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Rube Burrows
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Re: 38/40 day

Post by Rube Burrows »

Great shooting.
How do you like your star size/luber?
3leggedturtle
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Re: 38/40 day

Post by 3leggedturtle »

Earl, thats a great looking bullet. Are those tumble lube grooves? Or just narrow ones designed that way?
30/30 Winchester: Not accurate enough fer varmints, barely adequate for small deer; BUT In a 10" to 14" barrelled pistol; is good for moose/elk to 200 yards; ground squirrels to 300 metres

250 Savage... its what the 223 wishes it could be...!
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earlmck
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Re: 38/40 day

Post by earlmck »

ywaltzucanrknrl wrote: Tue Jun 09, 2020 9:30 am Very nice shooting Earl! I take it this is pistol caliber cowboy silhouette---offhand, correct?
My group does their "own thing" with this silhouette stuff and we only shoot the 50 yard offhand. The other distances are sitting with cross-sticks. Or you can use the prone position if you think you would be able to get back up from it!
Rube Burrows wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 8:20 am Great shooting.
How do you like your star size/luber?
Very fond of my Star. I still use the old Lyman for a few things (it's got the black-powder lube in it, while the Star has stuff that needs a little heat). But I really feel abused if I have to put on gas checks with anything but the Star.
3leggedturtle wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 1:02 pm Earl, thats a great looking bullet. Are those tumble lube grooves? Or just narrow ones designed that way?
I think they were just designed that way but should work fine for tumble-lube. I got my star size die made with 5 closely spaced lube rows just for ease of lubing these type lube grooves. Fellow who goes by "lathesmith" advertises his Star dies over on "Castboolits" and he makes them that way for me and doesn't even charge extra. 'Course you don't have to worry about that if you are tumble-lubing or lubing with a Lyman. The Star, however, depends on the little lube holes lining up with the lube grooves.
The greatest patriot...
is he who heals the most gullies.
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Rube Burrows
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Re: 38/40 day -- Addendum

Post by Rube Burrows »

Good to hear. I have been thinking about getting one at some point.
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