Winchester 38-55 Legacy Range Report With Cast Bullets

[Retro Guy]

All I can say is, "Wow". Lyman 249 grain bullets sized to bore diameter with 16 grains of 2400 produced some pretty impressive groups at 100 yards. 3 shot groups were averaging 1-1/2". I used 2.125" Starline brass and a Lyman #375248 sized to .379", (the Winchester brass was hard to chamber with the same bullet).

I'd like say thanks for the great advice on getting started loading cast bullets for this fine caliber.

[1886]

Sounds great. Congrats. Those Legacy 94s are pretty. 1886.

[Chuck 100 yd]

Good to hear. Any Idea of the velocity?

[Sixgun]

I used 2.125" Starline brass and a Lyman #375248 sized to .379", (the Winchester brass was hard to chamber with the same bullet).

Retro Guy,
You have yourself a shooter there, and therefore, a keeper. As to your problem with the Winchester brass-----over the years I have loaded for a mess of different rifles in 38-55. Some will not chamber a bullet that is sized according to groove diameter. If you mark the brass with a black magic marker, you will see that it gets tight right at the case mouth when chambering. That is why I have since used 30-30 brass for all of my different 38-55's. This brass is short but I just seat the bullet out. By the brass being short, it allows the bigger-than-normal bullet to be chambered.

30-30 brass is cheap, (well, not lately ) and is easy to turn into 38-55 by running it into a 35 caliber neck expander and then a 38-55 neck expander, and then full length resize. Trim to 1.90. ----------Sixgun