Marlin 1881 .38-55 range report for J Miller w/PICS

1886 · Post by **1886** » Sun May 25, 2008 9:08 am

Joe asked how the rifle shot and I had no idea. Well his question peaked my curiosity so I decided to take the old timer to the range for a little informal testing/evaluation. Not wanting to push the old girl too hard, I brewed up some mild loads. I used starline 2.125" brass, 6.5grs of Trail Boss underneath a Bear Creek Supply 250gr PBFN bullet sized .380". For those of you unfamiliar with these bullets they are a soft, moly coated cast bullet that have given me super results when assembling mild plinking loads. I applied a very mild crimp with a Lee FCD made to handle the 2.125" case all ignited by Rem. 2 1/2 large pistol primers. I preped everything using the excellent RCBS Cowboy Dies. The dies come with two expanders, one .375" and one .378". I used the .378" expander so as not to swage down the soft bullet. I loaded to an overall length of 2.40". Velocity averaged 950 fps with an extreme spread of just 12 fps. The rifle loads, feeds, extracts, and shoots just fine. The target was shot at 50yrds utilizing the set trigger. 9 rounds were fired. I did some dry firing in order to acquainte myself with the trigger. Big thanks to Joe for asking the question "how does it shoot". She shoots just fine thank you! 1886.

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Sun May 25, 2008 9:09 am

Very

and very pretty!

1886 · Post by **1886** » Sun May 25, 2008 9:14 am

Sorry for the crappy pics. I tried to show more detail but my photo skills are lacking. The metal has turned brown and the wood is dark probably due to oils being applied over the years. 1886.

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Sun May 25, 2008 9:51 am

COOL! That's great. That brown patina and dark wood is character. That rifle has more stories to tell than all mine put together. Wish it could talk.

You think you might try it with some full house black powder rounds?

Joe

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Mon May 26, 2008 9:42 pm

Very nice!!!

Jaguarundi · Post by **Jaguarundi** » Tue May 27, 2008 12:47 am

Oh'how sweet it is!

Post by **Hobie** » Tue May 27, 2008 7:22 am

Pretty neat!

WCF3030 · Post by **WCF3030** » Tue May 27, 2008 7:43 am

That ought to do the trick.

oldmax · Post by **oldmax** » Tue May 27, 2008 5:04 pm

Great shooting, Great shooting rifle !

Thats better than my' modern' gun From a rest. !!!!

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Tue May 27, 2008 7:07 pm

Sweet!

rjohns94 · Post by **rjohns94** » Tue May 27, 2008 7:53 pm

I"m in love!!!!!!