Forum rules
Welcome to the Leverguns.Com General Discussions Forum. This is a high-class place so act respectable. We discuss most anything here other than politics... politely.
Please post political post in the new Politics forum.
Just curious to see if anybody is shooting anything heavier than 300 + grain bullets out of their 38-55 lever guns or single shot rifles. If so, what weight and brand. For competition or hunting.
I have had good results with a 310gr F.N.G.C. design sized .381 from Mt. Baldy Bullets in my Marlin .38-55 CB. I did not check my notes, but if memory serves me I was using a compressed charge of 2495 ignited by CCI-300 primers. Velocity ran around 1500fps. Accuracy and uniformity were quite good. I am confident this load would penetrate well on large game given reasonable range considerations. In order to use this diameter bullet in the Marlin CB one will need Starline brass. Hope this helps. 1886.
The heaviest I've read of being used are the 300 grainers (nominally as they are cast and could actually be 315 gr. or so). I've never really seen an advantage. IIRC the Brits went to even lighter bullets in their .375s of this approximate case size. I like the 250-265 gr. bullets. They seem to give the best balance in this cartridge.
Sincerely,
Hobie
"We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best that we find in our travels is an honest friend." Robert Louis Stevenson
If you actually could find any, you could probably use a .375 Win. barrel with them. I believe they have a significantly tighter twist than the standard .38-55.
I have a Browning Traditional Hunter 1885 in 38-55 with a 1-15" twist that shoots the Lyman 378674 335gr mini-postell style bullet quite well out to 500yds. using Swiss black powder.
Steve
Not quite that heavy, but my standard 38-55 bullet is the NEI 275 gr semi-spitzer with a small flat point. Powered by 21 gr. of 5744, it clocks a bit over 1400 out of various 38-55 rifles. Shoots like a scoped bolt gun.----------------Sixgun
I had to go back and review my SHOT SHOW article to be sure I got my facts straight. I think the loads recommended so far with the older twist rates are appropriate, but the latest trend with the 38-55 is thus:
"I was really impressed with the Davide Pedersoli and Co. booth. They had all sorts of reproduction weapons from Trap Door Springfields to Sharps, Lightnings and Hi-Walls. Our own Steve Young told me that the DP rifles are the only other rifles outside of Shiloh that are competitive "out of the box" for BP competitions. The rest require a rebarrel.
One of their new products, that they were particularly proud of, is their Hi-Walls. They make one in 38-55 with a match-grade barrel and a 1-in-12 twist that is designed to "lob" a 360 grain bullet. They were beautiful rifles."