38-55 loads

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Hammer64

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I just acquired a Winchester 1894 38-55 in nice condition manufactured in 1899. Can anyone recommend a load? I have been reloading for some time but have no experience with vintage rifles.
 
First thing you need to do is slug your barrel. Most old winchesters have .381-.382 which is a problem for jacketed bullets but can be overcome with cast bullets and starline brass.
 
249 gr cast boolits with 18 grs 5744 OR Barnes FNSP 255 gr with 23 grs 4198 works for me BUT I'm shooting them out of a barrel I relined so don't have the sizing problems usually experienced with old barrels that have "seen some use (and abuse)".
 
I'm going through this with mine as well, mine's 1896 according to the serial #. Does your barrel have "Smokeless Powder" stamped on it? Mine doesn't so I'm pretty much stuck with BP loads and low pressure smokeless loads. Also, with mine the barrel slugs very large, so I can't use the nice Dominion brass I have with a fat cast bullet, the cartridge won't chamber. I haven't tried it yet, but have been told that the Starline brass is thinner to accomodate the fat bullet....
Sorry, I can't recommend a load......I'm in the same boat, but I've done a lot of reading here and on the cast boolits site. I'll be watching this thread tho'...with interest
 
I'm using Bullet Bench .379" 245 grain cast bullets with 24 grains of IMR 4198 powder. As others have mentioned, there is some variation in bore diameters with 38-55. I slugged mine out to .379". If you are casting your own bullets, Lee makes a mold that I believe drops .381" or .382" bullets. Worth looking into that if you have a slightly over sized bore.

The rifles I'm shooting from are 1980 manufactured Winchester Model 94's.
 
I have the same rifle made in 1899 and yours will likely be the original .380 grove diameter too. I mold them at .382 and size them down to .381 with a GC (not really needed) and load them in front of 20 grains of IMR 4227. It is a really good light and accurate load. Really fun caliber but can be very frustrating at times. Good luck.
 
Any load data will do. The manufacturers are decidedly conservative when it comes to cartridges that might be used in questionable rifles. So they load to BP pressures. Hodgdon's site has lots of data.
 
sunray.....'Any load data will do'....are you serious?
I know my old '94 38-55 was made just around the time of switching from BP to smokeless. From what I have read, rifles of that period would have "Smokeless" stamped somewhere on the barrel.....mine does not, and I can tell from the pitting in the barrel that it has has a long life of BP, and some neglect, so I chose NOT to use "Any load data".
I have found however, that some poeple are having great results using smokless in these old PB guns....I found this thread to be interesting

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/foru...-Antiques?highlight=smokeless+powder+in+38-55

My barrel slugs LARGE, so I need to find a way to fit a fat bullet into a shell, that will actually chamber....
I have some nice Dominion brass, does anyone have some of the thinner walled Starline brass to trade, for me to experiment with??
 
I have a Marlin 38-55 and the barrel says "black powder only", so I am stuck with black powder! Haven't slugged the bore yet, there are 2 different lengths of brass available, does anyone know why and which brass fits what?
 
gday, I use a 375 win so might not be much use to u but im using 28gr AR2207 with 220gr hornady fn, around 1800-1900fps, really an inbetween 375 & 38-55 load really.. works for me though very accurate an proven in the field.

WL

Awesome calibre for what its intended for!
 
Mines a Winchester made 1885 and for plinking loads I've found Unique to be accurate and cost effective....
Slug the bbl first... This is 100yds, vernier site and off a rest.
38-55_10_Unique.JPG
 
bobdbldr said:
I have a Marlin 38-55 and the barrel says "black powder only", so I am stuck with black powder! Haven't slugged the bore yet, there are 2 different lengths of brass available, does anyone know why and which brass fits what?
Click to expand...

I did a "Yahoo" search on ".38-55 cartridge lengths" and found a discussion. The consensus seems to be that Winchester just wanted to make the same length cartridge for both the .38-55 and the .30-30. I mostly use necked up .30-30 or .32 Special cases.

No, you don't have to just use black powder. Just keep your smokeless powder loads down to the low pressure levels produced by black powder. I would suggest only using cast lead bullets though.
 
Goldenlakepete said:
I did a "Yahoo" search on ".38-55 cartridge lengths" and found a discussion. The consensus seems to be that Winchester just wanted to make the same length cartridge for both the .38-55 and the .30-30. I mostly use necked up .30-30 or .32 Special cases.

No, you don't have to just use black powder. Just keep your smokeless powder loads down to the low pressure levels produced by black powder. I would suggest only using cast lead bullets though.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I will look further into safe smokeless loads!
 
If you go with pure lead ( PITA to locate ) the bullet will set up into the bore.
Pure lead will expand far more and faster than you would think.
I've an oddball revolver ( OK, a few oddball revolvers) that doesn't have the step in the cylinder. A pure lead .430 bullet will expand enough jumping the 1/2" or so from the case to the .430 bbl enough that it will leave a trimmed ring of lead that will clog the action.
A BP substitute like Unique should bump it up to fit a ragged old bore.
I've a raggedy bored Win 94 38-55 myself. Load mine hot and it'll blow the bullets through without getting the proper spin and it'll keyhole.
With helpful folks from here, it's put 6-8 deer on the gambrel. The farthest shot was 290 paces; on a wounded deer, I'd never try to shoot a deer at that range with a 38-55...but it knocked it down.

This deer was shot 5 times with Win factory jacketed loads ( about 120 paces ) ; it ended up bleeding out, just no expansion or killing shock upon hitting. Pure lead handloads work way better, PITA but if you want easy buy a new Savage bolt action canoe paddle.
But stay with BP or BP subs. That's what these old guns want, along with the pure lead bullets.
 
Hey mate, ive found the 200gr Winchester factorys go pretty hard and pin hole critters too! Since slowing down my velocity to the 1800 or so range ive found penetration is still thorough although without the pace I feel its opening up a bit better.... Not sure about that 1 but have had projectiles stay inside animals where as before I never found 1 an no expansion to be seen.

Long shooting with yer Big bore but hey.... Good schit!

The ol lever looks out of place out on those prairies there mate! ;)

WL
 
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