38-55 & bullet barn

H

horse_men

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Looking to start reloading 38-55 and wondering if anyone has experience with the bullet barn hard cast lead. bullet? I believe it's 245 gr, had anyone tried it on white tails? Can you load it to 1800 ish fps without issue?

Or does anyone have a jacketed bullet source that would work, I can't seem to find any.
Any other information anyone can share with this cartridge would be great.
Rifle is a 1980 built 1894.

Thanks
 
yes, yes, yes - 1725 fps Benchmark, 1750fps H322 (most accurate in mine, you can load a tad higher and break 1800 but why?)

yes - Sierra 200gr FN (jacketed FP), 1840fps RL7 (my best load and all around go to in my 1916 1894 24" brl)
 
I have shot those bullets quite a bit in one of my 38-55 rifles. I also use H322 with spectacular results.

My other 38-55 prefers a Lyman GC bullet I have here that casts at 285 grains. I am using Norma 200 for that load.

My best results have been with cast bullets .379/.380" diameter.

Jacketed?? Barnes makes a dandy 255 grain - .377" bullet specifically for the 38-55. At present it appears to be unobtanium.
[I have 3 boxes, but am using them sparingly]

Neither of my 38-55 rifles likes the Hornady 220 grain .375" bullet designed for the 375 Winchester. [keyholes]

Regards, Dave.
 
Thanks for the info fellas, has anyone tried the lead bullets on deer? Just wondering how well they work. In my mind they should work fine but would like to here some real world experiences.

I've never loaded cast lead before, is there anything special that needs to be done different than a regular jacketed bullet?
 
You must be sure to "flare" the mouth of the case just a bit so you do not shave any lead while seating the bullet.
Your 3 - die set has a die specifically for that purpose.

As long as the cast are not too hard, they should expand some, on even a deer size target.
However, even the hard cast bullets will make a sizeable hole through the deer, so I see no issues.
I have shot a couple of deer with the cast slugs, but did not recover either, since they were passthroughs.
In each case, the deer travelled about 40 feet before giving up the ghost. Pretty effective, I would say.

Regards, Dave.
 
Perfect, thank you. I've loaded pistol rounds befriends so I am familiar with the belling of the case mouth. Thanks for clarification. Also, which brass does one go with, 2.180 or the shorter 2.080"? From what I've read, either should work but I guess without casting the chamber one doesn't really know what the rifle is chambered for??
 
hey lads, about half a CM or so below the case mouth I am finding some 375bb brass to be cracking....... whats this all about???


using cast hawksbury river 250 I think around 1800 and killing deer. my 94 loves them, soft loads
 
horse_men said:
Perfect, thank you. I've loaded pistol rounds befriends so I am familiar with the belling of the case mouth. Thanks for clarification. Also, which brass does one go with, 2.180 or the shorter 2.080"? From what I've read, either should work but I guess without casting the chamber one doesn't really know what the rifle is chambered for??
Click to expand...

What rifle is this for? The longer cases are generally specific to the old style single shot rifles and in a few cases replica of the old guns. Generally lever rifles like the 1886 and 1894 use the shorter casings. And I wouldn't even swear to this in the case of the 1886 that may want to see the longer casings and original size bullets. Testing with dummy loads of each or doing a chamber casting might be needed. Or with modern replica guns contacting the manufacturer or, dare I suggest this :d, reading the manual? Most are available for downloading if they didn't come with a used purchase.

The older single shots and modern replicas also often use a smaller .376 size bullet vs the lever guns that are bored and rifled to work with a .379 to .380 size bullet. All this makes for a lot of confusion in the .38-55 world.
 
Dave, a question for you.
The SAAMI specks give a length of case for 38-55 as 2.085-.020.
My old Dominion factory loaded 38-55 ammo when fired in the Marlin, leave a shiny ring on the case at the case mouth.
The length of the Dominion factory fired cases are about 2.120 length and the base of the shiny mark at the mouth, corresponds to the shown max length of the 38-55 case, of 2.085.
Are your 38-55 cases that long?
Bruce
 
H4831 said:
Dave, a question for you.
The SAAMI specks give a length of case for 38-55 as 2.085-.020.
My old Dominion factory loaded 38-55 ammo when fired in the Marlin, leave a shiny ring on the case at the case mouth.
The length of the Dominion factory fired cases are about 2.120 length and the base of the shiny mark at the mouth, corresponds to the shown max length of the 38-55 case, of 2.085.
Are your 38-55 cases that long?
Bruce
Click to expand...

No Bruce, all my cases that I am using are the shorter variety.[Winchester and Starline]
I do have 2 or 3 rounds of that older Dominion ammo, and those cases are longer. Also had a box of older
Winchester brass that was longer, but trimmed it back to 2.085" and reloaded them.

Regards, Dave.
 
horse_men said:
My rifle is a 1980 built 1894 Winchester, most of what I've read says the shorter brass should be the right one to use. But I've also read that the longer brass will work.....
Click to expand...

The brass itself will fit but you may find that depending on what bullet shape you use that the bullet jams into the leade of the rifling before the round is fully chambered. If you're using shorter/lighter bullets the longer brass might work well. If heavier and longer then likely you'll need to use the shorter brass. Only loading up a dummy round and trying it will tell for sure. I've done this in my single shot loading by seating the bullet but only just barely removing most of the flare so the bullet is only held by the mouth tension. Then try to seat the round. If it stops before being fully chambered I remove and seat the bullet a touch deeper and try again. When it finally seats and the gun can close on this test dummy I check to see where the rim of the case is in relation to the cannelure groove. In your case if the groove is buried then you'll need the shorter casing. The lever rifle ammo really does want to be crimped into that groove to aid in stopping the bullets being seated deeper from the recoil while in the magazine tube.
 
Can someone answer why dominion brass is longer than winchester? Was there a reason one went short and the other went long for the 38-55? Both cycle through my old 1894.
 
BCRider said:
The brass itself will fit but you may find that depending on what bullet shape you use that the bullet jams into the leade of the rifling before the round is fully chambered. If you're using shorter/lighter bullets the longer brass might work well. If heavier and longer then likely you'll need to use the shorter brass. Only loading up a dummy round and trying it will tell for sure. I've done this in my single shot loading by seating the bullet but only just barely removing most of the flare so the bullet is only held by the mouth tension. Then try to seat the round. If it stops before being fully chambered I remove and seat the bullet a touch deeper and try again. When it finally seats and the gun can close on this test dummy I check to see where the rim of the case is in relation to the cannelure groove. In your case if the groove is buried then you'll need the shorter casing. The lever rifle ammo really does want to be crimped into that groove to aid in stopping the bullets being seated deeper from the recoil while in the magazine tube.
Click to expand...


Thank you, I had figured as much but wanted some clarification. Appreciate your help.
 
I'm glad you got some "value added" from my post. I know that I've gotten quite a lot from other folks here so it's nice when I can give a little back.

It's tough answering questions on the forums like this because we never know what the poster knows and doesn't. Because I can type fairly fast I tend to toss out a lot and hope that some of it helps out.
 
Thanks for the link. I've only read about 1/3 of it so far and it's already proving that I'll need to read through it a few times to get the most from it. LOT'S of great .38-55 info in that!
 
I gave a good reading to the whole thing, but I'm not a bit convinced that he gave an answer as to why the fired Dominion Ammunition has a shiny, distinct line on about the top .050" of the empty case.
The shiny line, with the distinct bottom edge, looks exactly like my 110 year old Marlin rifle has step in the chamber, designed for the shorter brass and the long Dominion brass is forced into this smaller step in the chamber, thus receiving great pressure as the bullet is forced through the smaller opening of the mouth, resulting in the shiny line.
I compared the 38-55 brass with a once fired RP case from a 444 Marlin. The wall of the 38-55 at the mouth is .010" while the 444 is between .012 and .013", and of course there is no shiny rim on the 444 case.
I will trim my Dominion cases to the length the article gives for the original short brass cases used in the predecessor of the Winchester 38-55.
 
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