38-55 sale prices absolutely excessive

Dark Alley Dan

Dark Alley Dan

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
89   0   0
Location
Darkest Edmonton
Hello, all.

I find myself converting a shot-out M.94 in 32-40 into one in 38-55. I have no ammunition, brass, or projectiles.

The poking aorund I've done indicates that there is no reasonably priced supply of the stuff. $95 for 20? Jesus, that's approaching $5.00/pop, and I haven't included GST.

Anyone know of either factory or components available anywhere in Canada? Ideally for prices that won't leave me feeling taken advantage of?
 
I'm sure once things get a little more normal there will be lots of Starline brass available. Prophet River usually has some of the best prices when it's in stock.

Do you cast your own bullets? That's the cheapest way by far.

Chris.
 
You are a touch out of the loop. I got my 1894 Carbine in 38-55 at least 15 years ago...the crappy WW ammo was 80 a box then. 95 seems steep...til you have a reference point.
 
38-55 ammunition has been more expensive than other ammunition for a long time. Before COVID I was buying everything I could find. Lowest I paid was $50 a box and felt lucky to find it. Most was $70 a box. Reloading is the way to go. A lot cheaper and better accuracy. Most of my reloading is with cast bullets and black powder. I am currently trying out some smokeless loads with IMR 4198 and Unique. I found Winchester ammunition was too small for my rifles. A Savage 99 and Winchester 94 will shoot well if bullets are at least 0.379 or 0.380 work better. If your only going to shoot factory ammunition be prepared to pay at least $4 a round.
 
Anything over 30 is spendy. Twenty plus years ago a box of 375 rum ammo was $109. Unlike obscure calibers, ancient calibers seldom go on sale, find 45-70.....pre plandemic for less than $55/. Don't even want to know what it goes for now.

Some calibers/guages really pay to reload. Component sources I would check; EE, Budget shooting supply, Jet bullets.
 
375 Winchester last I saw for sale was 99.99 and 38-55 probably the same but have not seen it in years.

Last I bought brass for the 375 was 5 years ago and got around 150 rounds and got 300 rounds of 200 gr bullets.

Obscure or obsolete rounds only get made when the factories have time and right now they are running at 100% so nothing will be run for a while.

A friend of mine works at General Dynamics in Quebec where manufacture powder including many of the ones used for loading. She said they will not be manufacturing any powders for the domestic market for a long period of time. They are maxed out 100% manufacturing powder for NATO as well as many other explosives for NATO.
 
Thanks to all for the insights. And yeah, Tokguy, I AM out of the loop. We have tons of reloaded stuff ready to go for calibers we have. I haven't had to buy ammunition off the shelf for probably a decade. Just finding the prices a little alarming....

I guess it's reloading then.

Greatwhite, that's an ominous factoid you've supplied us with, but not really surprising. With Mad Vlad pushing up against it, it makes sense that NATO would be laying in a supply of ammunition.
 
Dark Alley Dan said:
Hello, all.

I find myself converting a shot-out M.94 in 32-40 into one in 38-55. I have no ammunition, brass, or projectiles.

The poking aorund I've done indicates that there is no reasonably priced supply of the stuff. $95 for 20? Jesus, that's approaching $5.00/pop, and I haven't included GST.

Anyone know of either factory or components available anywhere in Canada? Ideally for prices that won't leave me feeling taken advantage of?
Click to expand...

D.A.D,
38-55 brass can be made from 30-30 or 32 Sp. A mould from LEE and some LR primers, some IMR 4198 or A-5744 and Bob's yer uncle!!!
I did exactly this before I secured a bunch of Starline brass. I was fortunate to buy several 100's from a local estate sale.
 
Dark Alley Dan said:
Hello, all.

I find myself converting a shot-out M.94 in 32-40 into one in 38-55. I have no ammunition, brass, or projectiles.

The poking aorund I've done indicates that there is no reasonably priced supply of the stuff. $95 for 20? Jesus, that's approaching $5.00/pop, and I haven't included GST.

Anyone know of either factory or components available anywhere in Canada? Ideally for prices that won't leave me feeling taken advantage of?
Click to expand...
Rustywood Trading Co. in Mission, BC has Starline 38-55 Brass and his own brand of cast rifle bullets in stock. All you need then are powder and primers. Also has .375 Win brass in stock.
 
I used to have a .38-55, would love to have one again. I fireformed .30-30 brass that I picked up at the range, and cast bullets with a lee 2 cavity mold. Shot 10 gr unique for pennies a round.
 
I shoot hundreds of rounds through my 375 Win BB annually. I use a 265 gr cast gas check bullet from Jet Bullets, 28.0 gr of Reloder-7 for 1667 fps. Hits the steel at 200 yards with great authority. This is a 38-55 level load and is from the Lyman manual.

A milder load equally accurate is 265 gr Jet H-4198 22.0 gr @ 1366 fps or IMR-4198 23.5 gr @ 1492 fps. Again these are 38-55 pressure levels and very accurate out of my M 94 BB.

38-55 brass is around and will last forever if you anneal once in a while. Or you can make it as others have said. Cast bullets from Jet are cheap and very good quality.
 
big bear said:
"Jumped up" $109.00 for 20 rounds. that was no jump, that was rocket ship ride. I know you have no control over prices. But is anybody going to pay that price?Premium hunting ammo must be pushing $200/box at that rate.Guess best to keep all one's commercial ammo as an investment and just shoot reloads.
Click to expand...

it has been years since 38-55 has been 'cheap' like .30-30. However, we had these same loads in about 5 months ago and they were 79.00/20. A 30.00 jump!!! Shocking really but all ammo is going up much the same. Crazy times.
 
True enough, and I certainly don't blame you guys. You're not running a charity, and it's important that you make some money.

Still, can't bring myself to say goodbye to $5.45 every time I pull the trigger. I know other guys have it worse, or did when we still had .50 BMG and .460 W around these parts, but as a guy rapidly approaching retirement, I just don't have the respources to spend that much on an hour at the range.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom