Reloading 38-55 advice

Northern Amateur

Northern Amateur

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New to this cartridge. I have manuals along with some loading data for 38-55. Looking for some information from those who are familiar with this cartridge for load suggestions.

Will be shooting out of a new Winchester 94.
245gr lead bullets from Bullet Barn
New Winchester Brass (2.08").

I will be using it in the fall to hunt deer, forested area with shots inside of 100 yards so not looking for screaming ballistics! I figure something in the 1500-1600fps range would suffice.

Powders I have on hand are Reloader 7, 4198 and 4895 Hodgdon powders and Leverolution for rifle calibres.

Anyone care to share their experiences with the usual caveat I am responsible for whatever I load.

cheers,
 
Lyman 48th Edition shows with a 249 gr cast using IMR 4198 from 25-28gr for velocity from 1590 to 1755. Rl 7 30 to 35 gr for velocity from 1664 t0 1998, and IMR4895 from 32.5 to 36 for velocities from 1574 to 1729

I have found that you can use H4198 and IMR 4198 interchangeably
Hope that this helps.
 
RE#7 / IMR 3031/Unique are some of the best powders in most guns.1200fps kills deer just as dead and you will never recover a cast bullet.There are two sizes of brass short and long[original] you have the short.Are your bullets gas checked ? [copper wafer crimped on bullet base to prevent leading at high speeds]What brand and style of dies do you have? You may need a set of cowboy dies RCBS for some cast.What is the groove diameter of your rifle then go 2 thousands of an inch over ? Do you have data if not I can send you some.Go on Marlin Owners Forum they have data and tricks for calibre specific loads.As well castboolits.com
 
Thanks folks.

I have reloading books and not new to reloading or casting. Mainly reload 45-70.
I don't have the rifle yet. Should have it in a few weeks. My plan was to measure the bore.
The bullets I have are NOT gas checked so the plan is to keep the speeds down and they are lubed (2 grooves).

The brass measures out at 2.082 so it's the short brass of the two most popular sizes. My understanding is the longer brass (2.125) is generally used in older, BP rifles however I suppose it all depends on the length of the chamber.

Reloading dies are Lee.

I haven't been on Marlin Owners for a while. Thanks for the reminder!

cheers,
 
Winchester 94, NEW by Marieke in Japan. The bore is tight, the chamber is small and short.
UNIQUE at a MAX book load is a perfect plinker and the best ,accurate load you will find.
IMR 4198 works well and can give faster loads. Think minute of deer accuracy.
Stay with the 2.08 brass, I use Winchester, cause that is what there was enough of in volume for me to buy.
Primers, what ever.
Die sets may come with two flare stem diameters, one for fat lead and one for jacketed. Lawerys in Calondia have Speer .375 bullets.
I have shortened my brass less then 2.08 for easy cycling and chambering.
 
VICIOUS said:
Winchester 94, NEW by Marieke in Japan. The bore is tight, the chamber is small and short.
UNIQUE at a MAX book load is a perfect plinker and the best ,accurate load you will find.
IMR 4198 works well and can give faster loads. Think minute of deer accuracy.
Stay with the 2.08 brass, I use Winchester, cause that is what there was enough of in volume for me to buy.
Primers, what ever.
Die sets may come with two flare stem diameters, one for fat lead and one for jacketed. Lawerys in Calondia have Speer .375 bullets.
I have shortened my brass less then 2.08 for easy cycling and chambering.
Click to expand...

I was hoping to use .375 bullets so this is welcome news. My club makes regular visits to Lawerys so that's even better news!

cheers,
 
The reason for the two brass lengths are supposedly they were too cheap to make separate longer brass so they used 30-30 brass.You can fireform 30-30 with COW and a small charge of pistol powder.Less brass loss if fired straight up at 90 degrees.I use the long brass in my Marlin and Win 1894.I have no use for the short brass.Look at Jet Bullets for a nice 268gr GC .
 
Cool man! welcome to the gang!
Its guna be a sweet deer round in the brush 100m under!

i load 245 hard cast with AR2207 in a 375 but its at 38-55 velocity an pressures..... reason being the little 94 is a handful at full power and the rifle doesnt particularly like it, an for the same reason as You, 100m bush hunting, the 1400-1600fps (cant remember off top o head) does a good deal.

so AR2207 is H4198 ---- to you.

accuracy is sweet an recoils mint- i hunt open sight with it
 
I load 3 different weights of Cast in my Reproduction M94 Winchester. I use 3 powders
that all seem to work great! IMR 4198, Norma 200 & Reloder 7.
My lightest cast is 240, my heaviest is 285. The 265 sits in the middle.
I have aperture sights on my 94, and despite eyes that could be clearer,
It is not unusual to flirt with 1¼ moa right out to 250, which is max range
for me with these cast bullets.
I also shoot some 255 grain, .377" Barnes original JSPFN bullets, designed
for the 38-55. Those I chase with H322, and 1800 fps is where this load
shines. [Shot my biggest whitetail to date with this one. Dave.
 
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Well, finally got out and touched this rifle off. What a pleasure to shoot! Trigger on the Winchester was disappointing though. I had the 444 Marlin out as well. The recoil between the two was not at all comparable as expected. One could shoot that 38-55 all day long.

I have to find my notes on the reloads however I know the bullets were my own casting (Lee 250gr) and some Berry bullets (245gr). I believe I used H4895 for both and got decent results. Chrony had them all in the 1170fps range I think with a spread of about 30-40fps between each batch of reloads. Plenty good for me and I do believe this will be going deer hunting this Fall.

cheers,
 
Northern Amateur said:
Well, finally got out and touched this rifle off. What a pleasure to shoot! Trigger on the Winchester was disappointing though. I had the 444 Marlin out as well. The recoil between the two was not at all comparable as expected. One could shoot that 38-55 all day long.

I have to find my notes on the reloads however I know the bullets were my own casting (Lee 250gr) and some Berry bullets (245gr). I believe I used H4895 for both and got decent results. Chrony had them all in the 1170fps range I think with a spread of about 30-40fps between each batch of reloads. Plenty good for me and I do believe this will be going deer hunting this Fall.

cheers,
Click to expand...

Nice, look forward to hearin more abut it, load, shootin an huntin with it mate.. pics of course.
 
My experience with 35-55 riflles is that everyone likes something different so be prepared to spend some time figuring it out.
 
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