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Post by twomoons on Sept 9, 2009 9:38:29 GMT -5
Well it's that time of year and i am getting the rifles sighted in, the 38-55 will be my woods carrying gun again this year and I am busy loading up some more deer loads for the 38-55. The rifle itself is a Winchester M94 that started out as a 30-30 about 30 years ago. I rebarreled it with a Numerich 38-55 barrel that is 26" long and has a tight bore that slugs just 377 in the grooves. My cast bullet is a 260 grain gas check bullet and with IMR 4895 powder I can push it easily to 1900 fps in the long barrel. This is just about 375 Winchester power for muliies and bear and with this load dead on at 1000 yards is only 10" low at 200. With Swiss black powder I can push a 250 grain bullet to 1400 fps with 42 grains of fffg. The shorter modenr cases with the thicker brass are not up to holding more powder so FFFg instaed of FFg keeps the velocity up there for close range hunting. When shooting B/P I use bear oil and bees wax lube and can hold my accuracy for 10-15 shots without cleaning is necessary. I still have to get the Lyman tang sight mounted on the gun and then it will be good to go for deer season. Attachments:
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Post by jmarriott on Sept 9, 2009 9:45:50 GMT -5
That is one fine levergun.
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Post by klsm54 on Sept 9, 2009 13:09:30 GMT -5
She's a dandy, and that tang peep ought to make it easier to shoot accurately with aging eyes, over the standard rear sight.
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Post by Bill on Sept 9, 2009 13:33:55 GMT -5
I still need to get my Marlin 336CB in .38-55 up and running. I don't plan on using black powder but I'm looking at loading at about the same speed you are. Should make one heck of a deer rifle and load. A 260 grain bullet at 1900 should handle just about anything I wish to hunt and I sure wouldn't be upset if it had an Elk in its sights. Might have to track it a ways but I bet I find it laying close. I'm planning on using a gas check bullet to load it with and hopefully one with soft enough let that will expand decently without coming apart and pretty decent accuracy.
Did you ever get Dep-Don's up and running?? His is the same as mine and you might have come up with the load I'm looking for.
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Post by twomoons on Sept 10, 2009 8:04:31 GMT -5
Bill,
Wrong DD got the Bee I got the 38-55....
Yes I got it running and am getting groupps of 4" or less at 200 yards but it is a completely different animal than the Winchester. The Marlin will chamber with Starline brass, a 381 bullet MAX and the bore is 3795 so you are right on the margain for best accuracy, that is whay i had the 260 round nose gas check mould made. It will size to 381 nicely and the nose profile is made to just snug up to the lands in the Marlin. In the Winchester I have to seat it short and crimp into a band with a lee factory crimp. I will try and post a picture of the bullet and if you want some I will send you a box sized for the Marlin. I cast them fairly soft as in my gun they shoot better that way (slug up some???) . The gas check keeps them from leading.
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Post by twomoons on Sept 10, 2009 8:19:47 GMT -5
Here is the bullet I am talking about. This was made by Mountain Mouds for me to just fit the Marlin rifle. If you crimp in the groove with the 2.082 case the ogive will just kiss the rifling as you close the lever. I get about 20 thou of very light engraving on the nose.
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Post by twomoons on Sept 10, 2009 8:22:43 GMT -5
Try Again Attachments:
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Post by Jack on Sept 10, 2009 8:44:03 GMT -5
Nice pic, Twomoons!
Looks like a great hunting rig.
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Post by Bill on Sept 11, 2009 8:47:22 GMT -5
Which Starline Brass did you buy. The last time I looked I found 3 different types of .38-55 Brass. I do have about 100 new Winchester cases which have too thick of a neck to let a round chamber using the .380 bullet. What I really need to do is slug the barrel and see what it really is. No time to do it and I don't have anything set up for reloading anyway. I do know that the Buffalo Bore ammo I have will shoot in the .38-55 Marlin OK though so that's what I have been shooting. I almost thought about re barreling the gun to the same as a Winchester 94 just so I could use off the shelf ammo. Badger makes a barrel for that. But what I really need to do is just get all the things I need to shoot what I have. I don't even have dies for the Marlin as yet.
I do have a neck turner so can turn the necks on the Winchester cases down about .002 to the right thickness.
One question I have is if you setting the bullet you have out to the lands like that aren't you getting a bit of a pressure spike by doing that. Also I have seen Marlin barrels from .377 to .3805 in bore diameter so I really need to get my barrel slugged to know for sure.
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Post by twomoons on Sept 11, 2009 9:01:21 GMT -5
All right for the Marlin you will need 2.082 brass. If you buy dies remember that all I have found so far size the brass way too much for a 380 bullet so leave the die 1/4" from full length sizing. I would flog off the Winchester brass and just buy starline as neck turning 100 cases is a pita. There is no need to rebarrle the gun unless you are going to use it for match shooting as the right bullet will shoot better than you can. All the Marlin barrels I have slugged went 378 or more so I would just count on using the 380+ bullet. As to pressure spike that doesn't apply as much to cast bullets and mostly with cast the closer you can get to touching or engraving the better your gun will shoot. If you use Lee dies with factory crimp you can seat the bullet deeper and crimp right into the bullet with no problems. I am thinking about making a drawing die so I can draw out 30-30 cases to the right length and thinner for B/P loads. Supposedly you can then load up to 48 grains of black.
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Post by Bill on Sept 11, 2009 9:06:23 GMT -5
I'm not too worried about using a BP load. Can't find enough of it to do much more than my shooting with the ML's anyway. No one in this area carries it. Some local law or something like that.  I will order up a bunch of the Starline brass and get it ready to go but everyone I know using this gun says buy the RCBS Cowboy dies and use the .379 sizer. Is that wrong?? |
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Post by twomoons on Sept 14, 2009 8:54:05 GMT -5
The RCBS dies are OK but not really necessary and you can buy a lot of brass for the difference. Now here's a deal, let me see how muuch starline .082 I have on hand and i willl trade you even up for Winchester as the W brass will work in my Winchester rifle. I'll also send you bullets and I'll check and see if I have a spare set of dies.
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Post by Bill on Sept 15, 2009 7:46:46 GMT -5
Works for me. I was just going to get a .379 case arbor for my neck turner and turn down the Winchester brass from the .0105 to .0065 and be done with it. If you have brass that is good and will work I will be more than happy to trade. Save a bit of work with the fingers.
I can order up the dies all I need to know is which ones to buy. I seen we do carry the Lyman Legacy dies though and can get those if they will work.
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