Any Success... 38-55 using Round Balls?

[John Boy]

I use my H&R 38-55 for Gallery Matches primarily because it is light for shooting offhand.

The grooves on the H&R are supposed to be 379 but mine is a 378.

I've been thinking about using a 380 round ball for a good gas seal and better accuracy. Any good experiences using a RB in a 38-55? Presently, I'm using the Lee 375-130 bullet for light gallery loads.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Sounds like fun, I gotta try some of these.

[45 2.1]

The RB and gallery bullets work fine, give it a try. Its lots of fun hunting squirrels with them.

[beagle]

I've played with bumped .375" RBs in my .38-55. I'm shooting a Douglas barrel that measures .375" so if yours is larger that diameter should be fine. Data is below.

I took the .375 RBs and bumped them to .376" in a #450 sizer. Then, I dipped in liquix alox. Balls were loaded against a cardboard wad.

I was able to shoot about 3" groups at 50 yards with the single balls and a majority of the two ball loads inpacted in about an 8" circle at 50 yards. The double loads are fun to shoot and usually impacted 2-3" apart at 50 yards.



375 RB 78.0 gr Unique 8.0 gr 1076 WLR Single Ball
375 RB 78.0 gr Unique 8.0 gr 1244 WLR Double Ball

If the ball will seat and chamber, it should shoot good. If not bump it flat and it should load and shoots pretty well./beagle

[Urny]

Mine is a Wesson and Harrington Target Model. Got a single cavity Lyman .380 mold that casts very well, and shoots well too. My barrel is one of the early ones that slug .3775" and does well with the .380's. Try 4.0 Reddot or thereabouts, with a half square of toilet paper loosely stuffed in over the powder. Lots of fun. I press the boolit in with one lot of cases and don't have to even resize them, just punch out the primer, seat a new one, charge, paper, seat the boolit and shoot. I loob with liquid alox, and tumble the balls in motor mica or talcum powder. Umm, the balls from the mold (mould) shoot well. Haven't tried shooting the mold itself yet.

[Leftoverdj]

You can get a bit more bearing surface and accuracy by running slightly oversized RBs through an appropriate sizer. I ran .490 RBs through a .459 Lee pushthrough and got inch groups at 25 yards from my .45-70. Had to chamfer the mouth of the sizer to do it. Did much the same with some buckshot (0?) for my .308. Never had a .38-55 though.

[woody1]

I shoot a .378 RB with reformed RP 30-30 brass using 3.1 grains of Bullseye in my 375 Winchester. It makes a really nice quiet load for short range and will usually put 'em all in one hole at 25 yards. It also happens to shoot to point of aim at that distance when I'm sighted in for hunting. Velocity with standard primers is about 900 fps. I've started using Winchester Magnum primers since I have a ton and I think accuracy is better. Mebe more fire offsets the powder position sensitivity somewhat. With the thinner 30-30 brass, I have to neck size and/or run a cannelure around the neck to keep the ball in place. Balls are mostly alox lubed and/or get a smear of FWFL across the top after loading. I use no filler/tp or anything else.
I also run the same balls thru a .360 sizer and shoot 'em in 357 Mag and 38 Specials, rifle and revolver. Lube and load is the same. Great fun. Try it you'll like it. Regards, Woody

[stocker]

I use a .350 ball in my 348 Win. I don't size those cases at all, simply flare a bit and seat the ball almost flush with the case , then just enough crimp to roll the flare back and barely over a tad. 5 shot groups of 1/2 to 3/4 inch at 25 yards is the norm. I use a light load of 5744 with a pistol primer (hate to open that can of worms again). Not being in my loading room I think the charge is 10 grains. I'm sure there are other powders that would use less but I don't normally keep them on hand while I always have 5744. I double lube with Lee's Alox.

Very quiet. In fact at the range with my hearing protection on I'm in the habit of counting holes in the target as a check that the ball actually came out the barrel.

[John Boy]

Gents, do thank you for the replies. Based on the responses ... ordered the Lee 380 double cavity mold.

I've been using 4.8grs of Trail Boss with the 375 - 130's. So, am going to work up a recipe for the RB's (1:40 to start with) - Alox lubed - BR2 primers and Trail Boss too. Reason for the soft RB, the H&R has only a 0.002 groove depth (0.374 and 0.378)

Woody, I'm hoping their all one holers too! Well, maybe small cloverleafs!

[woody1]

Reason for the soft RB, the H&R has only a 0.002 groove depth (0.374 and 0.378) Woody, I'm hoping their all one holers too! Well, maybe small cloverleafs!
'Scuse me John Boy, let me clarify. I didn't mean to imply a Starmetal all in the SAME hole group. BUT I consider if all holes touch, as in your cloverleafs, it's one hole. As to your soft balls, oops here comes Carpetman, you might want to try wheelweights. It's what I shoot in my Marlin microgroove although I generally don't shoot 'em very fast. Regards, Woody

[BrushBuster]

I learned it from Stocker:
He taught me to shoot LB's in my .348 and these came from Speer at .350. That was a lot of fun, and they shot like a damn! Knocked off a couple of grouse heads with them in the .348 when I first acquired it. Then I saw no reason not to take it further along to the .35 Marlin. The .35 LB's came from Hornady at .360 and I souped these up a little to 12 grains of AA5547 instead of 10 grains for the .348. Success again, and I even shoot it in my basement during the long winter months. Single coat of Lee Alox seems adequate.

I flare the .35 cartridge just enough to not deform the LB, and seat it lightly with the LB against a strip of soft wood. I then I close the flare with my factory crimp die just enough to hold it secure. These are surprisingly accurate loads, and I keep a couple in my breast pocket for when the hunting is slow and grouse are active.
It's also a fun way to fire-form cases. :Fire:

Brushy