Winchester 1885 Hunter in 38-55

[Hook]

I just bought one of these and have never loaded for this caliber. I would love any input y'all might have or links to good sites that have reloading and casting suggestions for both the rifle and caliber.

[littlejack]

If yer shooting white powder, go to the (Single Shot Guns) site. If'n yer shootin the black, go to the (Black Powder Cartridge) site.
Jack

[Balhincher]

I bought a Winchester (made by Miroku in Japan) 1885 in 38-55 a year or so ago. I have been very pleased with how it shoots and last fall took a little six point deer with it. I have shot several different cast bullets in it including the RCBS 250 gr, the Ranch Dog 240gr, NEI 265gr and a Lyman 230 gr. All of them shoot OK but the NEI and RCBS were produced for a 375 winchester and the bullets drop out with a diameter that is a little on the small side. I have mostly used MP 5744 powder and have loaded fairly mild loads since I wasn't trying to reach high velocities. My best groups have been around 6/10 to 3/4 inch for five shots at 50 yards. These were with the tang sight that came with the rifle and my eyes don't see that front sight as well as they did 40 years ago. The rifle will probably do better than that with a good shooter and a scope with the best loads. It is a pleasure to shoot and certainly dispatched the deer with no problems. The bullet travelled completely through the chest and left a good sized hole on the far side but didn't damage a bunch of meat around the bullet path. It has become one of my favorite rifles. If you have access to old "Handloader" magazines there are several articles in there about loading for the 38-55 with lots of valuable information.

[Green Frog]

I just bought one of these and have never loaded for this caliber. I would love any input y'all might have or links to good sites that have reloading and casting suggestions for both the rifle and caliber.

You can find a world of good info on this rifle on the forum boards at www.assra.com. You will find a member named texasmac to be exceptionally knowledgeable about this specific beast, and many folks who shoot both smokeless and real powder loads in this caliber. BTW, I like the Lyman/Ideal 375249 mould as a starting point for loads. :brokenima

Froggie

[Doc Highwall]

I have one and my first recommendation is to use Star-Line brass as it is thinner allowing you to use a larger bullet.

[Buckshot]

http://www.fototime.com/60E6988607F591E/standard.jpg

.............The 38-55 is like a baby 45-90 :-) A nice well proportioned cartridge.

.............Buckshot

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I have one but the long barrel model I bought "slightly used" last time up there. Very nicely made and the barrel has as good of tolerances as I have seen on any factory rifle.
I sized to .377. It was not difficult to find loads that would group under 2" at 100 yards. Smokeless and 2F would easily wack the 200 meter 8"sqaure gong...
I did not have time to test the rifle for the most accurate combinations but to find a good hunting load was rather easy.

[excess650]

For a relatively HV hunting load use the Lyman 375449 GC bullet over Reloader 7, AA2015, AA2200, etc. I'm sure there are some good 4198 and H322 loads, but I havent tried those powders(yet). 26gr Reloader 7, 28-30gr AA2015 and 30-32gr AA2200 were really good in my rifle without making too much pressure. I use WW cases and size .378", but your barrel and chamber may be different. Mine is an older rifle with rebored/rechamberd barrel, and the chamber is a bit large in the rear, so I don't get carried away. I recall someone saying one of these chrono'd at 1700fps.

[Hook]

Thanks to all of you for some very good information. Some of you will probably frown on the path I am taking with this rifle, but I wanted to get started with it so I could have SOMETHING ready for deer season. As there were no 38-55 class jacketed bullets anywhere to be found, I bought a box of 250 gr spire point bullets to do my barrel break in with. I like to use the Badger break in routine, even if I plan on shooting cast only afterwards. These bullets are likely made for 375 magnum velocities, so probably aren't suitable for deer anyway. They should work just dandy for the break in.

Since I will not have time to do any casting anytime soon, I also bought a box Hunters Supply 260 gr, .376" cast bullets. These are cast from a gas check mold. Since I wanted to shoot at higher velocity, I got a box of 375 gas checks and am crimping them onto the commercial bullets. The gas checks are tight for this bullet but are going on pretty well. I hope to shoot the rifle tomorrow, at least for the break in. If all goes well, I'l have a chance to try some of the cast loads as well.

I don't know what gives on reloading components for the 38-55. Graf was the only place I found that had brass. Starline has theirs on backorder, waiting to make a run. I bought a bag from Grafs to get started and placed an order from Starline that I hope will get here fairly soon. The lady there indicated they would run the brass soon, anyway. FP jacketed bullets were nowhere to be found. That's why I bought the spire points. I did luck out and find a 377 sizing die for crimping the gas checks and for later when I start casting.

I have wanted a 38-55 for quite a while. This little rifle is neat and I hope it shoots as well as it looks. I do wish it weren't quite as heavy as it is. It is short, compact, and handy looking, but as soon as you pick it up you notice the weight. Oh well, can't have everything I guess.....

[WARD O]

There also exist two lengths of brass. Original from the old days is longer than that which is commonly available now. Starline catalogs both.

Ward

[Hook]

I got to shoot the 1885 this weekend. The 250 gr JSP bullets with 32 gr of 3031 did very well with 3 shot groups ranging from 1.1" up to 1.4". The commercial cast loads with 25 gr of 2400 did not fare so well with consistent groups around 3". I wanted to find a load with 2400 because I have a mess of it left from an estate sale I handled. It's too early yet to determine whether the problem is with the bullet or the powder...or both. That's the fun of shooting cast, you get to do a lot of shooting to get to where you want to be. At least the jacketed bullet load let me know that the rifle will shoot. Now I just need to go to work to find what it likes wrt cast.

BTW, all of this shooting was done with a 4x Leupold scope. The front sight has to be replaced before I can try it with open sights. Beads just blur in front of my older eyes, I have to have a strong square post or a concentric circle setup before I can shoot irons.