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Just slugged barrel on new to me old Winchester 1886 in 38-70. With dial calipers and digital calipers I get .3855, and .386 on digital. I have a mold from Accurate that drops a .380 260ish gr. bullet for a 38-55. I’m not sure I’d be able to chamber a loaded round that’s sized to fit groove. My options before buying mold. Shoot soft lead w black, maybe it’ll bump up. Inside neck ream. Try patching a grease bullet. Am I forgetting anything else? Thanks in advance.
Don't just slug the barrel, do a chamber cast - then you know exactly what you have for a throat and chamber. On the other hand, I have no idea how hard it is to chamber cast an 1886!
I do have a chunk of cerrosafe.never having used it before, would a funnel made of tinfoil work to get liquid into chamber?
I have a funnel made out of a 300 Weatherby case that works well for doing exactly that.
I doubt you'll be able to chamber a cartridge with a bullet that big seated, so as you surmised, pure lead and a full charge of black powder will probably be your best path forward.
Why not chamber your cast bullet and case to find out? Many old Win will take a .002 over dia bullet with ease so try one first and if it won't chamber get another mold. I shoot .380 cast in my antique 38-55 with no issues. Keep in mind these old rifles were not near as perfect in their sizes as modern guns and having measured many over the years I have found quite a few have larger groove dia. than what is published spec and their chambers will also take a larger dia. boolit. Of course the chamber size rules here and why cerrosafe is a good idea. Cerrosafe is easy to use, melts quickly and pours easily. Getting it into the chamber can be an issue for lever guns so I used tinfoil making a boat shape sort of to pour it in. Be sure to plug the barrel just in from of the chamber, a tight wad of cotton works pretty well and also a buffer when pushing the stuff back and out of the chamber; I use a long dowel that is just smaller than the bore dia. and tap, tap, tap. remember to not pour in to much, just enough to fill about 3/4 of the chamber is all, works for me. I also put a rag into the action so any spillage is caught keeping it out of the working parts.
I am an old cast boolit shooter. Have several original 1886's that shoot like they have eyes! You will need a .386 ~ .388" lubed and sized boolit to get that ole lever gun to shoot! Don't waste your time with that Accurate .380 boolit. If you have a Starret expandable ID gauge or borrow one, you can measure the chamber neck diameter. A Cerosafe casting would be good also. Have reamed several chamber necks to allow for a groove diameter boolit to be seated in a case and chambered. My 1881 Marlin is 40-60 Similar to 40-65 Win Had to ream the chamber neck to make the ole gal shoot!
Since cerrosafe isn't all that hot even when molten, I think a funnel made from aluminum foil will be fine. I would almost bet you use a funnel made from heavy paper.
A top eject lever action has to be one of the easiest styles of rifle to do a chamber cast in, lots of easy access. Just don't pour too much or too fast.
Robert
All great ideas. Can’t wait to get started on this. Thankyou again.
Let us know how it comes out!
Update. Got dies from CH tool. Took stems out and cleaned all three. Grabbed a 45-90 piece of brass that had been sized to 40-82 and ran thru sizer, all good. Then expanded the neck until there was slight flair on cartridge mouth. Next tried seater. First problem. I couldn’t screw the stem down enough to seat bullet. I had about 1/2in threads left to screw in, but no go. Pulled seating stem had to clean threads, used Kroil and kept working stem until I got all but 2 threads left to screw in. Then tried seating bullet. The expander isn’t big enough to allow bullet to seat my soft bullet without leaving ring on bullet nose. Checking w caliper I’ve got .003 difference from where the bullet is seated in the case to just below the bullet on the case. Was going to turn a new expander today that goes deeper into case, but it’s snowing this am, and my lathe is out in unseated barn