38-55 vs 357 mag

[charliek]

38-55 vs 357 mag a rolling block? Opinions please

[marvelshooter]

.38-55 but I may be a little a biased.

[Ben]

38-55 vs 357 mag a rolling block? Opinions please

What kind of rolling block ?

[GhostHawk]

.357mag for me please. Brass is cheaper, easier to find, and in theory you could ream to MAX.

.38-55 has been known to suffer from a tight chamber.

Wide variety of bullet styles, weights, plain based, gas checked, you name it you have options and lots of them.

However if you are a die hard Holy Black fan it would have to be .38-55 and holy black.
Me I like to clean my guns once a year preferably in the middle of a 3 day blizzard when I have nothing better to do. So make mine .357, preferably one of those baby blocks.

[dtknowles]

.357mag for me please. Brass is cheaper, easier to find, and in theory you could ream to MAX.

.38-55 has been known to suffer from a tight chamber.

Wide variety of bullet styles, weights, plain based, gas checked, you name it you have options and lots of them.

However if you are a die hard Holy Black fan it would have to be .38-55 and holy black.
Me I like to clean my guns once a year preferably in the middle of a 3 day blizzard when I have nothing better to do. So make mine .357, preferably one of those baby blocks.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Tim

[quail4jake]

I never thought of the comparison but it makes perfect sense. I'd go with the .357, simple, straight walled, cookie cutter and great versatility. I had a .38-55 Marlin '93 26" bbl. pistol grip and I truly regret trading it but it is a complicated cartridge to load properly and performance is limited. Oh, I'd love to fool with it now but I'm self actualized and live on higher karma than I did back then (what BS)! Anyway, I like simplicity and I like to shoot ALOT which means doing things to make mass production easier...yeah, the .357...

[John Boy]

Opinions please

Charlie, depends on the the primary distance you normally shoot ...
* the 357 is a short distance caliber, 300yds max
* the 38-55 is better than a short distance, 500m and with the right reload & good eyes is a 1000yd target caliber

[corbinace]

My first thought was 38-45 for the cool factor, then I had to settle for the 357 for the easy road.

[quail4jake]

Great point! Hadn't considered the lonnng range capability of the 1880s technology!

Charlie, depends on the the primary distance you normally shoot ...
* the 357 is a short distance caliber, 300yds max
* the 38-55 is better than a short distance, 500m and with the right reload & good eyes is a 1000yd target caliber

[Texas by God]

Unless it's a heavy gun(7#+) I would go .357. Uberti I assume?

[country gent]

Installing a new barrel or liner where you can get the twist rate you want then I opt for 38-55 with a 1-12 twist slowest a 1-14 twist. This would allow bullets from 260 grns to 365 grns to be used. If slower twists and lighter bullets are wanted or Jacketed bullets then 357. Keep in mind the 38-55 is a 375-377 bore and the 357 is 358 - 359. Draw back to both will be finding making the proper extractor needed.

[MaLar]

What are you going to do with it?

[charliek]

Thanks for all the information. Based on the convenience factors I think 257 in a small Uberti is the way I will go. I have been a muzzleloader for a number of years and am familiar with the joys of cleaning. That plus ease of acquiring cases and bullets made up my mind.

[charliek]

That is 357 not 257.

[justashooter]

200 grain .358 casting with H110 or Herc 2400 will do whatever a standard low power factory 38-55 will do. Rolling blocks are surprisingly strong by nature of design.

[castalott]

Since you are going to get a barrel in either case ( pun intended!), make sure it is cast friendly...

Dale

[JB. Books]

Personally, I would definitely opt for a 38-55 if offered the choice

[TCLouis]

Paper, Plinkin, or Huntin?

It's not that the 38-55s have a tight chamber, as much as the issue that they have loose barrels . . . 0.380+
I'd love 38-55, but have decided no more mold diameters.

I'd opt for 357 Maggie as it would work for most of my needs, then I could always Max it out if I needed to push bigger boolits farther out.

I always thought 30 or 357 Herrett would be nice in a RB with a 22 inch round tapered barrel, receiver sights and scope capability.

[marlinman93]

Glad that "tight chamber" got corrected by TCLouis! Some have large bores, but not tight chambers. And if one was building a .38-55 from scratch, you could choose a barrel with the bore you wanted. Most C Sharps use a .375" bore, so they don't have the issues of oversized bullets. But as long as the bore is around .379"-.380" it should be no problem.
I'd pick a .38-55 over a .357 Mag any day! I can shoot it both closer ranges and longer ranges; so it's a more versatile rifle to me.

[country gent]

C SHarps uses barrels from custom makers, My Hepburn in 45-90 has a green mountain tapered octagon 34" 1-18 twist on it. My newer High wall in 38-55 has a McGowen tapered octagon 30" 1-12 twist on it. CPA uses aotof douglas premium blanks. But either will instal the blank of your choice if your willing to pay for it. I had though on the Hepburn about a krieger 1-18 alexander henry form rifling blank 34" long and 1-18 twist but cost and wait time ruled it out. Shiloh I believe is making their own barrels in house still.