Chiappa Mini Sharps, 38-55

[HeavyMetal]

OK so I finally broke down and bought one of these, LOL!

Haven't handled it yet but all the vids and pictures show a very nice finish on the rifle.

Now as to some load info:

I have purchased a Lee 3 die set for the 38-55.

I have a Two cavity mold on order from Tom at Accurate, a 38-250F which is 250 grain flat tip plain base mold.

I have a fresh bag of 50 Winchester 38-55 case's, the bag has not been opened!

I have decided to use IMR 3031 as a starting powder but curious if anyone has tried something else with good results??

I have absolutely no interest in running black powder or a substitute it's just to messy, but I am looking for a list of possible loads to try s time permits.

Hoping the mold gets here sooner rather than later, I'd like to start casting and loading ASAP

[Howie405]

RL-7 has worked well for me in the past.

[Kraschenbirn]

IMR 4198, AA2015, or AA5744. 4198 produces the best groups...>2 MOA out to 300 yds...from my Uberti Highwall but the other two aren't that far behind and the AA2015 might shoot even better but I've got a quite a bit of 4198 on hand and have never taken the time to really refine my initial loads with the Accurate powders.

Bill

[Wayne Smith]

Very interested in your take on the quality of the build. There have been some questions about the hardness of the metal.

[Bohica793]

I am having great results with the Accurate 38-250D mold from Tom using 5744, H4198 and 2400 (reduced loads with a filler). I'm shooting mine with a Marlin 336CB.

[marlinman93]

10.0 grs. of Unique works very well in mine!

[Boz330]

Mine shot pretty good with Unique and the Lee 250gr, but I shoot exclusively BP now which I find easier to clean than smokeless. There are other things to deal with but the cleaning to me is much faster than the smokeless.
That is why there is more than one auto manufacturer.

Bob

[Jedman]

I feel the same about using black powder in a cartridge ! I have several 38-55's and have the best accuracy with I 4198, H 4198, and R 7.
3031 is good but maybe a little slow and you will use more per shot than a faster powder, but if you already have it I think it should work fine.

Jedman

[HeavyMetal]

Thanks guys just what I was looking for, I may have some 4198 in my powder collection and I can spread out a few different loads as a starting point and work with what ever happens to be what the gun likes.

[ascast]

4198 is very good in the 38-55

[OlDeuce]

Thanks guys just what I was looking for, I may have some 4198 in my powder collection and I can spread out a few different loads as a starting point and work with what ever happens to be what the gun likes.

Did you get the Rifle yet????? Ol Deuce

[Multigunner]

Is this a replica of one of the commercial Sharps hunting rifles that were chambered for proprietary .44 cartridges?

[Wayne Smith]

No, this is the rifle Lyman sells under their name in 22Hornet and 38-55. Made by Chiappia. It can be seen on Lyman's website, I bet.

[TCLouis]

Slug the bore.
You may wll need a little bigger boolit than you thought.
.381 or even a bit more

[HeavyMetal]

Ol Deuce

Pick up is the 10th, in the evening, can hardly wait and am trying to get some ammo loaded but waiting on a sizer die

[EDG]

I don't know how anyone can claim BP is easier to clean than smokeless with lead bullets.

With smokeless there are not cases to clean up and the rifle does not really need cleaning at all. When the bullets are lube with Alox you have a premier rust preventative in the bullet lube.
My cleaning method is a couple of patches wet with Hoppe's, then a dry patch and then a patch lightly moist with Hoppe's. And there is not rush for that.
For the most part the cleaning is about as demanding as a .22 LR

[ascast]

"I don't know how anyone can claim BP is easier to clean than smokeless with lead bullets."

sometimes ya just gotta walk away LOL

[OlDeuce]

Ol Deuce

Pick up is the 10th, in the evening, can hardly wait and am trying to get some ammo loaded but waiting on a sizer die

Oh Cool.......Big reason I'm asking is I want one in 30-30 and with your report may push me over the edge.......Keep me posted!

Ol Deuce

[Multigunner]

If you are just cleaning black powder fouling from the bore of a Cap&Ball Revolver you can submerge the muzzle in a can of hot soapy water and push a wetted patch through from the breech then back and forth a few times, then hold the barrel under a stream of hot water from a faucet to rinse. Dry it thoroughly while still hot and apply WD40.
I use Dacron padding to scrub the bore. Then several twists of paper towel pushed through by a jag for drying the bore.

Its not so much easier but its a lot cheaper than using nitro solvents and no toxic chemicals.

During the Civil War troops often just removed the wood from their muskets and left them in a creek for awhile then dried and oiled them.
To polish the in the white exterior metal they used a slurry of ashes from a camp fire mixed with water.

The only serious rust problems I've had with C&B revolvers is when using Pyrodex.
Once I used straight Ballistol on BP fouling without rinsing with hot water afterwards and rust formed in the corners of the rifling grooves.
WD40 or Liquid Wrench are the BP shooters best friends.

[Reverend Al]

I had the same gun in the Lyman variation a couple of year ago. Very nicely made rifle ... good quality, but found that the scaled down dimensions wouldn't work for me. The trigger guard was so small that it was very uncomfortable to try and get my trigger finder in without interference of the front of the trigger guard. Smacked my trigger finger knuckle fairly badly when the gun was fired, so it sure wasn't much fun to shoot for someone with big fat fingers like me. I sold it to a friend who's wife was going to use it in the rifle side matches in Cowboy Action Shooting events. Her fingers were small enough to work OK with the tiny dimensions of the trigger guard / trigger. I agree too that you'll need to slug the bore to check on the groove size of yours, as these guns typically seem to run .380" to .381" and need a big lead boolit to shoot at all well ...