38-55 Winchester Legendary Frontiersman Loading

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Howdy All,

New to the forum. I am also new to rifle caliber Reloading. I have a 94 Legendary Frontiersman 38-55. Would like to get any information on your experiences with this round and in particular any experience with this particular gun and BP 38-55. my Barrel slugs at .381 and I am loading Winchester Brass. Am planning to use the BigLube 255 gr bullets. Not sure about sizing yet. have some .380 to see if it will chamber. How much will these obdurate?

Thanks in advance for any help,

Sam

[oneokie]

Welcome to Cast Boolits. Also welcome to the world of 38-55 itis. Good cartridge, just a PITA to find a load combination that will work.

Is the Winchester brass the 2.080" brass? If so, a .379" boolit is about as big as you will be able to chamber. Obduration will depend on your alloy.

You may want to obtain some Starline brass as it is thinner in the neck area. Able to use .381" boolits in my 38-55 using Starline brass and factory dimensioned chamber. Another option is to turn the neck area of the cases. Option #2 is to have the chamber opened up, so as to be able to chamber rounds loaded with boolits sized for your groove dia..

Use the search function here and read some of the posts on the 38-55. Lots of good information to be found.

[45 2.1]

I had one of these for about 10 years. It had a 0.381" groove diameter. I loaded paper patched boolits for it. The specifics were a soft cast RCBS 255 gr. boolit sized 0.375" and patched with 9# onionskin to a 0.382" diameter and loaded in Winchester 38-55 brass. It chambered snugly and shot old full power level loads quite well. You probably need to make a throat slug to confirm your dimensions. 0.379" boolits didn't shoot to well in mine, it took a 0.381" boolit to shoot good.

[Muddy Creek Sam]

45 2.1,

Never done a paper patch, actually not even sure what it does.

Sam

[Southern Son]

Gee wizz Sam, there are some around here that might get a little worked up if you say things like that about Paper Patched boolits.

Welcome to the board, there are some really great people around here who will do what they can to help you with anything. Do you know what the Big Lube boolits are cast out of? 20/1 will obturate a bit easier than say, Linotype.

A few of the people I shoot with use and love 38/55, most load with BP. None of them are using 94 Winchesters, mostly spagetti Hiwalls and rolling blocks. If I had the money, I would love to build a second Hiwall chambered for 38/55. Something that won't beat me up when I want to just have a shoot over the bench or do a little bit of plinking

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Howdy Southern Son,

You truly are in the deep South. The boolits are indeed 20:1. I am getting rid of the heathen fad powdered rounds as fast as I can, Holy black from then on out. I spent a good deal of time reading some of the threads on paper patching last night and still don't get it. Guess I'm a bit slow. Would love to have a hiwall someday when finances permit. But after a number of shoulder injuries it will be a 38-55.

Sam

[Southern Son]

I think that paper patching can be quite daunting to anyone, especially us new commers. There is so much contradictory advise out there it is really confusing. The really confusing thing I find is that two blokes might give completely different advise on a certain subject, but they are both having succes. I have yet to try PP, I don't have a mould that throws a boolit sutable for PP unless I swage the boolit down about 9 thou, but I don't have a swaging die to do that, either. I do however want to give PP boolits a burl in my 45/70 Hiwall and my .458WinMag. Might have to go and see Ross, my mate with a lathe, see what I can get him to do for a carton of XXXX.

[KCSO]

The 38-55 can be made to shoot. I would use Starline brass with a 381-382 Lee 250 grain bullet and about 24 grainns of IMR 3031. This load worked OK in my 38-55. In addition about 10 grains of Unique and this same bullet shot very well...
If you want to use the Winchester brass and a smallet bullet use soft lead and the Unique willl bump it up a litttle and accuracy will be fair at 100, say 4". This is what I had to do with my old 94.

[Drygulch]

I started paper patching first for my Browning 45-70. My buddy found a .450" mold which was perfect P/P. I used regular masking tape,cut at an angle for a R/H twist, one wrap just aove the top land, twisted at the bottom and cut off. Measured .459. I just lubed outside the tape and assembled the bullet. Accuracy was surprising, even better than straight cast .479)405gr).
Now I am working with the 38-55 Legendary. Most bullets are .379 which usually keyhole in this rifle. Others that measure .376 are P/P and still chamber with no problems. These do not keyhole.

[bigted]

muddy ... hey there!! just wonderin how much is leg pullin. i have bought lead from you for a few years here so wonder if indeed you are serious in your befuddlement ... if so then i would give a good hint for the 38-55. i load 45 to 47 grains 2F powder behind a 275 grain baco bullet with a .060 inch vegi wad between the powder n boolit. lube it [boolit] with SPG or NASA lube and have a ball. .380 inch in my '93' marlin works very well.

[Boz330]

Sorry to say but Sam passed on a while back. A real shame he was a good guy.

Bob

[Baja_Traveler]

I load my Legendary Frontiersman with BP and the Big Lube Boolit also. I use Starline brass, Large Pistol Primer, 40 grains of Swiss 1 1/2, an .030 Walters Fibre wad and the big lube boolit (20:1) sized .380 and lubed with my home made lube (1 lb Beeswax, 1/2 lb Lanolin & 1/2 lb Canola oil). Shoots just fine, and the 40 grains is enough to knock down the 200 yard rams on the silhouette line without wasting powder or beating up shoulders...

Just noticed that I replied to a thread was originally posted back in '08, but I guess the answer is still relevant for those wanting to load for this particular rifle...

[bigted]

oh ... then i am the one that is sorry for my comments. i am sorry to see another of our number go ahead of us. may his journey be swift and peaceful.

so to whom am i addressing when i return posts with his old [muddy creek sam] handle here?

again i apologize for my comments above in my last post.

added thought ;

guess i really am slippin. i also did not recognize the date on those posts. man what a gooner. guess i better get a grip on the details huh?

[MT Chambers]

A lot of folks are trying to get accuracy with .379" or so bullets in .382" bores, these bores include Ubertis or pedersolis, that are bored that size, my Uberti would chamber big .382" bullets and that's what it took to get any accuracy at all.