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Thread: Need advice ref orignal Ballard in 38-55

  1. #21
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Posts
    1,941
    Ted, I'm sure that if the bore condition is good that it can be made to shoot extremely well. I generally don't shoot from a bench rest, preferring prone shooting, but if you check out this ASSRA link you'll see a target shot by my .38-55 CPA rifle. It has an original style chamber ( 6 degree cone from outside of case mouth ). The target was shot with black powder and an 8x scope. The cold bore shot is shown, and of the remaining 11 shots, 9 of them went into a sub-minute of angle group at 200 metres.

    This was with breech seated bullets. The same rifle has never given any real accuracy with fixed ammunition.

    https://www.assra.com/cgi-bin/yabb/Y...m=1451950847/5

    I've got another .38-55 ( C. Sharps 1885 ) with a very poorly cut chamber ( not C. Sharps fault, I had the chamber cut locally ) that only shoots breech seated bullets well. It works quite well with breech seated paper patched bullets over black powder, and breech seated bullets and IMR-4227. This is a 10 shot group at 100m shot with aperture sights. I don't remember what the cause of the low flyer was, but it's certainly capable of minute of angle performance at that distance.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Chris.

  2. #22
    In Remembrance Reverend Al's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Victoria, B.C., Canada
    Posts
    1,899
    If you don't want to alter the rifle then I'd try breach seating or a paper patched bullet (or both) and see how it shoots ...
    I may have passed my "Best Before" date, but I haven't reached my "Expiry" date!

  3. #23
    Boolit Mold
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Cambridgeshire, UK
    Posts
    4
    Chris,
    great group, I hope I can get somewhere near with my rifle. I am not used to groups this small as I usually shoot military rifles (black powder & nitro) and they don't normally perform that well.
    I now have the rifle and have ascertained that I can chamber a cartridge with a 0.381" dia bullet. I shall try this at the range next Thursday, using Swiss black powder. Depending on the results I can make changes to bullet hardness & powder load. I also intend to make a paper patch bullet mould as paper patch bullets may work better than grooved bullets. If this still doesn't give good results I shall look at breech seating.
    I'll report on my trip to the range next week.
    Ted

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check