H&R Buffalo Classic 38-55

[Tom-ADC]

Well the 10 days are up I finally have my rifle need to put some rounds together and make a range trip. My old Lyman cast book show's some loads using 249 gr boolits and Unique powder, have both so will give it a try.
Any favorite loads I might want to try?

BTW the 45-70 rolling block is getting a shakedown also.

[Skipper]

I think you'll find that the h&r .38-55 likes a diameter of .380-.381. A lot of guys also use the 4-d reamer to open the chamber mouth to .400 so that they can load these boolits.


http://4-dproducts.com/displayitem.php?rowid=441&tname=rental

[C A Plater]

Skipper is dead on with the diameter and the reamer. Reaming turned mine from a royal PITA to a real fun shooter. I can't recommend doing the reamer enough unless you like flinging lead sideways. My barrel slugged at .378" and runs great with .380" or .381".

[Tom-ADC]

This reamer something that can be done at home or better left to a gunsmith?

[C A Plater]

I did my own using a tap wrench and some cutting oil. I removed the extractor and held the barrel in a padded vise. Light, smooth turning of the reamer in the chamber and let gravity do it's thing until the rim cutting part just touched the barrel face. It's really very little metal that gets removed but what a huge difference it makes in shooting.

[Nrut]

Tom,
"Some" H&R TARGET models have a .379 groove and you don't need to ream out the chamber so I would check your groove dia. before doing any reaming...
There was/is a gunsmith that lives in the So. Calif. area who reams out chambers to .400.. He is a 38-55 fan and was doing a lot of work for the cowboy crowd IIRC.. I can't find his contact info. but will look for it some more..

[wgr]

I think you'll find that the h&r .38-55 likes a diameter of .380-.381. A lot of guys also use the 4-d reamer to open the chamber mouth to .400 so that they can load these boolits.


http://4-dproducts.com/displayitem.php?rowid=441&tname=rental

then after you ream the chamber dont resize your brass. i use a 45-70 die to decap my fired brass. mine shoots great with air cooled ww . use the starline long brass.

[NickSS]

My H&R is one that did not require reaming at all. I size my bullets to .379 and fire away with great results so try your gun first before getting wrapped up in modifying it. I have had mine for nearly 4 years and love it as it shoots every bit as good as my C Sharps high wall that cost me almost five times as much $s. My two favorite loads are a 250 gr lee flat point over 18 gr of AA 5744 or the same bullet over 45 gr of FFG Schutzen. Both will shoot 3 inch 10 shot groups at 200 yards.

[Tom-ADC]

All my paper work say's the rifle was made in 2004 ot sure that means anything though?

[garandsrus]

Tom,

I believe that the earlier rifles were the ones with the mismatched bore/chamber, so you probably have one. My 38-55 is a more recent one and I didn't need to ream the chamber. I size the boolits to .380 as was mentioned previously.

It's pretty easy to figure out if you need to ream the chamber. Slug the barrel and see what you get. If a boolit a couple .001's larger won't chamber, you will need to ream the chamber.

John

[Tom-ADC]

What about the dropping a boolit down into the chamber and then taking a measurement to set up C.O.L.? or is that just for the 45-70 guys?

[C A Plater]

With mine loading a .380" diameter commercial cast in a Winchester case was very tight going in the chamber. I needed a cleaning rod to tap out the unfired cartridge. If yours is similar, likely you have the problem.

[wgr]

your rifle will have a ( u ) in the serial no number if it was made in 2004

[Tom-ADC]

your rifle will have a ( u ) in the serial no number if it was made in 2004

Starts with HU ?

[wgr]

the first letter stands for H&R, the second letter is the year it was made.if you go to graybeard outdoors to the handi rifle forum they can tell you all about it.

[John Boy]

I believe that the earlier rifles were the ones with the mismatched bore/chamber,
Those be the H&R, not the NEF's. The H&R's were reamed for 375 smokeless jackets. The factory used Winchesters for their testing.

I have an HTxxxx, H&R 2003 that needed a reaming to shoot lead. Otherwise, the cases were 3rd Tri-mester Pregnant!