38-55 to 375 Winchester?

[Tom-ADC]

On a single shot rifle like one of the H&R can this be done as simple as a rechamber?
Just curious anybody seen it done?

[John Taylor]

A 375 Winchester will drop right in a 38-55 chamber. Problem is the 375 is loaded to 52,000 PSI and the 38-55 is at 30,000 PSI. Make sure the rifle you fire it in will be safe at those pressures. The 375 brass is a little shorter than the 38-55 brass.

[45-70 Chevroner]

If you are talking about chamboring a 38-55 to 375. Nothing has to be done the 375 will fit in the 38-55 chamber. I would check with the Manufacturing co. that made your rifle to be sure it will hold the pressures of the 375 Win.

[Bullshop]

Another interesting tidbit on the 375 Win. I have tried chambering a 38/55 rounds in a couple different factory chambered 375 Win rifles and the 38/55s chamber and fire with no problems.
It made me wonder if they actually made reamers for 375 or just used 38/55 reamers.
This was in Marlin rifles so Marlin may have simply produced 38/55s and simply stamped them 375. Funny that they also gave that caliber its own model designation, the model 375.

[jerry_from_ct]

Another interesting tidbit on the 375 Win. I have tried chambering a 38/55 rounds in a couple different factory chambered 375 Win rifles and the 38/55s chamber and fire with no problems.
It made me wonder if they actually made reamers for 375 or just used 38/55 reamers.
This was in Marlin rifles so Marlin may have simply produced 38/55s and simply stamped them 375. Funny that they also gave that caliber its own model designation, the model 375.


The .375 win was a last ditch, unfortunate example of trying to revive .38-55 in a lever action, while a great caliber, worth the trouble, the tide had turned to semi, bolt, pump action rifle.

The .375 is a slightly shorter, beefed up webbing version 0f the .38-55. any modern .38-55 rifle will fire and function with the .375 win.

The only reason the .38-55 hasn't faded into the sunset is the resurgence of cowboy action shooting.

Enjoy................

[Tom-ADC]

Rifle is a H&R Buffalo Classic, I never load much off the suggested starting loads if that makes a difference.

[John Taylor]

There are two frames for the H&R, one for shotguns and low pressure rifle and the other for high pressure. There is a way to tell the difference but I don't remember how. One is steel and the other is cast iron or something close. Best to check with the factory.

[EDG]

The .375 uses .375 bullets.
The H&R rifle has a .375 land diameter and a .380 groove diameter.
The .38-55 neck is also too small to use .380 bullets in some .38-55 brass and in probably all .375 brass.
You could load the .38-55 ammo to the old high speed velocities but - you are on your on there.
.38-55 brass is thinner and your rifle isn't the best in the west if you have a case head seperate.

[NickSS]

The H&R rifles chambered for 38-55 all need bullets of 379 to 381 diameter so the undersized 375 bullets would not work well if at all in their barrels. If you load 375 brass with fatter bullets you end up with essentially a 38-55. I have used a lot of 375 brass in my 38-55s as I have it and do not want to waist it. It works just about the same as 38-55 brass but it is a bit shorter.

[Tom-ADC]

Sounds like a waste of time and money after all this discussion. I would not shoot .375 bullet in it but a .379 boolit now thats a different story..
Think I'll stick to playing with the 38-55.

[dk17hmr]

You could load your 38-55 warm enough that the brass would be the weak point. The 38-55 is a pretty low pressure round but on a strong action it could be loaded up passed 375 win velocity... check out some of Ranchdogs data.... be smart and work slow.

[Marlin Junky]

It made me wonder if they actually made reamers for 375 or just used 38/55 reamers.

Bullshop,

The .375 Winchester was supposed to have a .415" head and .496" rim which is tighter than the 30-30, 38-55, etc. family of cartridges. However, I don't know if these were the dimensions adopted by SAAMI.

MJ

[Bullshop]

I have used 30/30 brass to make both 38/55 and 375 Win although it comes up a bit short for the 38/55.
No problems so far.

[45-70 Chevroner]

Sounds like a waste of time and money after all this discussion. I would not shoot .375 bullet in it but a .379 boolit now thats a different story..
Think I'll stick to playing with the 38-55.

Good idea Tom. The H&R is is a little on the light side for full power 375 Win loads. J-word bullets are actually about .377 diameter. You can load the 38-55 up to max 38-55 loads and you will get enough kick to satisfyl your need for a 375 Winchester.

[leadman]

I had a 375 Win. Contender carbine barrel that was not very accurate. Called T/C and the guy said to try 38-55 brass as they chambered them long. Did much better.

The H&R/NEF receivers are now SB1 for shotguns and such, the SB2 for rifles. I read on Greybeard that they are selling 357 and such on SB1 receivers.

The old H&R are all cast iron receivers for shotguns and pistol calibers, along with 30-30 and 45/70, black powder.

A friend of mine used printed data for his 30-30 from an old IMR pamplet and ruined the receiver. Didn't have enough common sense to stop shooting with over .004" case expansion. It beat the firing pin hole almost closed with the primer. The load was 3 or 4 grains of 4895 higher than current data.

I don't think anything would be gained by going to the 375. also read on Greybeard that some of the H&R 38-55 barrels are .375".

[fryboy]

ummm the 375 win marlin was supposed to be built on a heavier receiver than ye olde 336/94 etc ( much as winchester did ) IIRC they both got their own receiver model number , as stated the 375 brass is supposed to be stronger , while shorter mine do indeed weigh more ( win vs. win ) various brands of 38-55 are also longer/thicker/shorter/thinner etc and it seems that the actual barrel size varies just as much if not even more , you're gonna get to play with all that anyways , there isnt a way i know to feasibly shorten the barrel to the correct 375 size , the shorter brass mentioned above and with your projectile sounds like you'll have a bit of throat and adjusting accordingly is easy enough , i've blown out 30/30's and 32 specials etc for low powered cast loads only in my 375 , when i want the extra ummph i use 375 cases , i would trust it much more on a hi-power handy rifle frame than a 12 gauge frame , if you really want to consider rechambering and more horsepower think of the 375 jdj ;)

[Doc Highwall]

I have a Marlin 375Win and it looks the same as the 336.

[farmbif]

Is there anyone with experience with the 375 win I would greatly appreciated comments and suggestions. I recently acquired a like new winchester 94 big bore xtr in 375 win , top eject made in USA, and over the past few weeks have tried to find ammo and or brass with no luck. So I ordered starline 38-55 short brass 2.080", win 375 rcbs die set and lyman 375449 mould and some gas checks. I have trimmed about 30 pieces of brass to 2.020" (the correct maximum length of 375 win brass) cast, lubed with caranuba red, gas checked and sized the 375449's to .377 and loaded about 10 rounds each at 22, 23 and 24 grains of IMR 4198 with C.O.L. of 2.560 (correct COL for 375 win), roll crimped just under 2nd drive band. Now I am ready to go to the range and see how they work. From all the load data I could find I decided to go with the 375 win load data from lyman 49th edition which seems to be between the high end for 38-55 to the low end load for 375 win. One of the primary reasons I had decided to try these is that Buffolo Bore has 38-55 ammo they advertise for use in guns chambered in both 38-55 and 375 win.

[John Boy]

38-55 to 375 Winchester?
Fact be known ... H&R 38-55 barrels were made by Green Mountain using a 375 reamer. H&R at the factory tested the barrels using Winchester 375 smokeless jacket bullets. That's the reason why a 379 to 381 bullet in a 38-55 case has to have the chamber re-reamed using a 38-55 reamer to 402 to keep new 38-55 brass not fire formed from being pregnant

[EDG]

Not my H&R .38-55. I made a Cerrosafe cast of the chamber and it is definitely the short 38-55 SAAMI chamber.
The .379 to .381 bullets work ok in the thinner Starline brass. They do not work with the W-W .38-55 brass.
The reason they do not fit is because the SAAMI standards are screwed up. The SAAMI standard actually allows a maximum cartridge to be larger than the minimum chamber. You can verify that by review of the SAAMI 38-55 standard document.


Fact be known ... H&R 38-55 barrels were made by Green Mountain using a 375 reamer. H&R at the factory tested the barrels using Winchester 375 smokeless jacket bullets. That's the reason why a 379 to 381 bullet in a 38-55 case has to have the chamber re-reamed using a 38-55 reamer to 402 to keep new 38-55 brass not fire formed from being pregnant