hiwall 38-55 project

[bigted]

finally after months of waiting and almost emptying my bank account i got to go pick up my 38-55 browning project.

she started life as a hunter 45-70 with the straight grip and deep crescent but-stock. 28 inch barrel [octagon] and a snazzy semi-snable forearm.

then somebody that exhibited my kinda fore-thought had the chamber run out to the 45-120 sharps chamber...[a decision that im quite capable of making myself just for curiosity sake]. so then i had the good fortune to trade into this fire breathing demon with the murderous little crescent but-plate......wowww was that fun the first one hundred and twenty grains of 2f black powder i fired off behind a Lyman 457125 520+- grain boolit. thought somebody had played a trick so i up and let go with another and SHAZAM the same gouging into my poor shoulder and the same painfull mouse on my poor cheek and with the second firing of this fire belching beast my middle finger on the trigger hand was bleeding profusely. thinking that i had somehow done something tremendously wrong i courageously stuffed another round...[making three now] into the yawning breech of this hungry beast. upon firing this round i limped back to my loading room and pondered the cosmos for awhile as i bound up my poor injured finger and applyed frozen pees to my black n blue shoulder. i didn't dare look in a mirror to examine my face as my natural good looks were disfigured permanently i was sure.

since that first firing of the 120 we came to an agreement as to how she wanted to be treated but i could never break her of the messy leading she left for me at every outing. discouraged by my inability to house break her from the messy lead smears i turned my gaze to another project i wanted to try and so began this trip on the road to a 38-55 that should treat me a bit better in all regards.

long storie short here is the long awaited project from the smith's shop to my hands...about a 7 month wait as i recount it...he would probably argue but this is my stories and im sticking to it.

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/yy55/bigted1956/38-55005.jpg

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/yy55/bigted1956/38-55004.jpg

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/yy55/bigted1956/38-55001.jpg

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/yy55/bigted1956/8538-55003.jpg

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/yy55/bigted1956/8538-55002.jpg

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/yy55/bigted1956/8538-55001.jpg

so here she is and i installed the scope that you see that ive had for around 3 years. i need the shorter end piece and ive ordered the screw adjuster for the rear as well.

the barrel is a green mountain 38-55 at 30 inches long...in a #4 winchester taper. all the hardware including the action, lever, but-plate have the tasteful color case finish. the forearm is the same hunter wood that came with the rifle and has been whittled out to accept the much larger barrel...[ nope that bit was too much for me as well...had the smith do it as well]. got so thin in places that i all required a pasting of glass to make sure everything holds together.

all in all what ive built here is a browning bpcr rifle with a straight wrist in the 38-55 chambering that they never offered and in a barrel that is full octagon instead of the half round of my other browning bpcr rifle in 45-70 wich is fully stock and has not had anything done to it but shoot it many times with joy.

this 38-55 is a joy to shoot as i had 20 breaking shells built for it with some 300 gr jacketed bullets and smokless but that will probably be the last time it sees such modern loads....what a pain to do...requiring all the patience i can muster for scrubbing and scrubbing the bore for every shot for the 20 rounds i self adhere to for my barrel break in.

she is a beaut tho and even tho i didn't try for any groups ... i aimed at the three hundred yard bank where there was a paper plate laying on the berm and i could make it jump with every shot after i got this hunky rear scope mount adjusted for the three hundred mark.

more to follow as i get her on-line with some groups.

i will gladly read your suggestions for loads and it is a 14 twist barrel.

thanks for looking at her!

by the way...i have a slightly used 45-120 barrel and the extractor that i would part with as a couple if anyone is interested. just pm me and we can talk over the details.

[August]

Wowee, that's really nice case hardening!!! Lovely gun. I, too, have had close encounters with that crescent buttplate. That barrel contour looks great on the rifle.

I have found the 38-55 limited in volume, especially when using a 300+ grain bullet. In other words, I run out of elevation before the lead gets to the pigs when shooting black powder under heavy booolits.

So, I've been playing around with duplexing with the heavier bullets in order to get out there.

I have had outstanding results with Unique and 4759 with this cartridge when shooting smokeless loads.

I've tried to make my hiwall in this caliber into a 300 meter and shorter distance gun. While the round will perform out to the rams, such shooting requires a lot of sight adjustment capacity.

[bigted]

wowww if the break-in loads [ Hornaday 300 jacketed round nose...running ahead of a charge of rl-7 ] is any signal for how this rifle is going to shoot...im in for a treat.

took it to the range the first time yesterday for some group shooting at 100 yards...still with the break-in style loads and oh my...the only thing that is a hindrance for me is the small 3/4 inch scope tube...may have to replace this with a unertl 12x i recently got ahold of...but more bout the scope later. my groups with these terrible j-words are rite in there. 1.5 inch groups for 10 with an occasional flyer that opens up my group to 2.3 inches. can repeat this for as long as i have the shells to shoot. she sure gets a bunch of attention at the range tho. absolutely no recoil and what a treat to go home without the slight cramp in my right shoulder. black and cast are rite around the corner...more to come...

[Cap'n Morgan]

Really nice looking rifle, you got there! Make me want to go and chop off the pistol grip on my 1885 Uberti.

I'm impressed you went through three rounds of 45-120 before calling it quits! I only needed one full house load of a 300gr j-bullet in my 45-70 to learn my lesson regarding crescent butt plates - or as I like to put it: "You don't have to drink the whole carton to discover the milk has gone sour" [smilie=l:

[bigted]

cap'n...LOL i would tell you that i shot that beast a bunch more then 3 times and with 520 gr boolits at that....but i wouldn't want you to think poorly of me. 120 grains of 2f going off behind a 520 gr boolit is awesome to say the least...i got where i could actually shoot it without marking myself when i thought about what i was doing. only reasson i re-barreled was because the chamber was longish and it were a real lead miner with soft enough boolits to hunt with so the 38-55 came into being from that. its too bad as i believe that the 120 cartridge would be sweet for routing bears up here. i have doubts that the most tenacious bear living could stand being pasted with the bp power of the 120 round. it is NOT however a round to be bench rested a bunch without some rather serious padding and a numb shooting hand...maybe a numb brain to go with the almost 8 pound rifle in which it was chambered.

anyway i still have all the goodies for the 120... dies... n powder... n cases... n such and ill keep em as i don't think im done with that cartridge yet...i think...lol

this 38 is such a sweety tho that i see myself enjoying it for years to come...and when a project turns out so pleasing then that is icing on the cake.