Winchester Hi Wall .38-55?

[Yance]

Anyone here shoot the Winchester Limited Hi Wall Traditional Hunter .38-55 that Davidson's had run a while back?

I picked one up last weekend but haven't had time to measure the twist yet.

Just curious as to what weight bullets it will handle. Anyone having any luck with 330+ gr bullets? What powder? right now all I have on hand is Coex Cartridge, (the last of it), and Goex FFFg.

TIA for any guidance.

[bigted]

yance...i shoot the traditional hunter in 45-70. i know this does not help for calibre however the rest of my statement here may save some time on your search.

first off i didnt slug my barrel rite away so couldnt figure out what was going on with the bp rounds...mine has shallow .0015 inch deep grooves...not much to grab lead with especially when no blow-tubing is happening with black powder fouling......second mine has terrific groups with bp in the horizontal arena but the vertical string just is enough to madden an already mad mind...i just got a 45 cal and 38 cal punch's for making my own cards for loading the bp...i also now will experiment with the over primer wads for dispersing the fire and hope this helps....i also have tryed the barrel nodes...find them/it and the vibration will cancel out for your particular rifle setup.

a very nice rifle and i love mine. it will accompany me for years to come im sure. the scope mounting can make a feller pull what hair ya got out but i stumbled into mine with the leopold setup and a small shim is all it required for just rite scope mounting...modern...

have fun with your 38-55 ...im having a ball with mine...photo's accompany my post here of my browning hunter conversion. after shooting my 45-70's...i crank up the 38 and have such fun with the "no recoil" style of the 38 cal rifle....mine has a 14 inch twist but it is not a standard barrel.......im betting on a 18 inch twist on yours tho.

[Yellowhouse]

They are indeed 1 in 18 twist.

[felix]

Normally configured boolits should be 250 grainers or less. ... felix

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I have a Browning HW 38-55 Long range. I have not yet shot it past 300 yards but what I see with the 300 plus boolits is a stability problem with BP. You have to get it moving fast enough to stabalise out there. At 100 yards there is not a big problem.
With smokeless out to 100 yards (1500+ fps) you should not have any serious grouping issues. Just a matter of finding at what FPS the barrel gets all the wiggles together.
For my hunting needs I personally like a 280 GC grainer. They will penetrate deeply and there seems to not be any stabalizing issues. But if I ever get to pop a horse or cow or big rooter I would go to a 300 and desire to be at 50 yards or less.
Mike in Peru

[blackpowder man]

I shoot the Lee 250 and just started shooting the RCBS .378-312 and it will shoot great out to 90 yards. I will try longer soon. I am shooting duplex for now with Goex FFg. Mine is the 22" barrel Winchester 1885 High wall hunter like yours, that may hurt me too as the range increases.