The 38-55,25-20, and the 16 ga. Pumkin Ball

[Sixgun]

Howdy guys,
You might ask, "What do these all have in common?" More on that later.

While in Colorado last week, I hit a gold mine of old moulds.:grin: I bought 15 of those buggers from Green Mountain Guns.---(sorry Steve, you snoozed )

Anyway, back in the old days when people could only afford 1 gun, they developed different loads for different situations. A common practice was to load "a lot lighter than normal" bullets for camp meat or whatever. One of the moulds that I snagged in Colorado was a NIB long discontinued Lyman 37583 that is listed at 140 grains, designed for the 38-55 which has a normal weight of 255 grains. With my alloy, they weigh 135-----great for the 50 meter chickens, 100 meter pigs and even the 150 meter turkeys.

The next mould is also a long discontinued one. Its a Lyman 257464 gas check, which is a Loverin design for the 250 Savage or 257 Roberts. I'm gonna try it in the 25-20.

The last one has been discontinued so long, it was made before Terry Murbach was born. Its an Ideal mould for the 16 ga. pumkin ball. As I just sold it, I figured I had better make a few. Whew! Would not want to get hit by one of those--------381 grains and .650 in diameter.

BTW, I have an "auction" in "Swappin & Sellin" for some rare Keith hollow point moulds. It ends tonight at 9 EST.

What do they all have in common? They are all made out of lead alloy :wink::-D ------- Sixgun

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/100_43272.jpg

Here comes nosey---------Miss Skittles:-D
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/100_4337.jpg

[Bret4207]

That 464 works in my 25-20 Savage bolt. You can seat it well into the leade on my rifle. It;s supposed to be 89 gr, but IIRC mines more lie 93-94.

As a die hard 16 ga man, I love the idea of the 16 ga round ball. OUCH!

[beagle]

The 37583 was designed for a BP pistol.....but it does work fairly well in the .38-55 providing it's large enough for the barrel diameter. Most I've cast with run right at .375+.

The 257464 is good in the ,25-20 and can be made even better by having it HP'd./beagle

[John Boy]

The Ideal 37583 is my 38-55 Go To bullet for 50yd Schuetzen Matches. Try it with 5.0grs of Unique and 1:40 alloy. Believe you'll like it
PS: Nice score on the 'stuff'!

[onceabull]

As Beagle points out,some (most that I've tried) of those moulds will not drop a boolit large enough for a lot of the older 38/55 bores..Really do fine work in any of the the three 38/55 rebores Jesse.O. made that live here now,or in the the 375 W.( great in Ruger #3,win BB,and Sav.99, marginal in 375 Marlin ,might do better if cast a lot softer.)

[Sixgun]

Thanks guys,
The alloy I used was hard, 75% lino and 25% wheelweights, then water quenched---from a hot mould. The base band mikes out at .379, while the middle band comes out at .378. As most of my 38-55's have groove diameters of .376 to .379 (one old nasty 1894 at .380) I believe its gonna work.

My original idea was to make 'em hard so I can push them at 1500-1600 for the 50 meter chickens, 100 meter pigs, and the 150 turkeys, all out of my favorite 38-55, the 1893 Marlin takedown thats in my avatar. Produced in 1901, it has a perfect bore and shoots like a scoped boltgun---nothin fancy---2" easily @100 meters with a 275 NEI @ .379 and a Lyman tang sight with a #47 windgage stem.

I'll let the bullets sit for a couple of days, then size 'em up and load up a dose of A.A. 5744 that I think will give me 1500 and see what happens.

Hey, half the fun is in the experimentation------------Sixgun

[odinohi]

From a little dog guy, thats a cute little yorkie. Thanks for sharing. Oh ya, nice molds also!

Tom

[woody1]

According to Lyman, there were two versions of the 37583.

The 37583 the "standard .38-55 short range bullet. Powder charge 20 grains FFg black powder, or 7 grains weight Du Pont No. 80, or 5 grains Hercules Unique."

The 37583-S "For use in .36 Colt cap and ball revolvers............Same as the 37583 except this one is made to size .375" in diameter."

Regards, Woody

[para45lda]

WOW. Nice haul.

On a side note (and just so I don't make the same mistake) how do you get banned with 2 posts?

Wes