RB & the 38-55

[bigted]

well now ... been enjoying my C&B pistols and using roundballs and such and remembered my poor 38-55 setting in the corner. i have a .375 ball mold as i shoot my 36 cal pistol and even tho my 38-55 wants .380's ... thought id give em a try with some trail boss.

so i full sized several 38-55 cases then flaired the mouth to except the balls ... then metered in 9 grains of Trail Boss ahead of the remington # 9 1/2 primers ... then plopped the RB in the case mouth ... then i crimped the mouth on the equator of the balls.

now i have a small gong i bought recently that will withstand a 44 mag hit so i figured it would handle these lil balls with ease. it has a small gong on top and a larger gong on the bottom ... swings nicely when hit so i figured what the heck.

i hit that stupid small gong shot for shot off hand. these dont make any more noise then a 22 LR and seem to be very accurate in my re-lined Marlin '93'. what fun outta the 26 inch round barrel. these are a good winter time shooter with low noise and accuracy to boot and NO recoil. what fun. these should do very well on wabbits and grouse. only thing is about the feeding ... i shot em all as single shots and chose to not try to run em thru the action.

try em you might just like em. now to get a .380 mold for the 38 and try them.

[dubber123]

Sounds like a hoot! I bet they would feed just fine. Did you use anything for lube on them? I've been playing with the idea for my 45-70 Cowboy.

[bigted]

nope ... no lube ... but a feller sure could use something like the Lee tumble lube on em. i have done so with some 54 cal balls i reduced to .460 thru a couple push thru's and loaded in my 45-70 and they also are just a very fun shooter. try them .460 or .458 inch balls in your 45-70 ... absolute fun at its utmost.

[Muskyhunter1]

Thanks will have to give that a try. I used to shoot a .311 round ball out of my old 30-30. I used to seat the ball below the case mouth and put a little bit of petroleum jelly across it (messy). Shot pretty good but i would be careful if you were planning on shooting jacket loads after.

[schutzen]

You guys are going to get me into another mess. First one of you talked me into a .38-55 , no you want me to try round ball squib loads in it. By the way, Thanks for convincing me to get the .38-55. I love it. My oldest son has been wanting to get a .35 Remington, but he has just about decided the .38-55 is the way to go. Of course that might be because Dad loads .38-55's and has 6K slugs ready to load. Looks like I will be looking for more .38-55 brass.

[bigted]

cant ever go wrong with a good quality 38-55. i sure like mine ... both em!

[missionary5155]

Good morning
Yep the 38's are a fine bore to settle on. RB for bunnies and 300 grainers up close for bigger Bitty things crawling about the bottoms or woods.
I would recommend a lube of some kind. Even the lowly caliber .22 rimfire has that waxy stuff.
When you get bored try some Bullseye or 231 under that RB. Barrel length gets important here so start out at 5 grains working down. You will reach that spot where a RB will just barely exit or stick towards the barrel end.. naturally that is too little for your barrel length. But makes a good "barn Load" for pigeons and rats. But it will go through light weight corregated. The older heavy weight corregated dents.
A fun load is a case full of 2F with the ball squeezed down on top. Again barrel length will increase the velocity dramaticly from a 18 carbine to a 24 inch rifle. This load will hunt anything a caliber 38 muzzleloader will do.
Yep the 38's are still an interesting journey and fine tool to have about the place. Just wish I could find one down here in LLama Land.
Mike in Peru

[missionary5155]

Howdy
The 37583 is the boolit I shoot in my old Marlin Ballard 38-50. I did have to lap it out a bit to get a 40-1 fat enough to fill out the bore. Works well on ground hogs and similar sized beasties under 50 yards out in ILLinois.
Mike in Peru

[beagle]

Get on Google and type in "Round Ball Loads". You'll get a PDF file that's on Castpics. You'll probably find it interesting reading./beagle

[TXGunNut]

Hmmm...sounds like fun indeed. Pity I don't have a RB mould in that size. No TB either but have a bit of 231 and 2400 and a 375 BB coming out of retirement soon.