Accurate #38-255L in Winchester 94 .38-55

[trapdoor1873]

I ordered my first mold from Accurate Molds and I can't express enough how pleased I am with the quality of the mold. It is #38-255L http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=38-255L-D.png I ordered this mold for my Winchester 94 in 38-55. The mold is a work of art! The barrel is a Badger full octagon 26". http://www.flickr.com/photos/sodcity/9378324535/ I ordered the mold +/- .001 at .380 for #2 alloy and it drops at exactly .380. I have a custom .380 sizer die and lubed the bullets with LS stuff BAC lube. The load is 34 grains of 3031 with a Winchester standard large rifle primer with a crimp at the crimp groove. The results was a 6 shot 1.4" group at 100 yards. This was my first trial with this bullet which is a full inch tighter than any other bullet I have tried! This is by far the highest quality mold I have owned. The ordering system on the Accurate website is simple and gets you a mold exactly what you need. I will be ordering more molds from Accurate Molds.

[KirkD]

Glad to hear that mould is working well for you. Tom at Accurate Moulds designed that bullet for me as a result of my request for some modifications to the 38-270L mould he had. A few days after I put in the request, he got back to me with the new design #38-255L. Not long after that, my new brass mould arrived and, like you, I was very impressed with the quality of the craftsmanship in producing that mould. Using pure clip-on wheel weights, my bullets drop from the mould at .381 and weigh 256 grains before sizing, lube and gas check. It is about 262 grains after lube and gas check and sized to .380. I have tried a variety of 38-55 bullets over the years but this one is the most accurate I have ever had. Checking my file of targets here, I see I can put 5 shots into 1 & 1/4" at 100 yards with my original Winchester Model 1894 shipped in 1897. The bore is about an 8.5 out of 10. I cannot see that I could get much better accuracy than that. My load was 17 grains of 5744, a Winchester Magnum primer (reduces E.S.) for 1,307 fps, which is very close to the original ballistics back in the day.

[Clay M]

I ordered the 38 -270 A for my Marlin. Will post the results when I get it.
My Marlin bore is .378 so I ordered a .380 Should be a good mold for the lever gun.

[longranger]

I have 2 molds from Accurate and agree with the quality and the ability to get the dimensions desired. The late great Paul Jones told me once "Why do you want to change a perfect bullet by sizing ?" I have heeded this advice and only shoot "as cast" from good molds made for the gun.My sizing dies are always .001 bigger than bullet dia.so as not to disturb a perfect bullet. My Win. 94's in .32 Special and .375 Win. are amazingly accurate with molds from Accurate.

[Clay M]

I agree about the .001 over normally.I am sizing more to the chamber on the Marlin.It seem to have a generous chamber.I figured .002 over would give me some room to work with.

[KirkD]

I like to have my bullets drop a wee bit larger (preferably 1 thou) in diameter than what I want them sized to. This allows me a bit of freedom in in my melt temperature. I just melt over a propane burner and the temp is never a constant. If the melt temp gets a bit on the high side, I would still like to get at least my sizing diameter once it cools down for a week or so.

[bigted]

I have a shelf full of accurate molds and I have yet to get one that is anything less then absolutely perfect. these molds do everything that is required of them. I have both the brass ones as well as a couple aluminum molds. they are perfect in every way in my estimation. congrats on your rifle/mold combination ... happy shooting.

[Clay M]

That 38 -255 looks like a great bullet. I decided to go with the shorter nose of the 38-270A in the Marlin because I didn't know how well it would feed the longer bullets.I like that 38-255,I bet it shoots fantastic.

[trapdoor1873]

Glad to hear that mould is working well for you. Tom at Accurate Moulds designed that bullet for me as a result of my request for some modifications to the 38-270L mould he had. A few days after I put in the request, he got back to me with the new design #38-255L. Not long after that, my new brass mould arrived and, like you, I was very impressed with the quality of the craftsmanship in producing that mould. Using pure clip-on wheel weights, my bullets drop from the mould at .381 and weigh 256 grains before sizing, lube and gas check. It is about 262 grains after lube and gas check and sized to .380. I have tried a variety of 38-55 bullets over the years but this one is the most accurate I have ever had. Checking my file of targets here, I see I can put 5 shots into 1 & 1/4" at 100 yards with my original Winchester Model 1894 shipped in 1897. The bore is about an 8.5 out of 10. I cannot see that I could get much better accuracy than that. My load was 17 grains of 5744, a Winchester Magnum primer (reduces E.S.) for 1,307 fps, which is very close to the original ballistics back in the day.
It is interesting to hear that you made the original request. I decided on this design because I had good luck with the lyman 375296 bullet that dropped from the mold at .379 and the 38-255L was similar in design. I feel that when I do some more experiments I will improve the accuracy even more. What was your thoughts at the time for modifications to the 38-270L? I have not loaded down to the "original" cartridge velocities. My Badger barrel has a 1:15 twist. What is the twist rate of an original Winchester barrel? I have also shot a group with a charge of 31.5 grains of Reloader 7 that was just under 2 inches at 100 yards. I don't own a chronograph, I wish I new what the actual velocities are.

[Clay M]

I use to shoot a lot of the original older 94's in .38/55 win. Back then I used a custom Hoch GC bullet based on the lyman design.One of my loads was 28 grs of Rel 7 and I also used MP5744 but I can't remember the load.I remember both loads were accurate,but it has been about twenty five years ago.

[KirkD]

What was your thoughts at the time for modifications to the 38-270L? I have not loaded down to the "original" cartridge velocities. My Badger barrel has a 1:15 twist. What is the twist rate of an original Winchester barrel?

I have not measured the twist, but Mike Venturino states in his book that the original twist rate for the Winchester 1894 38-55 was 1:18. I am afraid that my reasons for the modifications of the original 38-270L were not very technical. I looked over the bullets that Accurate Moulds had for that caliber and in a weight range that was near the 255 grain weight and I liked the look of the 270L bullet .... it looked right to me and the dimensions were right for a 38-55. To reduce the weight, I asked if the rear driving band could be reduced to .06 if I recall correctly, which would also allow more lube. Tom is amazing in what he can do regarding modifications. Lubed and gas checked, it is still a bit heavier (262 grains) than the standard, but I also wanted to use it in a 38-72 I had at the time, which was made to handle 275 grain bullets. It worked very well in both cartridges.

[TXGunNut]

Congrats on a fine rifle and mould, hear nothing but good about Tom around here. Had a similar experience with the Lyman 375449 or I'd be ordering a 38-255L for my 375 Win.

[Muskyhunter1]

I have 2 and they are excellent molds. Money well spent I think.