38-55 loads

[45coltnut]

Hello everyone,

I've recently purchased my first dedicated cast only lever gun , a Winchester a legendary frontiersman 1894 made in 1979 only. It has a Marble tang peep on it. A beautiful gun that feels great! My goal is to find a good shooting load for both silhouettes and hog/deer hunting.

The barrel slugged around .3795-.380" and the only commercial sizer I could buy is a .379". I may end up buying a custom .380"-.3805" from Buckshot if necessary but first want to try out my sized boolits at .379".

I've also purchased a lee 250 grain FP mold and I'm lubing with Bens Red. Oh, they dropped at .3805". My lead is all WW and air cooled somewhere around 10-12 BHN I'm guessing. And, my current powder selection consists of H322, IMR 4895, H4895 and my local gun shop has some IMR 4031.

Let me also say that I'm not chasing high velocities at all, but instead an accurate and safe load on both me and the gun.

So, the loads that I've found both in my lyman cast manual and on the Hodgdon site are in the attached photo.

Does anyone have any known good loads for the 94 from the shown powder choices/ranges? Also, at what point should I consider using a gas checked design such as the Lyman 264 boolit? I know this may be somewhat of a trick question as different alloys and lubes may or may not lead. Also depending on size to bore.

I'll probably load up 3-5 rounds per load in 1 full grain jumps from min to max in order to narrow it down. So, I'm guessing that all should be ok as going from the manual. And, I assume all will be fine in my gun even at max per the manuals.

Any help is much appreciated. Even though load testing will be fun :)

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/29/y2a9e2yv.jpg

[Baja_Traveler]

I have the same rifle I use for cowboy silhouette. I use THIS (http://www.biglube.com/BulletMolds.aspx?ItemID=3db38e5e-f56e-41dd-9e35-657e0ec19a65) 255 big lube boolit, sized to .380 by a custom Buckshot sizer in my RCBS Lubrisizer. I shot it exclusively for several years using black powder, but recently switched to 10 gr Trailboss for ease of loading (and Trailboss is cheaper than Swiss BP). 10 grains is the max amount that will fit in the case, leaving 1/8" between powder and boolit base. I really like this load, and it has no problem taking down rams yet still has a mild recoil - NOTE: this load is over book max, and you should start lower.

[rbertalotto]

9g of Unique with a tiny toilet paper "wad" to hold the powder against the primer will win competitions!

[35 shooter]

Might pay to try shooting some as cast along with some sized as you only have the .379 sizer? Although with a soft enough alloy they may bump up a bit for a better fit in the bore. Congrats on a nice rifle!

[Clay M]

I have had good luck with Rel 7 and MP 5744 .

[Whiskeylima]

10 grain of Trail Boss and a 240 gr Laser Cast sized out of the box at .380. I too have had great luck with the load and have no problems taking down rams. I bumped up to 11.5 grains and saw no appreciable difference in accuracy so I dropped back down to 10 grains. I had a nice chat with the manufacturer of TB about 11.5 grains and they saw no issues with going to that load.

[45coltnut]

Thanks everyone. I loaded up some of the H322 and IMR 4895 to try today. However, after my first few shots I had an unfortunate outcome. My dovetail bracket that hold the screw for the forearm cap broke into. Now there's nothing to hold the forearm in place. So, I'll be calling Winchester for parts.
On the bright side, I did get a 2.5" group at 100yds with one of the H322 loads. Not bad for me and iron sights :)

[35 shooter]

Not bad at all for irons. Sounds like that old rifle's worth fixing up for sure!

[ammohead]

At the risk of starting a war I would be careful using any kind of filler/wad in a straight walled case with any smokeless powder. There I said it, let the flaming begin. I nearly ruined my 38-55 and thank my lucky stars that it is still a shooter. You don't want a ringed chamber and you don't need fillers or wads to make that baby shoot.

The lee mould is a good choice for what you say you want. I did take the tip of a sharp knife and wittle away the bevel base portion of my mould for a plain base boolit.

If your rifle shoots the .379 sized boolits don't be in a hurry for a .380 sizer. My 94 legacy in 38-55 won't chamber boolits sized .380 unless you really crank on the lever to close, and pressures really rise.

I got busy not too long ago and shaped a .375 end mill, reduced the diameter to .370" and ran it into a old 8mm lee mould.

100992

The boolits weigh about 237 grains dropped from the mould. Then I paper patch them with 2 wraps of tracing paper and load them over 36 gr of wc846. I took them to the range yesterday and got the group below.

100993

Not bad for a first effort. Minute of mule deer anyway.

[ammohead]

Winchester will direct you to their authorized gunsmith repair center, Midwest Gun Works in MO. As all 94s are made in Japan there is no "Winchester" in the USA anymore. Their phone # 636 475-7300. Or you can try Brownells. If you or anyone else needs a angle eject 38-55 26" bbl, I bought the last new one with New Haven stamped on it in existence just in case mine was ringed to the point of not being a shooter anymore. But so far so good.