45 Year Old Virgin

[TXGunNut]

Been hard at work all day today breaking in a new mould, figuring out a new-to-me cartridge, set of dies and chamber dimensions. Wasn't going to break the old girl in for another week or so but all the tools & components (except wads) are here so I might as well go for it.[smilie=w:
I bought a NIB Winchester Legendary Frontiersman in 38-55 last week and my shooting buddy asked me to bring it out tomorrow so I figured I might as well get it together, poor thing's waited long enough. ;)
Mould was awesome, dropping boolits like an old pro within a few pours. Boolits dropped @ .381, bore slugs .380. 250grs. That should work. :smile: Sizer worked perfectly, just barely touched the boolits. All I could find was 2.125 brass (thanks 45Coltnut!) and I determined proper seating depth would allow me to crimp into the top groove. That will make it easy to tell it from my 375 Win ammo, it's crimped into the 2nd groove of the 375449.
Got a wild hair and loaded it up with 43 grs Olde Eynsford FFg black powder. Seems to me BP cartridges shoot best with BP, if I want a faster .375 I have the Big Bore.
I think it's sad that some collector kept such a beautiful rifle in such a wonderful chambering stuck away all these years. I'm going to right that wrong tomorrow!

[lar45]

Pics!! We Need Pics :)

[35 shooter]

That's a caliber I've always wanted too. Should be a great cast boolit shooter. May have a bbl. made up for my encore one day. Good luck with it!

LOL...don't forget to take the whelen tommorrow too.

[TXGunNut]

I'll take pictures tomorrow at the range, hopefully Droid will feel like uploading them. We'll see.
Seems I made a math error; I figure she was made in 1979 so she's 35, not 45.
Yes, 35 shooter, Ol' Ugly is going tomorrow. I cast some 50-50 boolits for her and heat-treated them. Also need to sight in my new Weaver scope. Was hoping to play with my C&B Remington but it may stay in the case again. Should be a fun range trip anyway.

[TXGunNut]

Between my presbyopic eyes and a front sight intended for smokeless powder the sights were almost useless but I got a couple of pretty decent groups today. I think the old girl might be a shooter, she's darn sure a looker.
Finally got a pic uploaded. Droid got over it's tantrum last night but I couldn't upload. It won't let me rotate it so I'll just have to live with it.


106843

[Speedo66]

Unfortunately, I can't open it.

[CastingFool]

link won't open for me, either.

[yeahbub]

Ditto. . . .

[TXGunNut]

Sorry. Worked for me, let me try again.

[smilie=b: Can't access or upload pics tonight. Will try again another day.

[northmn]

38-55 was originally a Schuetzen cartridge and can be very accurate. The 55 designation came from the practice of filling the case (they put a wad on top and loading the bullet into the bore with a rod). 45 grains of BP is about all they will hold with a standard seated bullet. I have read lots of alchemy as to what gets the best accuracy from the cartridge in a lever, but mine does very passable with a bullet sized about .002 over bore. For other cast bullet laods I swore by Lee Liquid Alox but for this particular rifle it just does not seem to work. Just mentioning this if you try smokeless. Lots like about 10 grains of Unique for a charge. Swiss makes a good BP as does Graf's. Both are very moist burning as compared to some others. A light load of smokelsess also makes a good bore cleaning aid at the end of a session to eliminate a lot of swabbing. Just some thoughts on my experiences.

DP

[TXGunNut]

Thanks for the etymology of the 38-55, northmn. With the boolit I'm using 43 grs is about max w/ FL sized cases, loaded 44 grs last night with fired/partially sized cases. Loaded OE but have KIK and Swiss, wanted to try the OE after reading so much about it. Couldn't imagine getting 55 grs in there with room for a boolit. Got some wads in yesterday and a tang sight is temporarily installed so tomorrow's range trip should be interesting.

[TXGunNut]

107408

Still didn't get it rotated but considering my technical challenges of late I'll just post it as best I can.

[northmn]

Always thought the Winchester collectibles that were not to be shot and kept in a box kind of a strange idea. Hope you shoot the h--l out of that gun and enjoy every minute of it.

DP

[35 shooter]

LOL i couldn't cock my head far enough to get the full effect of the pic. So i just picked the screen up an turned it till it lined up. More than one way to skin a cat! Just pickin with you Tx. i can't even post pic's yet. Oldest son is supposed to come show me how. Boy is he gonna have his hands full! He's probably gonna be real disappointed when he finds out just how computer dumb his dad really is.

That is one gorgeous rifle! For sure!

[TXGunNut]

Rumor has it most "collectibles" are excellent shooters. Tang sight helped out a bunch today and powder fouling wasn't near as bad. Ran out of adjustment so I need to check my parts box for a shorter one. Seem to recall taking one of another 94 when I put a Lyman sight on it.
Sorry about the crick in your neck, 35 shooter. I'll send you my heating pad as soon as my shoulder feels better. ;-)

[GhostHawk]

107479

Sweet looking rifle!

[TXGunNut]

107479

Sweet looking rifle!

Thanks! Welcome to the affliction. Think she may just be a sweet shooter as well. Just put a lower front sight on her to go with the tang sight. Can't wait for the next range trip. :smile:

[doc1876]

dad had a Marlin '93 in .38-55, and I still remember most of the stories. He really liked that rifle. How it slipped out of the family is a bad long story. I have thought of getting one of these and doing the same thing. enjoy it for the rest of us

[TXGunNut]

Sorry to hear about your Marlin but the memories are as important as the rifle. Hope you'll find one of your own, would be a long drive down but you're welcome to shoot mine. Hope you like BP.

[Buckshot]

..............The 2.125" long cases are correct for a real 38-55.

http://www.fototime.com/47DD87E404FADAE/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/34A89A527939537/standard.jpg

My old 1893 Marlin has a .380" groove and I size to .381". It's a very accurate rifle and my favorite plinking load is the 225gr Saeco FNPB sized .381" over 16.0 grs of 2400, no filler will hold 1 to 1-1/4" for 5 rounds at 50 yards all day. Another load which shoots as well and is even easier is the 250gr Lee FNBB over 10.0 grs of Unique.

About 15 - 16 years ago shooting buddy and his wife were shooting Cowboy Action. Our rangemaster had one of those Legendary Frontiersman rifles. He bought it from him for his wife, and IIRC paid him $600 for it. I really enjoy the 38-55. It is a very well dimensioned cartridge and it just seems to please the eye. Kind of a miniature 45-90.

http://www.fototime.com/2F947FA79B9FD46/standard.jpg

This is a target I shot a few years back with the Lee 6 cav GB for a 270gr FNPB slug for the 38-55. 10 rnds at 50 yards.

..............Buckshot

[smokeywolf]

Thanks for the pics Buckshot. I've been looking at them for 20 minutes. You're a lucky man to have such a sweet looking and shooting piece of history.

smokeywolf

[TXGunNut]

Sweet old rifle, Buckshot. Thanks for sharing it with us. Cartridge does indeed look like a scaled-down 45-90, maybe that's why I haven't bothered to try smokeless powder in it yet. 2400 has worked quite well for me in similar cartridges so will be my first choice for a smokeless powder.

[TXGunNut]

Let's see if I can get an updated pic to load
107753

Been having my own IT issues, most seem to have been solved by a new I-phone. Can't believe I struggled with that Droid and another device for a net connection for so long.