38-55

[Prodigal Son]

I acquired a Marlin 30AS that the bore was rusted as bad as the outside. Sent it out JES Reboring it started out as a 30-30 now a 38-55 5 rifling like Win. used to do. If you ever need something bored to a new caliber give Jesse a chance to show you his work. I'm tickled to death, can't wait to get my stocks so I can install them on the rifle. Will post pictures when it's completed!

[TXGunNut]

Sounds like an excellent project. Where are the stocks coming from? Who's doing the metal refinishing? Goodsteel (Tim Malcolm) is in AR and a member here, I believe he'll be doing the metal on my 38-55. Don't be afraid of posting a few work-in-progress pics, I like threads like that.

[Prodigal Son]

Boyd's stocks, leaving the old bluing so it don't have to worry about using it in foul weather. Taking to Newfoundland this fall to use on moose & bear!

[TXGunNut]

I put a Boyd stock on a project rifle recently. Couldn't be happier with the fit & finish. Minimal fitting and glass bedding and an ugly old rifle became one of the prettiest (and best shooting) rifles in my safe.
Take a hard look at the Lyman 375449 mould for your "new" rifle. I can send you a few samples if you'd like.

[MBTcustom]

Awesome project!
Sorry to poke my head in, but my ears were burning. LOL!

[TXGunNut]

Shot my 38-55 today, your ears have reason to be a bit warm, lol.

[6.5 mike]

38-55 has got to be one of the most fun calibers to work with.

[TXGunNut]

38-55 has got to be one of the most fun calibers to work with.

Couldn't agree more. Fun to shoot, rich history and a capable hunting round to boot! But then again, I haven't met a levergun cartridge I didn't like.

[enfield]

Nothing like a straight case in a lever gun, great fun with black powder too. Kind of a mild version of a 45-70.

[rbertalotto]

love those 38-55 rifles. I've had Jes do four of them for me. 1893 Marlin, 44 1/2 Stevens, 1894 Winchester, 1892 Winchester......and I have a Ballard, a C Sharps 1875, a Uberti 1885 High Wall, A Winchester (japan) 1894
"Sporter" and a Lyman Mini Sharps all in 38-55......also a 14" TC Contender barrel in 375 Winchester which shoots the 38-55 just fine. I'm building a Remington Hepburn from a kit in that chambering also. I'm a nut about the 38-55

Nine grains of Unique under a 250-265gr lead bullet shoots into little bitty groups. I use a 3/4" piece of single ply toilet paper to hold the powder against the primer.

Have fun with it. Let us know how it shoots

[dogmower]

if I can ask you guys, what does he charge to re-barrel a rifle? I am looking for a marlin 336 to have rebarreled and need to factor this cost in to the equation.
thanks

[Mr Peabody]

pull a search for JES Rebore. It's about $250.00

[6.5 mike]

I'm using the lee 250 fp in my C Sharps 38-55 & a marlin 375 winny. Lubed or pp'ed don't seem to make any difference in either one.

[seaboltm]

I have a JES rebored Winchester 94 in 38-55. Bought it from his brother, actually. Great work, great caliber. Think about it: 250 grain bullet at 1500 fps, and that's loading mild. That is in the neighborhood of a 44 mag rifle, but this caliber was invented in the 1880's. Seems like those old timers knew what would work. Oh, and the 38-40, shooting a 180 10mm slug at 1100fps. Sort of sounds like a 40 S&W, so the old timers knew that was potent medicine and it took us another century to "invent" it. What is old is new again!

[Chill Wills]

I acquired a Marlin 30AS that the bore was rusted as bad as the outside. Sent it out JES Reboring it started out as a 30-30 now a 38-55 5 rifling like Win. used to do. If you ever need something bored to a new caliber give Jesse a chance to show you his work. I'm tickled to death, can't wait to get my stocks so I can install them on the rifle. Will post pictures when it's completed!

Did the two of you (JES) talk about what bore/groove diameter he was going to re-bore to? .375 or the old .379-.380? Also, wondering about the chamber length. Is it the newer 2.85" or the old long chamber for the 2.125" brass?

I am always curious about the many configurations of the 38-55.

[TXGunNut]

I think he bores to 375. Better selection of boolits, IMHO. My Winchesters like fatter boolits but Lyman came out with a 380681 as soon as my first 38-55 followed me home.

[seaboltm]

I think he bores to 375. Better selection of boolits, IMHO. My Winchesters like fatter boolits but Lyman came out with a 380681 as soon as my first 38-55 followed me home.

Jess bores to .375. He has his bore dimensions listed on his website.

[Catshooter]

.375 would be a lot easier to work with. My 94 is at .3815 and moulds are tough to find. I honed out a 375449 and got it to .3795. I didn't figure it would work but it does and doesn't lead either!

I love that rifle.


Cat

[Chill Wills]

Jess bores to .375. He has his bore dimensions listed on his website.

And the chamber length?

[JesterGrin_1]

The Chamber is cut by Jess to use the standard length 38-55 Brass from the last I remember and not the 38-55 Long Brass.

And yes like the others have said he cuts a .375 bore so you can actually get bullets and boolits to fit the bore and have room for the expanding case mouth.

So with the above given information if I wished to get another 38-55 it would be a re-bore by JESS.

I Had a coveted Marlin 336 CB 38-55 that was a nightmare. The bore was .381+ but with the correct size bullet it was very hard to chamber due to the fact the chamber was to small to fit that large of a diameter boolit. And that was using Starline 38-55 long brass of which is made thinner due to the chamber issues and the larger diameter bullets needed. I could have probably sent it off and had the chamber opened up a bit but due to the fact that Marlin is gone and the rifle was one of the first ones made by Marlin I did not wish to maybe hurt the value of the rifle down the road so I traded it off to someone that wished to give it a go.

For loading I was using the information that was provided by Ranch Dog for the 38-55 with H-322 powder and his bullet design of which I had to beagle a bit to get the correct diameter and they showed great promise even with the associated problems and they were moving out pretty darn quick according to the information provided by Ranch Dog load information.

The page link below is for Ranch Dogs 250Gr Bullet and the .38-55 with a JESS re-bore.

http://www.ranchdogoutdoors.com/bin/TLC380250RF/data/loadnotes01.pdf

[Prodigal Son]

Well finally got the ole 38-55 Marlin 30 AS rebore completed today! Got the butt stock from Boyds, had some chocolate brown shoe polish finish on it, so after fitting it to the action sanded the whole stock down to bare wood because I want a linseed oil finish. Then the forearm was half inch short. So a 336 is not the same as a 30AS like their web page said. Ordered one from a place out of Kerrville TX, that is a little light in color, but was able to fit it nicely to the mag. tube and front of the action! Install my new Loupold 1-4x20! I didn't refinish the metal as I want to be able to use it in foul weather, maybe later on! 136271136272

[JesterGrin_1]

Looks Good. Happy Hunting. :)

[missionary5155]

Jess bores to .375. He has his bore dimensions listed on his website.

Good morning
Jes will rebore a 336 to caliber .405 (.412 groove) . Have two.. one in .414 Supermag and the other in 405 JES (.41-444).
Mike in Peru

[John Allen]

Do you have to alter the bolt face of the 30/30 bolt for a rebore to 38/55? Does it feed ok? I have one that is not in the best of shape and this might be a great option.

[rr2241tx]

If you have one of the tight chamber/loose bore guns, PTG's Competition chambering reamer will fix that for you.

[Prodigal Son]

There is no alteration needed for the bolt face and feeds " like butter" shoots good too! It's hard to believe a gun shot with such little report can be so good at killing!

[gandydancer]

Who mfg's a replacement bbl for a old marlin/glenfield 30/30 re-barreled to 38/55 using an old marlin model 93 barrel I want to replace again in 38/55. got this rifle from catshooter a while back. the bbl on it is Blackpowder only. old bugger. Tom

[Prodigal Son]

Out shooting this morning and the ole 38-55 250 PB is shooting awesome, this gun loves cast Boolits! Off hand 3 shots touching @ 27 yards. Just sighting in the scope will try a hundred after casting some new boolits tonight!

[NVScouter]

I bought a JM gold trigger to do this to also. I just havent sent it to him yet because I'm not sure if the 20" will be good or if I should look for longer barrel.

[Prodigal Son]

Seems to work well for my Marlin 30AS!

[Prodigal Son]

136401
Got my Lyman 375248 CV mold the other day and finally got to cast some tonight. They dropped @ .3765 from the mold water quinched and 245 grains. The mold is supposed to be 249 grs. So they may be a bit hard we will see if the shoot as well as they look I'll be too good! As my Iraqie friend would say! Very nice mold, anyone know what the CV after the mold # means? Lovin this 38-55!

[Prodigal Son]

Tested hardness today came out 15, loaded 7 rounds with some old R7 28.5 grs. Shot it a squirrel in a tree @ 30 yards head shot perfect shot placement! Haven't chronoagraphed it, but it's hitting dead on no leading at all, Ben's Red Lube recipe is the Shiite! Will shoot for group tomorrow!

[Rifle 57]

That is a great looking boolit!

[Prodigal Son]

Thank you, I think we found a match!

[Prodigal Son]

For the record, JES rebore is .375 & chamber length is for the 2.082 case! I had some old Western 2.125 cases that were too long!

[Catshooter]

Gandydancer,

I remember you! :)

That 93 barrel is threaded the same as today's 336. The only real difference (if I recall correctly, yer making me sweat here) is that the 93 extractor is more narrow. Going on the principle of you always cut on the cheapest part, I think rather that cut on the barrel I ground the extractor to fit. Wasn't much. In no way was the action modified.

Have you enjoyed the rifle?


Cat

[gandydancer]

Hello cat.

I have shot it a few times using "some old dominion ammo" but that"s it on this rifle. 38-55 is a great cartridge & I enjoy reloading for it. do you remember if you shortened the barrel on that rifle? I was going to have a re-crown down on it. I think I will have a new Barrel put on it instead. its an old glennfield lever action and its still better than anything remington/marlin makes today. remington killed H&R. Is Marlin next? good to hear from you. Tom

[Prodigal Son]

136694
Think I got this load right this time! I went the old tried & true imr 3031, 28.9 grs. and got happy!

[TXGunNut]

Having some pretty good early results with 3031 myself in this cartridge. I guess a vintage smokeless powder is almost as good as the BP it was designed for.

[starmac]

I doubt seriously that remington has been spending the mega bucks to retool for the marlins just to kill them off.

[TXGunNut]

I doubt seriously that remington has been spending the mega bucks to retool for the marlins just to kill them off.

Agreed but sometimes modern accounting practices make little sense to me. One possibility is coming out with an all-new levergun but that makes even less sense. I think Remington is genuinely committed to the success of Marlin but they've had their share of growing pains, bad luck and bad press.

[gandydancer]

I hope your right.

[McLintock]

The 38-55 makes a great levergun or single shot round and if you've got one of each it's the best of both worlds; bet you'll have a lot of fun with that rifle. My current levergun is a project from the ground up, starting with a pre-64 Winchester '94 action, Brownell's barrel that I chambered myself with a Dave Manson reamer while an old gunsmith I knew threaded the barrel and matched it to the action. Used wood and some other parts at first off a Oliver F. Winchester Commemerative that I couldn't get to shoot well, and finally got wood off Ebay and other small parts that I didn't have in order to come up with the current look. It shoots black powder so well that it's all I do shoot in it now, outdid any smokeless load I tried and I tried a bunch. I use a Lyman 375499 and 42-3 grs of Swiss 1.5 BP. My reamer will cut up to a 2.234" chamber but left it at 2.10" so far.
Here's a couple pics:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1620/1303399/6857234/411114059.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1620/1303399/6857234/411114060.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1620/1303399/6857234/411114061.jpg

McLintock

[Prodigal Son]

That's one sweet gun! Great job, when shooting black powder do you have the same clean up as when used in a muzzle loader? How do you clean up after shooting?

[Catshooter]

Hey Tom,

Didn't shorten the barrel. All I did was screw it on. That's an old barrel.

I hope Remington doesn't screw Marlin into the ground like they did with NEF. I don't have the faith in "management" that you do starmac. I've worked with them, seen 'em up close. Most management and logic and creativity are total strangers.


Cat

[McLintock]

Cleanup for black powder is the same as for a single shot or even muzzleloader (never had one so am assuming); I use a mixture of ballistol and water and just run a couple patches through with that and then a couple to dry the bore, pretty simple and easy. Any residue in the action (usually not much), I get with q-tips and the above mixture. I built this gun for Cowboy Action Long Range matches and was pretty successful with it, mostly shooting against smokeless shooters. Biggest Problem was when shooting 10 shots in under 30 seconds, I needed a breeze to be able to see the target.
McLintock

[Omnivore]

Great thread.

[OuchHot!]

I am using starline brass which is a bit stiff as received. I anneal the mouths and then get a good seal with BP. There is no BP residue in the action then and clean up is simple. I use a pull through with ballistol/water at first to get the residue out the front end.

[Ithaca Gunner]

JES did a Winchester 1894 SRC for me almost three years ago from .30WCF to .38/55 5 groove and it shoots a whole bunch better than the .30 bore ever did since I owned it. I'm using an Accurate 255gr. mold and IMR 4198, a good combination.

[Prodigal Son]

What's your load with 4198, and have you chronographed it? I got loads of 4198 & even 2 lbs of Brigadire 4197, which is a copy of 4198!

[McLintock]

My best smokeless loads were developed for a Browning Traditional Hunter single shot, where they shot outstanding. First was 18 gr of IMR 4227 with a 250 gr bullet, which I got from an old Ken Waters Pet Loads article on the 375 Winchester in Handloader Magazine. It was his most accurate cast bullet load, and was mine out to 250 yards; I chrony'd it at 1450 fps. The other was 31 gr of 3031 with a Lyman 375499 and it was good out to 500 yards and went about 1850 fps. If you have either of those powders, might give 'em a try. I tried 4198, 4895, 5744 and RL-7, and a couple others I can't remember, but those two outshot everything, at least in the single shot.
McLintock

[Prodigal Son]

I'm @ 30 grs of IMR 3031, chrono @ 1575 but great accuracy! I'm talkin 3 in the bullseye @75 yards! Loaded some 32 grs and accuracy deteriorated. Might give 4198 a try, just want another 100 fps! If it ain't ment to be I'll live with the 1575 fps! That ought to kill a black bear @ 25 yards!

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I've always preferred 3031 with Lyman 375248; 30 grains shot the best group for me, in two rifles...a 94 with a 26 inch barrel and a Hi Wall. It was a bit too blasty in a SRC so I reduced the charge to 27 grains for that rifle. Keep in mind that the cartridge was originally shot with a case full of black and at around 1200 fps did very well for hunting as well as target. LLS

[McLintock]

Are you using a non gas check bullet with your 3031 load; I always found that when you went over about 1500 fps with a plain base bullet, accuracy did deteriorate and I'm thinking due to the hotter charge and gases affecting and deforming the base. My load was with a gas checked bullet, so might have made the difference. Ken Waters, in his article on the 375 Winchester, said his best load was 33 gr of 3031, but with a jacketed bullet, so I think having the base protected on the hotter loads is important.
McLintock

[Prodigal Son]

Yeah my 3031 load of 30 grs is right at 1505-1510, the hotter the load the bigger the spread! Just cast another 68 Lyman 375248 COWW PB Boolits water quinched seems to work real good for me.

[hpdrifter]

just wanted to say, I got 250 cases directly from Starline on Tuesday; look out for stock on the shelves!!!!!!!

[Nrut]

just wanted to say, I got 250 cases directly from Starline on Tuesday; look out for stock on the shelves!!!!!!!
That's great news!
38-55 from Starline has been a long time coming..

[TXGunNut]

That's great news!
38-55 from Starline has been a long time coming..


Get them while you can! Which case length?

[Nrut]

I would check Stairline's site last summer and fall and they were saying that they would have 38-55 brass in stock in a few weeks..
That never happened..
Lucky in Oct. I found a fellow who had the long length (2.125") for sale and was lucky to snag 100 cases from him..
With the other cases I have, I now have all the cases I need..

[hpdrifter]

I got the short cases.

[Buckshot]

.............A very simple plinking load I like in my 1893 Marlin 38-55. It's 16.0 2400 and the Saeco #638 mould for a 225gr FNPB. As cast and tumble lubed:

http://www.fototime.com/D2244CBB5698496/standard.jpg

It's the left hand target. Fired at 50 yards, 5 shots. Does it day in and day out.

Another fine, inexpensive, and CHEAP load is 10.0 grs of Unique with the Lee 375-250 slug. This one I run through a .380" lube-size die. Costs less then 22RF these days! :-)

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