38-55 vs 357 mag

[charliek]

38-55 vs 357 mag a rolling block? Opinions please

[marvelshooter]

.38-55 but I may be a little a biased.
178125

[Ben]

38-55 vs 357 mag a rolling block? Opinions please

What kind of rolling block ?

[GhostHawk]

.357mag for me please. Brass is cheaper, easier to find, and in theory you could ream to MAX.

.38-55 has been known to suffer from a tight chamber.

Wide variety of bullet styles, weights, plain based, gas checked, you name it you have options and lots of them.

However if you are a die hard Holy Black fan it would have to be .38-55 and holy black.
Me I like to clean my guns once a year preferably in the middle of a 3 day blizzard when I have nothing better to do. So make mine .357, preferably one of those baby blocks.

[dtknowles]

.357mag for me please. Brass is cheaper, easier to find, and in theory you could ream to MAX.

.38-55 has been known to suffer from a tight chamber.

Wide variety of bullet styles, weights, plain based, gas checked, you name it you have options and lots of them.

However if you are a die hard Holy Black fan it would have to be .38-55 and holy black.
Me I like to clean my guns once a year preferably in the middle of a 3 day blizzard when I have nothing better to do. So make mine .357, preferably one of those baby blocks.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Tim

[quail4jake]

I never thought of the comparison but it makes perfect sense. I'd go with the .357, simple, straight walled, cookie cutter and great versatility. I had a .38-55 Marlin '93 26" bbl. pistol grip and I truly regret trading it but it is a complicated cartridge to load properly and performance is limited. Oh, I'd love to fool with it now but I'm self actualized and live on higher karma than I did back then (what BS)! Anyway, I like simplicity and I like to shoot ALOT which means doing things to make mass production easier...yeah, the .357...

[John Boy]

Opinions pleaseCharlie, depends on the the primary distance you normally shoot ...
* the 357 is a short distance caliber, 300yds max
* the 38-55 is better than a short distance, 500m and with the right reload & good eyes is a 1000yd target caliber

[corbinace]

My first thought was 38-45 for the cool factor, then I had to settle for the 357 for the easy road.

[quail4jake]

Great point! Hadn't considered the lonnng range capability of the 1880s technology!

Charlie, depends on the the primary distance you normally shoot ...
* the 357 is a short distance caliber, 300yds max
* the 38-55 is better than a short distance, 500m and with the right reload & good eyes is a 1000yd target caliber

[Texas by God]

Unless it's a heavy gun(7#+) I would go .357. Uberti I assume?

[country gent]

Installing a new barrel or liner where you can get the twist rate you want then I opt for 38-55 with a 1-12 twist slowest a 1-14 twist. This would allow bullets from 260 grns to 365 grns to be used. If slower twists and lighter bullets are wanted or Jacketed bullets then 357. Keep in mind the 38-55 is a 375-377 bore and the 357 is 358 - 359. Draw back to both will be finding making the proper extractor needed.

[MaLar]

What are you going to do with it?

[charliek]

Thanks for all the information. Based on the convenience factors I think 257 in a small Uberti is the way I will go. I have been a muzzleloader for a number of years and am familiar with the joys of cleaning. That plus ease of acquiring cases and bullets made up my mind.

[charliek]

That is 357 not 257.

[justashooter]

200 grain .358 casting with H110 or Herc 2400 will do whatever a standard low power factory 38-55 will do. Rolling blocks are surprisingly strong by nature of design.

[castalott]

Since you are going to get a barrel in either case ( pun intended!), make sure it is cast friendly...

Dale

[JB. Books]

Personally, I would definitely opt for a 38-55 if offered the choice

[TCLouis]

Paper, Plinkin, or Huntin?

It's not that the 38-55s have a tight chamber, as much as the issue that they have loose barrels . . . 0.380+
I'd love 38-55, but have decided no more mold diameters.

I'd opt for 357 Maggie as it would work for most of my needs, then I could always Max it out if I needed to push bigger boolits farther out.

I always thought 30 or 357 Herrett would be nice in a RB with a 22 inch round tapered barrel, receiver sights and scope capability.

[marlinman93]

Glad that "tight chamber" got corrected by TCLouis! Some have large bores, but not tight chambers. And if one was building a .38-55 from scratch, you could choose a barrel with the bore you wanted. Most C Sharps use a .375" bore, so they don't have the issues of oversized bullets. But as long as the bore is around .379"-.380" it should be no problem.
I'd pick a .38-55 over a .357 Mag any day! I can shoot it both closer ranges and longer ranges; so it's a more versatile rifle to me.

[country gent]

C SHarps uses barrels from custom makers, My Hepburn in 45-90 has a green mountain tapered octagon 34" 1-18 twist on it. My newer High wall in 38-55 has a McGowen tapered octagon 30" 1-12 twist on it. CPA uses aotof douglas premium blanks. But either will instal the blank of your choice if your willing to pay for it. I had though on the Hepburn about a krieger 1-18 alexander henry form rifling blank 34" long and 1-18 twist but cost and wait time ruled it out. Shiloh I believe is making their own barrels in house still.

[EDG]

The problem is that the SAAMI standard plus past design and manufacturing practices have resulted in chambers and barrels that do not work together.

Any company that manufactures a 38-55 and depends on SAAMI for standardization is really stupid. That is how H&R Target rifles in 38-55 wound up with chambers that are .397 at the mouth and groove diameter barrels of .380. Winchester brass is .009. So .397 minus (2 X .009) = a .379 bullet........

The .397 meets the SAAMI chamber drawing
The fat bore meets the SAAMI drawing
SAAMI allows bullet smaller than the groove diameters.
Do you intentionally want to manufacture a rifle that will not shoot straight?
The SAAMI .38-55 standard will help you do that.




Paper, Plinkin, or Huntin?

It's not that the 38-55s have a tight chamber, as much as the issue that they have loose barrels . . . 0.380+
I'd love 38-55, but have decided no more mold diameters.

I'd opt for 357 Maggie as it would work for most of my needs, then I could always Max it out if I needed to push bigger boolits farther out.

I always thought 30 or 357 Herrett would be nice in a RB with a 22 inch round tapered barrel, receiver sights and scope capability.

[McLintock]

It boils down to what you're going to be doing with it, small game if hunting and shorter distances if target shooting versus bigger game and much longer distances for long range shooting. Case capacity is so much different they don't even compare much, especially if you're going to be using black powder. If shooting smokeless, 31-33 grs of 3031 with a 265 gr gas checked bullet will surely beat a 200 gr and a max load of H110 or 2400 as mentioned before. If shooting black, 42-45 grs of 2F with the heavier bullets will certainly beat whatever a 357 case will hold even if using 3F. If you're concerned about recoil, a 31 gr load of 3031 with the aforementioned 265 gr gas checked bullet in a Browning Traditional Hunter doesn't recoil much at all, even though it has the crescent butt plate; I know as I shot one for ten years in Cowboy Action long range event's. Going milder with 18 gr of 4227 and a 250 gr plain base just about eliminates recoil, but still would outdo the hot 357 loads. But, it's your gun and dollar, do whatever yanks your crank.

McLintock

[marlinman93]

Long before SAAMI ever existed, or was even thought of, the chambers were this same size. And early .38-55's had bores around .379"-.380" (or larger) in the 1800's. I have had some late 1800's rifles in .38-55 Ballard with perfect bores that measured .381" and had the same chamber.
I would certainly not purchase a barrel with a bore over .379" today if I was building a .38-55, and most likely would even go with the .375" bore. But getting a .381"-.382" bullet to chamber and shoot well in those old chambers is not impossible, or hard to do. I have to do so with 5 of them now, and all are shooting well for me.