Chiappa Mini Sharps, 38-55

[HeavyMetal]

OK so I finally broke down and bought one of these, LOL!

Haven't handled it yet but all the vids and pictures show a very nice finish on the rifle.

Now as to some load info:

I have purchased a Lee 3 die set for the 38-55.

I have a Two cavity mold on order from Tom at Accurate, a 38-250F which is 250 grain flat tip plain base mold.

I have a fresh bag of 50 Winchester 38-55 case's, the bag has not been opened!

I have decided to use IMR 3031 as a starting powder but curious if anyone has tried something else with good results??

I have absolutely no interest in running black powder or a substitute it's just to messy, but I am looking for a list of possible loads to try s time permits.

Hoping the mold gets here sooner rather than later, I'd like to start casting and loading ASAP

[Howie405]

RL-7 has worked well for me in the past.

[Kraschenbirn]

IMR 4198, AA2015, or AA5744. 4198 produces the best groups...>2 MOA out to 300 yds...from my Uberti Highwall but the other two aren't that far behind and the AA2015 might shoot even better but I've got a quite a bit of 4198 on hand and have never taken the time to really refine my initial loads with the Accurate powders.

Bill

[Wayne Smith]

Very interested in your take on the quality of the build. There have been some questions about the hardness of the metal.

[Bohica793]

I am having great results with the Accurate 38-250D mold from Tom using 5744, H4198 and 2400 (reduced loads with a filler). I'm shooting mine with a Marlin 336CB.

[marlinman93]

10.0 grs. of Unique works very well in mine!

[Boz330]

Mine shot pretty good with Unique and the Lee 250gr, but I shoot exclusively BP now which I find easier to clean than smokeless. There are other things to deal with but the cleaning to me is much faster than the smokeless.
That is why there is more than one auto manufacturer.

Bob

[Jedman]

I feel the same about using black powder in a cartridge ! I have several 38-55's and have the best accuracy with I 4198, H 4198, and R 7.
3031 is good but maybe a little slow and you will use more per shot than a faster powder, but if you already have it I think it should work fine.

Jedman

[HeavyMetal]

Thanks guys just what I was looking for, I may have some 4198 in my powder collection and I can spread out a few different loads as a starting point and work with what ever happens to be what the gun likes.

[ascast]

4198 is very good in the 38-55

[OlDeuce]

Thanks guys just what I was looking for, I may have some 4198 in my powder collection and I can spread out a few different loads as a starting point and work with what ever happens to be what the gun likes.

Did you get the Rifle yet????? Ol Deuce

[Multigunner]

Is this a replica of one of the commercial Sharps hunting rifles that were chambered for proprietary .44 cartridges?

[Wayne Smith]

No, this is the rifle Lyman sells under their name in 22Hornet and 38-55. Made by Chiappia. It can be seen on Lyman's website, I bet.

[TCLouis]

Slug the bore.
You may wll need a little bigger boolit than you thought.
.381 or even a bit more

[HeavyMetal]

Ol Deuce

Pick up is the 10th, in the evening, can hardly wait and am trying to get some ammo loaded but waiting on a sizer die

[EDG]

I don't know how anyone can claim BP is easier to clean than smokeless with lead bullets.

With smokeless there are not cases to clean up and the rifle does not really need cleaning at all. When the bullets are lube with Alox you have a premier rust preventative in the bullet lube.
My cleaning method is a couple of patches wet with Hoppe's, then a dry patch and then a patch lightly moist with Hoppe's. And there is not rush for that.
For the most part the cleaning is about as demanding as a .22 LR

[ascast]

"I don't know how anyone can claim BP is easier to clean than smokeless with lead bullets."

sometimes ya just gotta walk away LOL

[OlDeuce]

Ol Deuce

Pick up is the 10th, in the evening, can hardly wait and am trying to get some ammo loaded but waiting on a sizer die

Oh Cool.......Big reason I'm asking is I want one in 30-30 and with your report may push me over the edge.......Keep me posted!

Ol Deuce

[Multigunner]

If you are just cleaning black powder fouling from the bore of a Cap&Ball Revolver you can submerge the muzzle in a can of hot soapy water and push a wetted patch through from the breech then back and forth a few times, then hold the barrel under a stream of hot water from a faucet to rinse. Dry it thoroughly while still hot and apply WD40.
I use Dacron padding to scrub the bore. Then several twists of paper towel pushed through by a jag for drying the bore.

Its not so much easier but its a lot cheaper than using nitro solvents and no toxic chemicals.

During the Civil War troops often just removed the wood from their muskets and left them in a creek for awhile then dried and oiled them.
To polish the in the white exterior metal they used a slurry of ashes from a camp fire mixed with water.

The only serious rust problems I've had with C&B revolvers is when using Pyrodex.
Once I used straight Ballistol on BP fouling without rinsing with hot water afterwards and rust formed in the corners of the rifling grooves.
WD40 or Liquid Wrench are the BP shooters best friends.

[Reverend Al]

I had the same gun in the Lyman variation a couple of year ago. Very nicely made rifle ... good quality, but found that the scaled down dimensions wouldn't work for me. The trigger guard was so small that it was very uncomfortable to try and get my trigger finder in without interference of the front of the trigger guard. Smacked my trigger finger knuckle fairly badly when the gun was fired, so it sure wasn't much fun to shoot for someone with big fat fingers like me. I sold it to a friend who's wife was going to use it in the rifle side matches in Cowboy Action Shooting events. Her fingers were small enough to work OK with the tiny dimensions of the trigger guard / trigger. I agree too that you'll need to slug the bore to check on the groove size of yours, as these guns typically seem to run .380" to .381" and need a big lead boolit to shoot at all well ...

[Boz330]

I don't know how anyone can claim BP is easier to clean than smokeless with lead bullets.

With smokeless there are not cases to clean up and the rifle does not really need cleaning at all. When the bullets are lube with Alox you have a premier rust preventative in the bullet lube.
My cleaning method is a couple of patches wet with Hoppe's, then a dry patch and then a patch lightly moist with Hoppe's. And there is not rush for that.
For the most part the cleaning is about as demanding as a .22 LR

Easy, 2 wet and 2 dry at the range. Wet turpentine patch when I get home, let sit till the next evening. Clean any lead that might be in the barrel and finish with a Balistol patch.
Brass goes in the wet tumbler just like my smokeless brass would. I do the same with smokeless and lead except it takes way more that 5 or 6 patches with Hoppes to get a clean patch. I have left guns with just a wet and dry patch for as much as week while hunting with no ill results. I sure wouldn't leave them like I do a 22 which I clean good once a year whether they need it or not. Just oil the outside.

Bob

[John Boy]

I have decided to use IMR 3031 as a starting powder but curious if anyone has tried something else with good results??
Have started using 17.0gr of Accurate Power Pro 300-MP with a 310gr Ideal 375272, LR Magnum primer and cast at 1:16. Accuracy has been very good at 100 and 200yds with a vernier. Next week, plan to determine it's accuracy on silhouettes out to 500m with the Ideal 37584, 322gr bullet and 17.2gr of the 300-MP
http://ps-2.kev009.com/ohlandl/Cast_Bullet/Ideal-Lyman_Molds/Bullets/375084-37584_156g-176g-197g-218g-238g-259g-280g-301g-322g.gif 37584. This is a popular series of bullets for both short and long range. The shape of point is standard. They seat all right in the regular tools. (PB, FN, 156, 176, 187, 218, 238, 259, 280, 301, 322, Peerless – TP 449)

[cwheel]

I guess it depends on what you intend to do with this rifle, target or hunting. I load a 265 gr. gas checked Ideal #375296 over 29 gr. of 3031. This is intended to be a hunting round, just a little to much for target use. It sends the bullet through the chrony @about 1600 fps + or - 35 fps with good accuracy in a 20" barrel. Bullet is sized to .381. Accuracy in this old Winchester is about 3" with the first 3 shots ( 100 yards, open sights ) from a cold fouled bore. As usual, bore heats up, groups spread out. Old eyes here, and I'm sure others will do better with some different loads.
Chris

[EDG]

Not so fast.
I don't clean my brass and it is not necessary with your smokeless brass either.
For everyone on the planet that is not a black powder shooter cleaning brass is not a strict necessity. For black powder shooters it is a necessity.
After all none of us cleaned brass with a tumbler until about 45 years ago.
I still don't clean my brass with a tumbler except as a process to rehab fired brass purchased from other shooters especially black powder shooters.
I simply wipe my bores s noted in the previous post to remove the bulk of the soot and bullet lube while it is warm. There is no need for a clean patch since it is not going to corrode anyway.
In the mean time my inspection and handling of black powder arms says that most owners still wind up with rusty rifles eventually.


Easy, 2 wet and 2 dry at the range. Wet turpentine patch when I get home, let sit till the next evening. Clean any lead that might be in the barrel and finish with a Balistol patch.
Brass goes in the wet tumbler just like my smokeless brass would. I do the same with smokeless and lead except it takes way more that 5 or 6 patches with Hoppes to get a clean patch. I have left guns with just a wet and dry patch for as much as week while hunting with no ill results. I sure wouldn't leave them like I do a 22 which I clean good once a year whether they need it or not. Just oil the outside.

Bob

[Boz330]

You got me there, but I clean all of my brass after shooting it. Even back when I was shooting 20,000 rounds of 45 a year, it went into the tumbler to keep wear and tear on the progressive loader to a minimum.
I have shot ML since the early 70s and have some of those guns till this day and haven't had any rusting issues with my cleaning methods. I do admit that the ML are definitely more hassle to clean than smokeless rifles. I just don't think that the BPCRs are that much trouble for the enjoyment of shooting them.

Bob


Not so fast.
I don't clean my brass and it is not necessary with your smokeless brass either.
For everyone on the planet that is not a black powder shooter cleaning brass is not a strict necessity. For black powder shooters it is a necessity.
After all none of us cleaned brass with a tumbler until about 45 years ago.
I still don't clean my brass with a tumbler except as a process to rehab fired brass purchased from other shooters especially black powder shooters.
I simply wipe my bores s noted in the previous post to remove the bulk of the soot and bullet lube while it is warm. There is no need for a clean patch since it is not going to corrode anyway.
In the mean time my inspection and handling of black powder arms says that most owners still wind up with rusty rifles eventually.

[rfd]

the .38-55 can be notorious when it comes to both bore and land sizing - case length, too. slugging and cerosafing are the preferred preliminaries before selecting a bullet diameter and mould.

aa5744 would be my preferred white powder choice - worked extremely well for me with .40-65 and .45-70, back in my foolish white powder dayze. :D

my current favorite bullet lube is paper, so cleanup after loading the brass with real black powder takes exactly three patches - one moose milk wet, one dry, one with a light oil - there is no such thing as "barrel leading" with ppb's. holy black brass is SO difficult and time consuming to clean - it takes a whopping long 30 minutes with the ultra-sonic and comes out like brand new both outside and in (not to mention the u/s is quiet compared to vibrating or rotating tumblers). loading the black requires no press, no dies, just a drop tube, and so brass lasts literally forever as it doesn't get as worked as with smokeless. powder compress is accomplished with a dowel - the only "die" required, and is used by hand. yes, there is fouling control needed for ppb's by wiping between shots, bore wipes to the rescue. yes, a wad should be used over the powder - just more useless work. oh the drudgeries of dealing with black powder.

geez, i only wish something better/faster/cheaper/quicker/easier, and more prone to pressure spikes and double loads, was invented .... not. :p

[Blackwater]

I've only handled a single specimen of this rifle, and didn't get to shoot it, but I'll say I was very impressed with it. It was as slick as grease on a window pane. And tight, too. It was a .22 LR and I knew the guy who owned it. He's a really fine shot, and said he only head shoots squirrels. He runs with a bunch who are always trying to "one-up" each other, all in good fun, of course, and he said that at least for that time being, he was "king of the hill" with his mini-Sharps when they sought squirrels for the hunting camp pot.

He really whet my appetite for one! Please give us a report on it, if you don't mind. I think there must be a number of us who'd be very interested in it. The one I saw sure had excellent wood to metal fit!

[HeavyMetal]

picked up the Mini this afternoon and have been checking it out since dinner was over, everything seems to be nicely fitted.

Now I need to find out how to protect the case coloring? any ideas?

This week end I will get some cerrosafe, if my local guy has any, and run a casting of the muzzle end of the barrel so I can order a size die for my Star.

as soon as I get the chance it will see some range time and I'll post more then.

HM

[OlDeuce]

picked up the Mini this afternoon and have been checking it out since dinner was over, everything seems to be nicely fitted.

Now I need to find out how to protect the case coloring? any ideas?






This week end I will get some cerrosafe, if my local guy has any, and run a casting of the muzzle end of the barrel so I can order a size die for my Star.

as soon as I get the chance it will see some range time and I'll post more then.

HM



[smilie=s:[smilie=s:[smilie=s:[smilie=s:[smilie=s:

What I've been told on the case color you can use a paste wax on the whole gun wood and all ! wax on dry wax off ..........If ya get a chance snap
a few photos ..........Thanks......Happy for ya !!:2_high5::2_high5::awesome::happy dance: Ol Deuce

[arlon]

I really like the 38-55. I have an old single shot Stevens in 38-55. I keep it's load light but they are still pretty accurate. I'm stuck on 20g of IMR 4198 and any 250ish grain bullet.

My old Stevens is over 100 years old and case colors look great. Nothing has been done other than keeping it in a case when not being used..

[50target]

Have a Stevens 44 in 38-55 and keep loads in 1250-1300 fps in deference to her age. The Uberti High Wall not so much. Still in load development so I'm no help. Seems I read somewhere that sunlight is biggest enemy case hardening colors. Enjoy.
Bob

[Wayne Smith]

FWIW Taylor's in Winchester, VA has them.

[HeavyMetal]

First problem:

Front site disappeared! Have no idea where it went but since I haven't shot it yet I'm a little bummed!

Already called Chiappa and had to send copy of invoice and a picture of the missing part new part should be here 7 to 10 days.

Gave them some flak in the E mail the front site is a dovetail piece with a slot milled in it to hold the site blade, no obvious means of retaining it other than a press fit?? I asked what Genius thought this would hold for more than one shot??

I also advised them they needed to supply a better site, suspect I'll get a replacement blade and it will be my problem, we'll see.

HM

[OlDeuce]

HM you ready to give her a test fire????? Tobad the front sight was gone!!!! thats a Bummer for sure Ol Deuce

[HeavyMetal]

Need to load some ammo first, got brass and a mold as well as some 3031 so I just need a size die, will hit lathesmith up this weekend

[OlDeuce]

Need to load some ammo first, got brass and a mold as well as some 3031 so I just need a size die, will hit lathesmith up this weekend

Cool.....Good Luck! Ol Deuce

[OlDeuce]

HM ......................How is the 38-55 coming?????????? Ol Deuce

[HeavyMetal]

well I cast a few of the Lee 38-55 boolits and pan lubed them, got the dies set up and looks like I'll fire form the brass here shortly, seems the Winchester brass is a bit tight?

I seated a .381 diameter boolit in an empty case, after expanding the neck, and got a real show on off set case expansion from the boolit!

Figure the case will need to be fired then neck sized but need to load and shoot them before I make any more guess's, LOL!

I did find that the chamber has minimal lead the boolits have to be seated to the crimp groove before the action will close, but the .381 diameter may have something to do with that.

I'll be loading a 100 rounds this week end and plan to shoot this thing come the second weekend in June at my family get together between work and Chemo I haven't had a minute to myself, LOL!

On another note I am still waiting for Chiappa to get me my missing front site! Seems they shipped it, USPS, and it's bee sitting in a PO in Bell Gardens since the Friday before this one. The tracking number shows delayed in transit when I run the tracking number provided.

Called the postal inspector Thursday and was told I'd get a response in 48 hours but of course it's a holiday.

Come Tuesday I'll go by the PO shown on the tracking system and speak to the Post Master about my package, odds are my next post will be from Gitmo, LOL!

HM

[OlDeuce]

Gitmo........................Hahaha Have a Great weekend Ol Deuce

[Lance Boyle]

I would have carved a temporary wooden front sight by now!

Keep us posted on how she shoots !

[OlDeuce]

We all need a SHOT report LoL:bigsmyl2::cbpour:[smilie=2::coffeecom:[smilie=w::Bright idea::target_smiley::target_smiley::awesome:

ya Ol Deuce

[Lance Boyle]

I have been trying to get my hands on some 4198 for my new to me 38-55 uberti high wall. So far I played with some 0.381 260 fp hunter specialties bullets with trailboss. Accuracy is only ok between the undersized bullets and the light powder. Running four moa at fifty and 4-5 moa at 100.

Op pick up some starline brass if you need to get a fatter bullet to chamber. They make their brass thin wallet to fit the funky .38-55 dinensions.

I think I'm going to need a custom 0384 diameter mold to fit my 0.0382 and a Scosh groove.

The pipsqueek loads are a hoot to shoot.