Marlin 336CB 38/55 black powder load

[ELFEGO BACA]

After shooting smokeless for nearly two years I decided to try a black powder load in my 38/55!
229701
I was pleasantly surprised.
My load was as good as smokeless.
I did have to increase the elevation by 5 minutes or 10 inches when shooting at the 200 yard gongs.
I will continue on this shooting adventure!
I used a .03 veg wad and newsprint on the base of the bullet.
Compression was about 1/16”!

Election Day I chronograhed this load.
The average velocity for six chronographed shots was 1206 feet/second.


Another load was tried with two changes- CCI200 primers and 45.3 grains of Goex FFFg powder!
The average velocity of eight shots recorded was 1339 feet/second.
The bullet of choice comes from a Lyman #380681.

Today I managed to get three consecutive hits on a Metal silhouette at 240 yards-about 6” group!
The makeup was Starline long case, CCI250 primer, 48.0 grains of Cartridge Goex, .03 vegetable wad, newsprint disc on base of a 250 grain TC bullet!

231230

231231

[Edward]

After shooting smokeless for nearly two years I decided to try a black powder load in my 38/55!
229701
I was pleasantly surprised.
My load was as good as smokeless.
I did have to increase the elevation by 5’ when shooting at the 200 yard gongs.
I will continue on this shooting adventure!
I used a .03 veg wad and newsprint on the base of the bullet.
Compression was about 1/16”!

Was 5 feet a mistake or did you mean 5 inches ?

[ELFEGO BACA]

Five minutes of elevation.
That translates to 10 inches at 200 yards.

[beltfed]

With What Bullet?
tx
beltfed/arnie

[BrentD]

I use 46 gr of Swiss 1.5 fg with 250 gr flatnosed Lyman bullet. Works pretty well. Well enough to kill an antelope at 170 yds. But I have not been terribly pleased with the accuracy and not sure what to do to improve it. Need more experimentation I think.

[ELFEGO BACA]

More data

[McLintock]

I decided after shooting a Browning 45-70 with smokeless loads with great success for about 10 years in Cowboy Action Shooting, that I wanted to compete with a 38-55 using black powder. Built a rifle using a pre 64 '94 Winchester action, Brownell's octagon barrel and mag tube, and other stuff to put it together gotten off E-Bay; I've showed pictures of it on the forum before. When I started developing a load, I tried several plain base bullets with wads, but never achieved any great accuracy results, certainly not good enough to compete against the smokeless loads of my co-competitors. I then got a Lyman 375449 265 gr bullet with gas check and it shot great with 42-3 grs of Swiss 1.5. Took the yearly 1st place trophy (best 6 out of 11 match finishes) in Big Bore Lever Action Long Range with the Arizona Cowboys Shooters Association. the first year I tried it. So, you might try a gas check bullet just for kicks.
McLintock

[ELFEGO BACA]

231908
My current go to load: Starline 2.125 case, CCI250 primer, 48.0 grains Goex Cartridge, .03 veg wad, behind a 250 grain Lyman cast bullet sized to .381.
Group size of approximately 6” at 240 yards off the bench with sand bags!

[Lead pot]

I have a new 18 year old JM marlin .30-30 that don't get used and I been thinking getting it rebored to a .38-55 or the 375 Winchester. Can any of you suggest a smith that reborn rifles.
Kurt

[Hickory]

Can any of you suggest a smith that reborn rifles. Kurt

J.E.S. Reboring

[Lead pot]

TNX. Hickory I found his website and I will give him a call.
Kurt

Man I hate this MAC automatic word correction it has it's own mind. :mad:

[beltfed]

Kurt, I suggest you might want to do the 375win rebore. That should give you (close to) a .375 groove dia.
for better choices for bullets.But I would ask JES about his bore specs first between the 38-55 and the 375 win.
beltfed/arnie

[beltfed]

Oh, and I am sure you will check on twist rates. The "std" for 375 win is 12 twist
the 38-55 is probably 18 twist or so.
Arnie

[Lead pot]

Arnie, The 375 has a smaller base about 6 thousands. I have to ask how he cleans that up with the existing .30-30 chamber. Hopefully the chamber is not on the large size. I like both calibers and the .375 is about a 1/10 shorter than the 55 that would make it better for more variances with the total cartridge length for the 336 action.
By the way, there is a fine 94 in the .375 down the road from me :)

[BrentD]

Kurt,
I had my Marlin rebored to .38-55 by JES. I chose 14" twist and 4 grooves, if I recall correctly. The rebore and chambering was appropriate for the MODERN .38-55, not the traditional dimensions.

It took 11 days including shipping both ways, Christmas, and New Years.

I later relined the rifle to .38-55.

[Lead pot]

Brent his web site states 3 or 5 groove. I was thinking making it a 3 groove if the lands and grooves are the same diameter. But also his grooves are .010" deep and I'm not sure I like them this deep for the PP.
When you sent the rifle in did you strip off the wood and mag tube?

[BrentD]

I wanted even numbers of grooves and lands. I'm pretty sure I paid extra to get it.

Yes, I stripped wood and mag tube but left the functioning receiver so he could test fire it. I don't know if he did.

[Lead pot]

Very good.
I think I will wait till after the holidays before shipping the way the Wife's packages have been coming here :)
Kurt

[ELFEGO BACA]

239915
I shot my Goex Cartridge load of 48.0 grains.
The real disappointment was not being able to get one clang on the 700 meter target!
We shoot in groups of 3-4 and I was the last one to shoot.
When our time came so did the erratic winds- well that’s my excuse!

[Drydock]

What lubricant were these bullets using? (all of you) How much if any compression. Did anyone use a drop tube?

[ELFEGO BACA]

My home brew for BPCR is 5 parts bees wax, 4 parts Crisco, and 1 part canola oil.

[ELFEGO BACA]

For my last shoot using my 38/55 I was not successful. Five hits for thirty five shots.
Distances were 220, 335, 335(offhand), 421, 499, 600, 719 yards.
I tried a load consisting of 47.0 grains of FFFG of Goex instead of 48.0 grains of CARTRIDGE Goex!