Ideal bullet mold/loading tool for the 38-55

[rammbler]

Hi,, this is my first post/question,, hope someone can answer this. i picked up an Ideal mold/ tong tool for my W&H [ H&R ] 38-55 target rifle,, it's casting a 240 gr taper boolit,, first band in front of the crimp groove is .374, the base is .377 after i run it through the sizer in the handle,, i've been told that they were sized so they could clear powder fouling and would bump up to fill the groove's when fired,,this mold is from the late 1800's i'm guessing,,the green mountain barrel on this 38-55 is .374-.378 with shallow lands,,if i run the lead soft enough to bump up [30 or 40/1 ] will i strip with BP loads ?? any thoughts would be appreaciated,, i was going to run PP but found this complete tong tool set and would realy like to put it back to use,,

[jrmartin1964]

Actually, in Ideal handbooks from the 1890s the recommended alloy for .38-55, across the board, was 40/1. It is unlikely, at BP velocities, that stripping will be an issue.

Jim

[rammbler]

Thanks Jim,, i was kind of concernd about the shallow grooves in this H&R,,the older rifle bores were a bit oversize and this mold throws an under sized tapered bullet,, that if i under stand correctly,, is supposde to bump up to fill the groove's and being under sized would clear or bump up and wipe the fouling in the throat so you didn't have to wipe between shots,, anyway,, i'll find out here in a couple of days,, the SPG arrived from track of the wolf, so when i finnish catching up on the honey-do's i can do some loading and head for the range,, Ed

[John Boy]

When H&R made the 38-55 Target rifles, they made the chambers based on the Winchester 375 caliber which is the rounds they used to proof test the rifles. In order to reload 38-55 black powder rounds you will need to open the chamber for the true 38-55 caliber
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.375_Winchester

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.38-55_Winchester