38-55 with light bullet

[fayettefatts]

Anyone have any experience shooting a light bullet in a 38-55? Got the rifle recently (1885 Miroku Winchester) and have been shooting Lee 250gn bullets in it. Local range is only

good for 200 yards and I am thinking a lighter bullet would save lead and reduce recoil. The crescent butt plate is not friendly with full power loads and I have been shooting reduced

loads because I am a wimp! Yep, I admit I no longer enjoy recoil. Seems most folks are looking for heavier higher velocity loads for hunting or long range shooting. Any suggestions

for just plinking / ringing steel at relatively close range?

[725]

I made an inappropriate purchase of Sierra bullets designed for the .375 Winchester for a .38-55. They were too long to function through the lever action. To correct the problem and not waste the purchase, I made a little fixture that allowed me to belt sand off the exposed lead point, thus making a very consistent 200 grain bullet. Nice flat me plat, too, btw. Those altered bullets ended up being the best grouping things I shot out of the .38-55. Don't recommend doing things backwards, like me, but to answer your question, I got less recoil and tremendous accuracy.

[Pereira]

I have a Marlin Cowboy with the 24" barrel and I shoot 240-255 gr in it.
Use Unique, 2400, IMR 4198, and RL7, none of which has a lot of recoil.

RP

[Lefty223]

Same here … 255s with reduced loads.

[MaLar]

The Lee 36 cal Conical for C&B revolvers works well in a single shot I have. 10 Grns Unique and your there.

[Kylongrifle32]

I shot a Chiappa mini sharps in 38-55. The rifle only weighs 6 pounds. I had to drop the 250 lee's velocity down to 1,200 fps because the guns recoil would cause the rear sight to tilt under recoil.
I switched to a NOE 379-235 and had good accuracy with that boolit. Works well for white tails also.

[Texas by God]

A fun load with no recoil is a .380" rb over .3cc(2.8grs) of Bullseye in fireformed 30-30 brass.
A fun load with some recoil from my 94 Win/JES is the Lee 250gr over 23grs of 4198. ( in proper brass).https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220702/5d3c7b6a6600fa2a1d964768dd169986.jpg

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[blackpowder man]

+1 on the roundball. I had a Contender with a 16” .375 Winchester barrel and a Choate folding stock. Really handy carbine that would knock your shooting glasses crooked if you weren’t careful and holding it tight. They also do good in my Miroku High Wall in .38-55. I think I used Unique and it was somewhere in the 8 grain range. They didn’t require sight adjustment when shot at 25 yards either.

[jgstrug]

I use the cast 255gr with 10grns of Unique and I am pretty sure that you could place your nose in the Cresent buttplate and not get hurt firing it, but I am not going to try it.

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[Mk42gunner]

A fun load with no recoil is a .380" rb over .3cc(2.8grs) of Bullseye in fireformed 30-30 brass.
A fun load with some recoil from my 94 Win/JES is the Lee 250gr over 23grs of 4198. ( in proper brass).https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220702/5d3c7b6a6600fa2a1d964768dd169986.jpg


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Is your round ball pure lead or harder? I haven't leaded the barrel of my Marlin yet, and don't really want to.

I do have several hundred pure lead .380 balls cast for use in my Navies, if necessary I could cast some of wheel weights.

Robert

[Texas by God]

The round balls that I use are pure lead. I've also used Hornady .375" round balls but I PC them a bit for more diameter.


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[Mk42gunner]

Good to know, thanks.

Now to see if they print anywhere close to the Lee 250 in front of 2400.

Robert

[blackpowder man]

I’ve used soft, but more often have used wheel weight lead with Lee liquid alox. No leading here.

[Bitman]

I use the cast 255gr with 10grns of Unique and I am pretty sure that you could place your nose in the Cresent buttplate and not get hurt firing it, but I am not going to try it.

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jgstrug, are you using any fillers with this load?

[jgstrug]

No filler,use a strong light to make sure only one charge per case.

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[pworley1]

The Ideal #38 lists a 149g bullet over 5g of Unique at 1000'/sec. That load would be a great paper puncher with almost no recoil.

[koger]

if you cant stand the recoil on the above mentioned loads, using IMR 4198, Rel 7 ,Unique, trailboss, you probably need to go back to shooting 22's. I shoot these regularly out of a 336 Marlin, a H&R and a 1885 Win/Miroku with no issue, using a 265 Lee with my alloy, and I am fairly sensitive to recoil.

[Cast10]

Anyone PC these? I’m kinda looking into a 38-55, too. Thinking around 1500fps, no GC, PC, 250 gr. Not sure on powder, but I hear 4198 and RE7 are the thing!

[vagrantviking]

The Lee 36 cal Conical for C&B revolvers works well in a single shot I have. 10 Grns Unique and your there.

This is what I was thinking too. Easier seat than a round ball.
Use that bullet in a 9.4mm Dutch East Indies revolver too.

[old70]

I have a Uberti 38-55 with the crescent buttplate, I loaded both the Lyman 375449 and the lee 250 grainier over 9.5 gr of trailboss for about 1150 fps. I get near moa accuracy at 100 yds and no recoil to speak of. They are pretty much mouse fart loads if the mouse has slight digestive issues. I also have a 220 gr gas check mold I designed from mountain molds. That one gets pushed to 1750 out of my Marlin, but would work just fine in the Uberti.

Old70

[RickinTN]

I made an inappropriate purchase of Sierra bullets designed for the .375 Winchester for a .38-55. They were too long to function through the lever action. To correct the problem and not waste the purchase, I made a little fixture that allowed me to belt sand off the exposed lead point, thus making a very consistent 200 grain bullet. Nice flat me plat, too, btw. Those altered bullets ended up being the best grouping things I shot out of the .38-55. Don't recommend doing things backwards, like me, but to answer your question, I got less recoil and tremendous accuracy.

I don't understand why you didn't just seat the bullets a little deeper, or maybe trim the cases a little.
Rick

[rintinglen]

For a light boolit load, I loaded a 375-83 for use at cowboy rifle silhouette chickens and pigs with an 8.0 charge of Unique for use in Marlin Cowboy. This was a 145 grain boolit, I believe originally made for .36 caliber cap and ball revolvers. The load was in the Cast Bullet Handbook Manual #1.

I have to smile at the "manly fellows" whose shotgun stocked rifles don't kick. Those solid metal, crescent butts can be painful with even a moderate load and are a quite different kettle of fish. I would not want to shoot a 250 grain 1750 fps load out of a light rifle so stocked. YMMV