Varget in 38-55 Win. 94?

[eka]

I have a vintage Win. 94 38-55. I was wondering if anyone has tried Varget with this type of rifle and caliber.

I know Junior has done a lot of work with Varget in the 30-30 in the 25 - 30 grain range using 195 grain boolits.

I will be using an RCBS 375 boolit paper patched at 260 grains.


Keith

[jtaylor1960]

I haven't used it in my Marlin 38/55 but see no reason it or any powder that works in the 30/30, 32 spl. or similar cartridge couldn't be used. Just use common sense when working up a load.

[6pt-sika]

Although I've not used Varget in a 38-55 I have used it in the 204 Ruger with teeny tiny jacketed bullets !

I've also used Varget in the 444 Marlin with big water quenched 400 grain bullets !

And I gotta say it performed pretty well in both applications . So I see no reason it wouldn't do well in the 38-55 as long as you use a fair amount of CAUTION [smilie=1:

[6pt-sika]

I realize this is not what you asked .

But..............

I've done a fair amount of work with a pair of Marlin's in 38-55 and another Marlin in 38-56 .

And most of what I've done has been with SR4759 and XMP5744 .

With the SR4759 I killed the first deer I ever shot at with an unscoped rifle and a cast bullet . that was in my 336CB in 38-55 .

Then a couple years ago I used the same bullet in my 38-56 but with XMP5744 this time and killed another deer as well !

[Four Fingers of Death]

This is a link to ADI Powders. Varget is made by them in partnership with Hodgson. It has been sold here in Australia as AR2208 for many years. They do not list it as suitable for cast boolits, but do for jacketed. I'm sure it would be ok though.

http://www.adi-limited.com/handloaders-guide/index.asp

If you have any problems select:
SPHG home
and that should get you in. I find everytime I use the site I have to fiddle about trying to find the loads. Can't see the forest for the trees so to speak.

MIck.

[eka]

I didn't see AR2208 listed when I selected the 38-55 data in the rifle section, Mick. It shows loads for lead and compressed loads. Did I miss another area that had jacketed data? A jacket load would be fine, I'm using paper patch boolits anyway, but I'd still stay on the conservative side since I have an old rifle.

6pt-sika, by all means let me in on any secrets you may have found. I've been tinkering with this old rifle for a while now. Still, not quiet where I want to be. I'm currently working with IMR 3031. My best load to date is 16.0 gr. of 2400 with 1 gr. of dacron. Just starting on the 3031, so I don't know about that yet. I don't currently have any SR 4759 on hand, but that is one powder I've been wanting to try on several things.

Anybody got a starting load bouncing around in their head for Varget? I'm kinda thinking about 25 grains. What do you all think?

Keith

[6pt-sika]

6pt-sika, by all means let me in on any secrets you may have found. I've been tinkering with this old rifle for a while now. Still, not quiet where I want to be. I'm currently working with IMR 3031. My best load to date is 16.0 gr. of 2400 with 1 gr. of dacron. Just starting on the 3031, so I don't know about that yet. I don't currently have any SR 4759 on hand, but that is one powder I've been wanting to try on several things.


Personally I think about all you need for the 38-55 in XMP5744 !

I use that in everything from a old Marlin 1893 in 25-36 marlin to my new manufacture Marlin 1895's in 45-70 !

I can also tell you I killed no less then eight deer this year with bullets propelled ith XMP5744 . Two were with a 45-70 , one with a 356 WIN and the other five with 444's .

Take a gander on Accurate Arm's website . You can download there loading data !

I use the two Ranch Dog bullets mainly in the 375 Marlin's . But in my 38-55's and 38-56 I use the RCBS 37-250GC bullet and the Lyman 375449 more then anything . I would tell you the exact loads as none are what I would call butt stompin hot . But my load manual is outside in the shop and I'm in bed [smilie=1:

[6pt-sika]

This is a link to ADI Powders. Varget is made by them in partnership with Hodgson. It has been sold here in Australia as AR2208 for many years. They do not list it as suitable for cast boolits, but do for jacketed. I'm sure it would be ok though.



Mick , take alook at Marshall Stantons paper on heavy cast bullets for the 444 Marlin ! I got the idea to load the 400 grain cast in the 444 directly from his paper ! It actually works pretty well and is pushing the bullets pretty much to the velocity one would get with a jacketed bullet !

[6pt-sika]

EKA , I didn't get my logbook , but I found my "Deer Ledger" and here's what I have in there !

In the Marlin 336CB 38-55 I loaded the Lyman 375449 with 15 grains of SR4759 and a CCI200 primer . Bullet was sized at .379" and lubed with SPG also cast from WW's aircooled .


In the Marlin 1895 in 38-56 I loaded the Lyman 375449 with 20 grains of XMP5744 and a CCI200 primer. Sized at .379" and lubed with Thompson's Blue Angel . Cast from aircooled WW's .


In the 375 Marlin I again used a aircooled WW;s sized at .379" and lubed with Thompson's Blue Angel . However this time I used the Ranch Dog 379-210GC mold and charged with 22 grains of XMP5744 and primed as always with the CCI200 primer .


All three of those loads were tested on paper and then tested on Virginia whitetails ! All passed with flying colors :drinks:


You might want to check out Ranch Dogs website for his newest 375 mold it's called the 379-235GC . I've shot this one quite a bit in my 375 WIN and it does an excellent job on paper and I am quite sure it will knock the fire out of a whitetail deer as well !

www.ranchdogmolds.com

[eka]

6pt-sika, thanks a bunch. I'll definitely give the XMP5744 a try. You know for some reason, I always seem to look over the powders from AA. I need to give them a closer look for sure. I'm not really looking for a big rip snortin load anyway with this old tired rifle. I've got a couple of loads that would work just fine for practical hunting application. But, you know how we are, always trying to get just a little better.

Keith