Browning 1885 38-55 Range Report., I think I am in love with another GUN!

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Howdy all,

Cast my chamber and got some BP bullets made up, and sat down at a bench with my new gun. First shot was 3" below a 25 yard Pistol Target at 75 yards. Set the sight on the red Dot and screwed the sight till I saw the hole. Moved on out to 100 yard, far as I can go at the house, And put 3 inside the 8 ring. One on the 9line and one touching the bullseye. Went back to the bench, One more touching the Bullseye One Bang Clang on a 12" square and another on the other 12" square. NOt bad for the first day. Now to figure out how much to move the sight for 200 yards.

Sam :D

[NickSS]

Sounds like fun. I do not know the velocity or bullet weight you are using but my guess is that you will need to add 10 to 12 MOA of elevation if you are shooting black powder.

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Nick,

I am using the 255 gr DD 38-55 Big lube Bullit . I haven't got a chronigraph, but am looking for someone that does. I am using 46grs of 3f Goex and was told by the person who gave me the load that it was about 1150fps. WW Brass with Winchester LR primers.

Sam :D

[Boz330]

With that load it ought to be closer to 1300fps. 47grs of Swiss 2F gives me around 1275 with the Lee 250gr boolit. I don't have access to my 38-55 info here at work, but from what I can remember Nick should be spot on with 10 to 12 MOA.

Bob

[ph4570]

Sounds like a shooter.

My wife shoots a 1885 Winchester 38-55. It really likes the Lee 250 grain boolit. For paper plinking a charge of 9 grains Unique gives about 1250 FPS and one ragged hole of 10 shots at 100 yds. It is a real fun shooter.

[McLintock]

Hey Sam,
Looks like you've got a good thing going there, but if you're interested in a little heavier bullet for that Browning, I've got one that works well in them. It's a Paul Jones mould for a 300 gr bullet that's about optimum for the 1-15" twist in the Brownings. It drops at .376-7" which also matches the Browning pretty close. In my Browning, with Swiss 1.5, it'd consistently drop the chickens on the Black Powder Silhouette range at 200 meters and they aren't very big; that's from a rest and not offhand like it's done in a match. Here's a picture of it, on the left:
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1620/1303399/2593806/374278076.jpg
If you're interested, I could make it available as I have a Hoch nose pour mould at 315 gr that I use in my 38-55 roller; I sold the Browning, as I wanted something with a heavier barrel for shooting BP.
McLintock

[TonyT]

I converted a Browning BPCR in 40-65 to 38-55 using a new barrel from the supplier of the original Browning barrels. I have used the old Lyman #378245 bulet with SR-4759 or XMP-5744 at 1100 to 1300 fps. An excellent performer.

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Chronographed my load today, 1369.5 Avg 5 shots.

Sam :D

[NickSS]

a 200 yard zero should be about 10moa up from 100 yards. That will get you on paper for sure. you may have to adjust up or down depending upon your rifle and load.

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Thanks NickSS and everyone, I hope to get with a member of the local Gunclub and get on a longer range in the next week or So.

Will let you know how it goes.

Sam :D

[Boz330]

Chronographed my load today, 1369.5 Avg 5 shots.

Sam :D

Told you so.:kidding:
What Nick said should be about right for elevation or darn close. Not sure how well that 250 will do beyond 200yd. Do you know what the twist is? If it is close to 15 the 300gr + boolits will shoot better in it. Sounds like your having fun with it and the 38-55 is just a plain pleasant rifle to shoot.

Bob

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Bob,

You are correct, I am having a Blast. According to the Shoot Program, I need to raise my sights to hit 12.12" high to be able to practice 200 yds on my 100 yd range. Does that sound right?

So much to learn,

Sam :D

[Boz330]

Bob,

You are correct, I am having a Blast. According to the Shoot Program, I need to raise my sights to hit 12.12" high to be able to practice 200 yds on my 100 yd range. Does that sound right?

So much to learn,

Sam :D

Sam, I have several different BPCRs and I keep a notebook on each for sight settings and those are at home. Remembering my name anymore seems to be a problem. I very rarely even shoot at a 100yds but that should be pretty close to go from 100 to 200. Of course boolit design can have some effect on elevation. Even the temperature and humidity can make a difference. It is pretty amazing the difference in sight settings from summer to winter, if you check the extremes.

Bob