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Thread: 38-55 with light bullet

  1. #1
    Boolit Bub
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    38-55 with light bullet

    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?

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master
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    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.

  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy Pereira's Avatar
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    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


    Monte Walsh "You have No idea how little I care".

  4. #4
    Boolit Mold
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    Same here … 255s with reduced loads.
    All my ‘toys that go BANG’ will shoot into ONE ragged hole ALL FREAKIN’ DAY LONG ... it's just those darn additional shots that tend to open up my groups!

  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy MaLar's Avatar
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    The Lee 36 cal Conical for C&B revolvers works well in a single shot I have. 10 Grns Unique and your there.
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  6. #6
    Boolit Buddy

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    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.

  7. #7
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    Texas by God's Avatar
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    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).

    Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy blackpowder man's Avatar
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    +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.

  9. #9
    Boolit Man
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    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.

    Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

  10. #10
    Boolit Grand Master
    Mk42gunner's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Texas by God View Post
    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).


    Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk
    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

  11. #11
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    Texas by God's Avatar
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    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.


    Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

  12. #12
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Good to know, thanks.

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

    Robert

  13. #13
    Boolit Buddy blackpowder man's Avatar
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    I’ve used soft, but more often have used wheel weight lead with Lee liquid alox. No leading here.

  14. #14
    Boolit Mold
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    Quote Originally Posted by jgstrug View Post
    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.

    Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
    jgstrug, are you using any fillers with this load?

  15. #15
    Boolit Man
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    No filler,use a strong light to make sure only one charge per case.

    Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

  16. #16
    Boolit Master

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    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.
    NRA Benefactor Member NRA Golden Eagle

  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    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.

  18. #18
    Boolit Master Cast10's Avatar
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    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!

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by MaLar View Post
    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.

  20. #20
    Boolit Mold
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    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

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check