need a little help with a 38-55

[Haggis MacGurk]

Howdy,
           Since my tentative posts on the BROW page a couple years ago, I've jumped headfirst into the buffalo rifle craze. I started with a Original/Custom Danish rolling block in 50-90 with a Green Mountain barrel, followed quickly by an Uberti Highwall in 38-55. I played with those two for a while, but this past spring I returned from Afghanistan to meet both my wife, and my newly arrived Shiloh #3 in 45-70. As far as shooting time since, I have focused solely on the Shiloh, with complete satisfaction.(Incidentally, for those just starting out, believe what people tell you, and get a 45-70 first, play with the more exotic stuff later!)

No problems so far, but I think my other rifles are starting to feel a little neglected, specifically the 38-55. Is there some fellas out there that can give me a little help as far as loads and bullets that have worked for them with the Uberti 1:18 twist? I have the Lyman 335gr mold, but I think it may be too much bullet for this particular rifle. I've shot a bunch of hard cast 265gr RNFP through it with smokeless, but I would prefer to feed it the true propellant of the gods, like all my other guns.

Thanks for the ideas in advance.

Haggis

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Hear is a barrel twist calculator;

http://kwk.us/twist.html

I thought about buying that mould but held off.  I already had the 375296, a gascheck design for the .375 H&H  My .38-55 is an original Win Hi-Wall re-bored to .376 with a gain twist averaging about 17 inches.  It is so accurate that I haven't looked farther.

I use Goex CARTRIDGE, about 47.5 gr calculated the normal way for BP loads.

[Blackpowder Burn]

I don't have a single shot in 38-55, but do have one of the Marlin 336 Cowboys.  It loves a 250 to 260 grain bullet cast of 20:1 with 47 grains of Goex Express FFFg.  I haven't tried the Cartridge granulation, but did see my group sizes decrease significantly with Express versus standard Goex FFFg powder in both this rifle and a Browning 1885 Highwall in 40-65.

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[Doc O]

The 335 gr. bullet, sized .380 is what I shoot out of my BC w/ wheel weight lead.
The BC has fairly shallow rifling and the ww lead work great. You may or may not like ww.
You will have to play around with lead mix to see what the gun likes.
But the 335 gr bullet work well. I've tried the lighter bullet with no luck.
Have fun.
Doc

[Ranch 13]

 I've been running that Lyman 335 in a Uberti built hiwall. I have not shot it with black powder yet, but with a healthy dose of 5744 it's swatted gongs to 1000 yds with little problem.
 My son and daughter in law shared the rifle at the Quigley and while their scores didn't exactly set the world on fire, it had a bit more to do with shooter ability than the rifle. (her first time at centerfire, and his second time at long range)
 Anyway grab a Lyman manual and follow the 5744 recipes, or just fill the case with 2f, compress the powder enough to seat the bullet and have a good time.

[Haggis MacGurk]

Thanks for all the input fellas. Gonna keep playing with the 38-55, but I just got a new toy in the mail yesterday, that being a 650gr Creedmoor mould from Steve Brooks, for my big .50. The .38-55 is gonna go on the backburner for a bit, while I give my shoulder a pounding!
Planning on hunting Whitetail this year with one of these guns. As it stands, it will probably be the Shiloh 45-70, as it's dialed in, but ya never know!

[Angel_Eyes]

Hey Haggis, I take it you ain't related to an ole' pal-o-mine from years back,,,One Ball McGing??

AE

[Haggis MacGurk]

THAT is a name I would remember! But, no, unfortunately not. My alias came from a more or less random pairing of words. Haggis, because of my heritage, and MacGurk because it sounds both Scottish and Cowboy at the same time.(I'm actually a Fraser)I'm still weighing the merits of shooting a match in my kilt, would have to be sure there was no stages involving long flights of stairs!

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Haggis;  Isn't there a recent rule that stages performed while the shooter is wearing kilt must be done fully "Regimental"?