.38 Special for 1866

[brudford]

I really wanted an 1860 Uberti Henry in .44WCF , but between the hoarders and Gun Broker profiteers I'am not going to feed the brass, primer, powder shortages ect... I know it is a lot easier to find BP verses smokeless ! I have decided on the Uberti 1866 Yellow Boy in .38 special . From my revolver .38 Special combat league days I have 5 large coffee cans full of .38 Special brass . I already cast my own bullets and have a good supply of 2ff and 3ff BP . I could probably sell off my .38 brass and pay off my mortgage . So the only problem might be finding primers . Any thought on this caliber in the 1866 ? I also might try a set of the .38 Special Cowboy dies from RCBS ? Thanks

[Stu Kettle]

My wife shoots a '66 in .38 Special.  I works well with the 158 gr RNFP bullets I load for it.  I don't know why you would need special cowboy dies - if you have dies for .38 special they'll work fine.  I have been told that this model is picky about over all length of cartridges.  If that's true I must have got lucky - I crimp them in the crimp groove & they feed like they're made for it.

[Mean Bob Mean]

Any thought on this caliber in the 1866 ? I also might try a set of the .38 Special Cowboy dies from RCBS ? Thanks

I think it's a great, safe bet.  Local store has one for 850.00 so they are around to be had for a decent price.  Oh, and they are really pretty rifles.

Best of luck mate!

[Advertising]

[Coffinmaker]

If you don't reduce the Main Spring too much, you can use any primer on the market.  The gun can be very user friendly without taking the springs down ultra lite.

Coffinmaker

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Keith type semi-wadcutters don't work that well.  They catch up on the chamber mouth. OAL seems fairly flexible.

I use the RCBS RNFP Cowboy bullet but a blunt RN would be OK.  Just try what you've got to see what works.  BP runs through it quite slick.

[Johnny McCrae]

My first CAS Rifle was a Uberti 1866 Winchester in .38 Special. It's a great Rifle but a bit finicky about the overall length.

Since 2007 I've been using a 147 grain TC (truncated cone) .38 Special bullet from Moulton Lead in my 1866 Uberti. It makes for a longer overall length and has been absolutely trouble free.

There is no crimp groove on this bullet. I use LEE standard .38 Special dies along with a LEE factory crimp and end up with an overall length of 1.555". Here is a link to their web site  www.moultonlead.com

I prefer Federal primers but have used Winchester and CCI.

[Abilene]

Any of the cartridges in that picture Johnny posted will feed fine in a modern (made in the last 15 years or so) .38 1866 (or '73 for that matter).  Older guns had a shorter ramp on front of the carrier and needed the longer rounds.  Even modern guns will choke on super short rounds using such as 90gr bullets, etc.

[Major 2]

Only 38 Cal. Lever I ever own was a 1980 [AF] coded 66 Uberti Saddle Ring Carbine....I can't honestly recall ( sold it in 87 ) if I had any feeding issues...
 I recall I was using reloads made by a friend & on occasion some factory loaded Remington Kleanbore 158 grain.

It was more or less a backup to my 44/40 Henry, strange as that seems   ...
That was early SASS and 38's and light loads, was a coming concept.


Everything in my all Rifles these days has 4 in front ....

[River City John]

I shoot a '66 carbine in .38 sp.  Go for the 158 gr. bullet.  No need to buy the "Cowboy Dies" name, as Stu said. Any .38sp dies will work. In 10 years I have reloaded some of my brass many, many times and have never bothered to trim down neck for length with no  feeding problems (except once . . .).

If shooting real BP, give it a reasonably hard crimp and every three stages or so run a wet patch down the bore. Word to the wise helps.

I've shot Clean Shot, Triple 7 and Trail Boss. Liked 'em all.


RCJ