Never understood the lack of enthusiasm for the .38-56; it was popular in its day as a hunting cartridge. The factory .38-56 black powder round was more powerful than the black powder loadings of the .38-55, but the smokeless loading was really not much more powerful than the smokeless high power loadings of the .38-55.
The .38-56 started to lose popularity when the .38-55 came out in rifles that were a HECK of a lot more portable than any '86, such as the Win 1894, Savage 1899, and Marlin 1893, and could handle the hotter smokeless .38-55 loads.
