Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin 336 Lever Actions .38-55 Brass

Is anyone making .38-55 brass that you can use in your marlin without turning the necks?

I'm getting a little tired of all the work it takes to get the Winchester brand to work.

Not that I know of, but Starline supposedly has plans to do so in the future.

One likely way to avoid neck turning would be to fire-form new .30-30 Win. brass in your .38-55. The fire-formed cases will be somewhat shorter than the ideal, but very usable.

Another (possible) solution might be to have the chamber's neck reamed to a diameter that suits your chosen bullet dia. and the currently available Winchester (unturned) brass.

I've contacted Starline. They're still long on promise - short on results.

I like the chamber that Marlin gave me. It's just that Winchester's brass is too short and too thick. I'm sure it fits fine in their version, or if you use undersize bullets.

It works alright after you turn the necks, but it's under minimum specs even before you trim them all to the same length.

I hate to change a perfectly good rifle to fit poorly constructed brass.

Thanks for the input anyway :-)

It's not only too short and too thick at the neck, it's also too small in diameter just ahead of the web, by about .006". You are doing a lot of stretching and work-hardening of the brass in that area with every reloading, if you are full-length resizing the brass.

Your best option, at this point in time, IMO, is to get some new .30-30 Win. brass and
fire-form it in your .38-55. Just square-up the case mouths, chamfer, and load 'em up.

It may be less hassle to just turn the necks on that half-azzed Winchester stuff, as you have been doing, but fire-formed .30-30 brass would make for a better fit in your chamber, at both ends. Probably would also gain a little length in the process.

I have a .38-55 (Winchester) that I haven't fired yet, but expect to fire-form brass for that one when the time comes. (Warmer weather.) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

You're right, even with the die a full turn out, you still can feel a lot of sizing going on.

It's a fine cartridge and well worth the trouble.

I hope starline finally comes around so that it can be a more enjoyable reloading experience.

I may try some .30-30 just to see how it works in comparison.

Strider, you may want to call Buffalo Arms, or visit their website at http://www.buffaloarms.com and ask about their "stretched" brass. They deal mainly in brass for old black powder single shots, and related stuff like BPCR, and have developed a process of stretching (and thus thinning) available brass to fit old guns. They also provide .38/55 brass that's long enough to fit some older, longer chambered rifles. You could trim that to your exact chamber length for your gun. They generally use Remington brass, I believe, for all their stretching, where available in the caliber in question.

All the reports on their stretched brass I've seen have been uniformly good, too, if that makes you feel any better about it or have any doubts.

Tell them your situation and they'll be able to provide a good recommendation I'm sure. They're all shooters, not just hired off the streets, and are always very helpful.

Thanks for the link. There are lots of possibilities on that site. It should eliminate the problem. They have .38-55 available in 2.080, 2.130, and 2.245.

If you have tried the Winchester brass off the shelf then you have seen it vary 2.060 - 2.075 out of the bag. By the time you get consistant length for crimping, it's all too short for decent accuracy. It's also too thick to allow chambering of a correctly sized bullet.

Now I'll have to work out just how long a cartridge I can feed it reliably. Never had to worry about that before. :-)