Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots New 38-55 shooter questions

You don't mention if the bore is a .377 (traditional 38-55's were usually .377 or even greater) or a .375 (some newer rifles).

FWIW, I have a 38-55 Marlin. This rifle has the .375 bore and after experimentation with bullet, powder, and primer variations found that 39.0 gr of AA-BR2015 with the Hornady 220 and Win rifle primer give this rifle a consistent MOA at 100 yds.

I went through a variety of powders including Hodgdon 335, IMR 3031, RL 12 and others in the general fast-medium range. I also tried various cast and other jacketed sizes (some spitzer's as single shot loads) but for this rifle the consistency in accuracy was the above combination.

So, if your experience is the same as mine, enjoy your experimentation. The 38-55 was one of the favorite old Schuetzen medium range cartridges with fine accuracy and was and is a fine deer cartridge. As an aside, I tried BR2015 in my single shot 32-40 and found it just OK with BL-C2 as the better for accuracy.

Very interesting! Thank You! Rifle is due in here Friday when the camel train arrives. I`m waiting with a cartridge in my hand.
Thanks again,
Tom

Hi, I have a Uberti with double triggers and I use Unique and it works fine,and you don't need any filler.

Thanks, Dwayne. I`ve got some starters loaded w/Unique. Had good luck with it in 30-30 & 6.5 plinking velocity loads. Looking forward to trying this new(old) cartridge. I`ll know lots more by sundown if things work out.
Tom

Progress report-Lee 250gr bullet sized .378, Alox/beeswax lube, 10 gr Unique. Crimped lightly in crimp groove, haven`t played with seat depth at all. Shooting 2-3" 100yd groups w/iron sites. Enjoying plinking around so much I haven`t tried any other loads yet.
Thanks again for your input and help!
Tom

Sounds as though you're well on your way, Tom!