Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .38spl loads for lever rifle.

Recently bought a Henry Big Boy Classic. 20" octagon barrel. I have a bunch of .38+p's loaded for a Blackhawk using 5.0gr Unique under a LSWC158gr bullet.Was told on another forum the swc's wouldn't work cuz they'll get hung up on the "leading band". Another poster mentioned that is too much Unique in a .38 case for a rifle.[?] Seeing as I haven't loaded for a lever rifle using handgun data, I thought I'd ask here. I thought my loads would be fine. What do you guys think? Thanks.
BTW, not many .357's to be shot in it. Strickly a plinker and desert bumming rifle.

Might be a good idea to use .357 cases, not .38s, to avoid fouling in the chamber. Mike Venturino recommends this in his recent piece on the new '73 Winchester.

I have shot lots of .38's from Rossi, Browning, Ruger and Marlin .357 rifles and Uberti and Marlin .38 rifles. I currently have a Ruger 77/357 and a Marlin Model 94 CBC in .38 Special. I've never had a problem switching from .38's to .357's (in .357 rifles, of course) after doing a simple barrel cleaning.

5 grains of Unique with a 158 grain lead bullet was a standard service load equivalent for many years. It was not considered a "plus P" load back in the day. It would be a safe load in any rifle I am aware of. It would produce about 850 fps from a revolver, and probably about 1050 fps from a rifle. I fired many thousands of rounds through various .38 revolvers using a 158 grain lead bullet and 5 grains of Unique. Never had an issue.

You might be surprised at how well a SWC bullet can feed in a lever action rifle. The only way to know how they work in yours is to try it. RNFP's are preferable, of course, but my Marlin works quite well with commercially cast SWC bullets.

I use 357 cases in my two Marlin 357's.........

but I don't have a 5 gallon bucket of 38 brass either

try your 38's & see how well they function....

but Pappy has a point on the shorter case length

As mentioned, 5grs of Unique is no problem. As to feeding, only one way to know for sure.

Yeah, you fellas make a good point. I will try my .38 lswc loads and see how they work. And you're right, Pappy is probably right listening to Mike V.

I've had two Marlin's and one Rossi .357. Shot tons of 38 specials out of all of them. Never had any problems. All still shot .357's fine after many .38's.

Just make sure whatever you're shooting makes it out the end of the barrel....+p's are going to be fine. Something really light worries me more than +p.

The leading problem from 38's in a .357 rifle chamber can be a pain. I shoot a lot of them in a Rossi and a 77/357. If starting from scratch do like Pappy suggested and use .357 brass....but if you've already got the 38's shoot them up and clean the buildup before it gets to bad.

I had a Rossi 357 years ago, and 38's worked just fine, the only difference being the way it shot, as there was a big difference in the POI between 38's and 357's.

I agree, using the longer 357 cases is best. As long as you clean your rifle after shooting the 38 loads, the problem will be reduced markedly. You've got to get rid of the build up that forms just forward of the case mouth in the chamber. Letting crud build up from repeatedly firing 38 Spl loads is the reason. It hardens, and can cause problems. Using a pull through right after you're finished shooting helps.

I'll be finding out this weekend. Thanks guys.

I started using 5 grains of Unique and the Lyman 357446 cast bullet and shot that load for 15 years in J and K frame Smiths and D frame vintage Colts with good accuracy and no issues. Later changed to 173 grain 358429 and 5 grains of unique, again great performance and no issues. While 5/Unique is seen as pushing the edge today it was a muched used load of all kinds and conditions of .38's with no issues.

My Winchester 1892 .357 conversion shoots Lyman 358477 cast loads in both case lengths with no problems.

Yup, back when dinosaurs walked the earth, there were two standard loads for the .38 Special, the 148 grain full wadcutter target bullet with 2.7 grains of Bullseye for competition, training and practice, and the 158 grain RN or SWC with 5.0 grains of Unique for "full power" service equivalent loads. Later, when the term, "Plus-P" was invented, 5.5 grains of Unique was the recommended load for Plus-P handloads.

Nowadays these are considered to be stiff loads. I never did load any at 5.5 grains, but I shot buckets of reloads with 5.0 grains of Unique and various 158 grain bullets, and I also used the 173 grain 358429 with the same charge. Never had a gun blow up and never had the atmosphere spontaneously combust, destroying all life on Earth, when using that load.

I ran a couple of magazines full of .38 SWC's through my Marlin M94 CBC two days ago and they functioned perfectly.

The Marlin in 38/357 can be a finicky feeder. I'm guessing from my experiences that SWC and anything with a blunted lip will have more a chance of snagging during feeding in 357 brass than it will in 38 brass. WFN bullets feed great. My father owned one of these that my brother now carries. His most accurate load to date uses Titegroup and a 158gr Lee WFN cast at WW hardness in 38 cases shooting 1250. Five into 1.25" at 100 with a scope is an everyday sort of thing, and if one really buckles down, they fall into an inch. He put ten into just over an inch and a half. The Marlins seem to get more picky about feeding various nose shapes the closer one gets to the max OAL.

I have no problem in my Marlin feeding 158grain SWC and WFN 180 or 200 grain bullets.