Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting 38-55 bullets and loads

Thanks. I’ve used cerrosafe but hell will freeze before I start hammering a rod in one of my barrels.

Try using .377 bullets in an old 38- 55 and you will find you most likely will have to step up to .380-.381.Mine will key hole them completely 90 degrees at 50 yards Most reloading dies only expand the brass to .376 or so and meant for the.375 Winchester and not near deep enough into the brass.

Also some of the old 38-55 are pretty finicky about the shape of the ogive .The Ballard type with that big flat nose and blunter ogive will not feed in mine . Mine feeds ok with a more gentle taper to the ogive.

Concerning the chamber cast.If the bore was originally .379-.380 and not just worn, would not the chamber cast reflect that allowing for the thickness of the brass ?

Not necessarily. Everybody who ever ground a reamer seemingly had different ideas on how to configure a throat.

Just an update to my earlier post. Took a nice buck during the recent rifle season with the load of 21 gr H4198 over a soft cast Accurate 38-250B bullet. Bhn was around 9-10 at roughly 1450 fps. Complete pass through on both shoulders, buck went maybe 20 yards before flopping.

And get you a copy of Ken Waters Pet Loads for the 38-55

For my 375 Whelen supposedly the same bore diameter, I've found RCBS and Saeco's 375 bullets cast out of hard alloy, .378 and .379 gas checked to be very accurate. There's several commercial casters that use these bullet designs. Good luck and good hunting.

Dan, I use a case that's been fired in the same rifle. A brass rod that is close to the neck size of the brass is cut long enough to fit into the neck and I have used a hardwood dowel if I didn't have the right size brass. I use a heavy bullet of soft lead and insert into the neck and close the action.
Now you will need a rod to put down the barrel to pound the slug. A brass rod is my preference and I put a few rounds of duct tape on it at 1" above the end going down the barrel, at the middle, and at the muzzle to protect the bore. This is for a 22" barrel. A longer barrel may require more bands of tape. I have the bands of tape thick enough so it touches the barrel but, doesn't grip it.
The stock is put on a pad, so as to do no damage, on a concrete floor. I hold the muzzle with my palm and the rod with my thumb and forefinger and proceed to whack the rod with a medium weight hammer, don't need a 10# sledge, about like driving a 6d nail into soft pine. The rod will go down the barrel with each hit as the soft slug deforms but, a point will be reached when the rod will bounce back up. The slug is fully deformed to the interior.
I use this method with bolt actions and levers but, special care needs to be used with lever guns in not over pounding the slug or the action will be very difficult to open.

^^^^This, in spades^^^^ Used this recipe in 3 pre war 1893 Marlins and 1 1894 Win with great results.