Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General ISO info regarding reloading 38-55 Win

Good friend of mine bought a Mod 94 Crazy Horse chambered in 38-55 win years ago with several boxes of ammo. Hung it on his wall. His kids stopped by a few days ago decided it would be fun to shoot. Ended up they enjoyed shooting up all his supply. He recently tried to buy some more and about had a heart attack seeing the price increase. He knows that I reload but have I never reloaded that caliber. I bought a set of die’s. Noticed that brass lengths vary and are currently hard to find. Anybody have any suggestions on what length brass should be used, preferred bullets? In addition anyone have any supplies for sale?
Thanks

I used RL7 and Sierra 200 grain FP's. Pretty sure I just found a length and trimmed them all to a common length.

I never monkeyed with it too much as accuracy was great and it was a buddies rifle.

If this round isn't found in the newer reloading manuals it's certainly been covered in depth in the older versions. Maximum and trimmed length data should not have changed, and nows the time to get all cases trimmed to the same trim-to length.

You'll have no trouble finding loading info. You can get bullets from Hawk if you don't find them from other sources and Starline does runs of brass.

Buffalo Bore Ammo does runs of 38-55 ammo and the owner wrote up a good info page on the 38-55 that is interesting reading. Link to it below.

https://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=159

Buy the Lee hand trimmer for 38-55.

I have a Marlin Cowboy 38-55 I bought back around 1998 to 2000. Don't remember exactly now. I have two bullet molds . A 200gr plain base & a LBT custom 260gr GC style. My powder of choice has been IMR-4198 . Has been a reliable powder, + I have a good supply of it.

My .38-55 was a Marlin 336 Cowboy model with the 24" octagonal barrel.

My favorite bullet was the 220 grain Hornady but it's been out of production a while. The Sierra 200 seems light. The best option is probably a "Barnes Original" 255 grain. For powder, RL7 or IMR 3031. There seem to be a couple versions of the .38-55 plus there may be brass of an odd length for certain factory offerings which have crimp groove, etc at non-standard length to bring the finished cartridges to a normal length.

My gun wouldn't feed the RCBS cast bullets "normal" / in a single stroke of the action, I'd have to partially chamber, then back up a bit to unbind the lifter, then finish the stroke. Bullet cheek was just a bit too fat to work in that particular rifle.

I'd suggest getting ahold of a Speer or Hornady reloading manual and check case length, then buy brass that matches, otherwise you'll be short and need to reduce load or you'll be long and need to trim. Working with older stuff is not hard but you do have to pay attention, not just grab whatever is available, 'cause the combinations may not work together.

A lot to learn. Go over to MarlinOwners.com.There is a forum there for these cartridges/firearms. The different case lengths were 2.125 and 2.080 I believe. Nothing to do with trimming, but for different firearms. Same with bullets Ballard type and conventional. Mostly to do with ogive profile.

Newer firearms have the .375 bore, older ones will have a .380 or close to it.

https://www.marlinowners.com/search/224566/?q=38-55&o=relevance