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Tell me about the 38-40. Anybody make one? Can a 30-30 be made to work with it?

Nope.
It is actually a 40 caliber. A pain in the butt to reload as the cases are so thin and due to the bottle neck you can't use carbide dies. A 30-30 is entirely different, a 38-40 is a necked down 44-40.
The 25-20,32-20,38-40 & 44-40 were all made for the "short" action Model 1892 Winchester.
The 25-35,30-30,32 Special, 32-40 and 38-55 were all made for the "long" action 1894 Winchester.

Not a practical project and not a very good cartridge. A modern 45 Colt (so called Long Colt) or 44 Magnum carbine in a Winchester or Marlin can be loaded to any power level from "pooper" to "crusher" and the rifle/carbine would be far cheaper than an original "good shooter" 38-40.

Mike Venturino has written about the 38-40 in Rifle and Handloader magazines. It's one of those "why did they ever make it in the first place cartridges".

Good shootin'

The .38 W.C.F. first appeared in Winchester's 1879 catalog.
The 38-40 moniker was given by U.M.C. / Marlin.

As BossLady indicated, it is really a .40 caliber and is not related to the 30-30 at all. Perhaps they felt that the 40-40 would be too easily confused with the 44-40 (?).

Personally, I have found it ok for reloading and can be done easily enough......if one pays attention to detail (important!). The thinner case neck wall is more prone to damage than straight walled cartridges if one does not align it properly in the reloading dies.

Nostalgia is what has kept the 38-40 alive and well....especially if one has a vintage 1873 Winchester in that chambering and likes to make it talk once again.....

w30wcf

My first centerfire handgun was a Colt SAA in .38-40. I packed it all the way through high school and into college. I still have a special place for the caliber. Sometimes "practical" really doesn't have much relevance.

Tom

I can't imagine MAKING a .38-40 in this day and age. But SHOOTING one is fine! They are a little touchy to reload, but if you go a little slower and gentler than usual, it isn't any big deal. They are as accurate as any similar cartridge IF you work up a load your gun likes.

For some reason this caliber was very popular as a handgun ctg. in the very earliest decades of the 20th century. It was the most popular ctg. in the Colt Bisley and very popular in the Colt New Service DAs of the same period, and the SAA. Factory ballistics in a handgun were similar to the present .40 S&W.

I had a 4 1/2" New Service and noticed that it made one hell of a CRACK in that short barrel but was very accurate if you could stand the blast (this was before anybody even THOUGHT of wearing ear protection--HUH, WHAT'S THAT YOU SAY???).

Had a Colt SSA in .38-40 as well as a M92 Winchester more years
ago than I would like to remember. I got rid of the M92 when I
started to get head separations with the Hi-Velocity loads. I
was told later that the vertical locking bars were probably worn.
I should have looked into replacing or at least getting it looked at to tighten them up so the action would not be so 'springy'(?). I fired the Colt several times at night in the
'wilderness' and it really threw out a pretty impressive ball of
fire. This was probably because it had slower burning powder to
make the cartridge more efficient in the rifle. (Don't use
stiff loads in a SAA Colt.)

One of my favorite calibers, it can be purchased in new
Colts single actions and in levers by Uberti.
Its a fine short range deer round in Win 92's or Marlin 94's.
Reloading is no more difficult than others if you pay attention.
My most accurate rifle in 38-40 is a Navy Arms [Rossi]. Soda cans at 100 yards are easy targets from a rest.
Plan on reloading if used for hunting as manuals only show loads safe for 73's which equal a 40S&W for energy.

Surprised no one mentioned the Marlin 93's.
In the 50's the 38-40 was a very well used cartrdige in the deer woods of PA. This was before everyone thought that deer wore kevlar arnor and required a magnum to kill them.Many were even taken with 32-20's

I've taken deer with my Win. M92 in 38-40. Pretty fair deer gun, if you keep the ranges reasonable for the cartridge.

Just handled a new Taylor's (Uberti) SAA Smoke Wagon today in 38-40. Probably gonna have to have me one? ;O)

Got the new Uberti, fired it yesterday. 15 yards, with 180gr WW factory ammo: 3 shots within a 1-1/4" inch group, last two opened the group to 3". Most likely me?

Shoots a tad to the left with that ammo, but dead-on elevation wise at 15 yards, barely showing the front blade in the frame groove.

The M92 Win. shoots that same ammo very well.

Not to joke,but do you really mean 15 yards, or are we talking a handgun?

Fairly well explained in my earlier post, just above the one you reference.

Sorry, did not know what a Smoke Wagon was. I'm not a SASS shooter anymore

Taylor calls some versions of their "tinkered" Uberti SAAs, Smoke Wagons. Fortunately, they do not stamp that crap on the pistol itself. Basically just a Cattleman, with some extry attention to the action and cosmetics.

Very slick action, especially the trigger pull. I'm happy with it, both in appearance and function.

I've got a Ruger Vaquero convertible in 38-40/40S&W, an older Marlin Carbine, and a Cimmaron '73 repro. They are absolutely fun to shoot and so far, Knock wood, I haven't had any issues reloading this round. I picked up about 4 boxes of ammo at the gun show and have been shooting this brass for about a year now. Probably on the third round of reloading.

Bart

Bought several boxes of fairly new WW 38-40 ammo some years ago (around $22 per box then), then got another full box that a buddy picked up at an auction and sold me for $15, two years ago. All 180gr soft points.

That last one is in the old yellow, red and blue Western X box, but both box and ammo is still like new.

Also have about a dozen or so original WRA headstamp 38 WCF cartridges that more or less came with the M92 some years ago. They're lead bullet loads, no idea what the bullet weight is?

Have dies, probably won't need to load anything anytime soon, unless I go on a binge with the Uberti? ;O)

I sometimes hunt deer with the M92, but no reason to shoot the sock's off'n it, already know how well it shoots.

My 1892 38-40 was made in 1910. Bore is shiny with minor, superficial pitting. It shoots clover leaf groups at 20 yds. with 180 gr cast bullets and Clays powder. It, in fact, out shot my new Marlin 1894 CB in .45 LC. This '92 came with the shotgun type butt stock.

38-40 can be reloaded on a Dillon or progressive press if one is careful and bells the cases on the powder drop stage. The bullets will slide right in. If not, a bullet catching the case lip will end up with a crushed case on the bullet seating stroke.

DF

One of my favorites, I had a early 90's SAA 4 3/4" that was a beauty. I also had my favorite gun of all time in 38 WCF (38-40 is for those Marlins ) my rifle was a 1912 vintage 92 Winchester "Baby" SRC 14" barrel. I took deer at short range with it and it was great at short range. I had to sell it years ago when I was a newlywed and needed money...

LBP,

You're so right. My bad. It definitely IS a .38WCF. That's exactly what's stamped on the barrel.

Guess I've been contaminated by Marlins, etc. too long. Or, I could rationalize and say I was addressing that crowd...

Probably just need to own up...

HA!

DF

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As others have stated, the 38 WCF is somewhere between marginal and useless. So why did Winchester ever design that caliber? Not because it was needed but to sell guns. New calibers always sell guns. Just look at some of the modern day "useless" calibers, the Winchester WSM's most of which are already obsolete. Remington also made several short fat calibers, does anyone remember any of those now? The 38 WCF enjoyed some popularity or Winchester would not have chambered it in rifles for 50 years. They, the 38 WCF and 44 WCF, are great fun to shoot and that in it's self is all the reason that I need to use them.

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