Home Forums Hunting & Shooting BPCR 38-55 rifle

My plan is to have a cartridge rifle only season at my camp next deer season. The ol' lady likes to hunt and doesn't have a cartridge gun. She only weighs in at 102#'s so I've opted to check out a little 38-55 for her. The only ones I can find are the Winchester and Uberti High Walls. I'm talking 1250 bucks and up. Sure would like to find one of the H & R's that they quit making a few years back. Does anyone have one they would sell or do you know where else to look.

Hey Doo Dah,

Look at gun broker. Old 94's and Marlins. H&R made 38-55 as well.

I like the 38-55 as much as anyone, but unless you are already set up to load for it, the 45-70 is a more practical round to own and can be loaded down to approximate 38-55 recoil.

The 45 is a LOT less complex to load due to the WIDE variation in various brands of 38-55 chamber sizes and bore diameters.

Get one of the Browning 1885 45-70 "hunters". Load some Seirra 30g JHPs with midrange loads at about 1,500 to 1,600 FPS. Even your wife should have no trouble with them in the Browning with a good recoil pad installed.

And you will have a lot less frustration buying/loading ammo..

Not to mention finding a rifle.

Thanks. I might just do that because I already have 4 45-70 cartridge rifles and one of them is a 1885 Traditional Hunter that maybe she can handle with a light load.

DD,

Like I said- nothing wrong with the 38-55 except pure logistics.

I owned a Uberti 1885 in 38-55 as soon as they came out back around 2001. It was a nice rifle, but had a .380" bore. Some other brands of rifles are .375". Besides finding bullets molds, the DIE sets differ in how they size the cases.

The 45-70- especally when loading Jacketed Hard cast bullets does not have those issues for the most part.

One gun I meant to mention is the H&R Handi Rifle "Classic Carbines" in .45 long colt. They are the same basic gun as the Wesson and Harrington 38-55 rifles that H&R made a few years ago, but have 22" barrels.

The 45 Long colt can easily be loaded safely with 250g HP slugs to replicate 38-55 ballistics. A 250g Hornady XTP at about 1,500FPS would make a wicked deer round in that rifle.

CDNN Investments had them listed in their last catalog at less than $250. You might call them and see if they have any left.

Jim, thanks for the info and the heads up. I got the jist of what you told me in my research about the caliber.

Doo Dah , I have a H&R target model in 38-55 and hand load it to 2000 fps with a hard cast gas check bullet. I have dies and brass for it and it will come with scope bases. I shoot it with a mildot scope out to 300 yards. It likes .378 dia bullets pushed hard and if you do your job it will shoot an honest MOA at 300. The rifle is very clean------------Rifle ,Dies , bullets,brass and scope base $400. and you pay the shipping. Email me at raktrakaol.com. OH YEA, it likes Rel-7 powder.

There ya go Doodah..

That's a fair price on such a package, especially since It appears all the reloading equipment is matched up to that particular rifle.

Thanks. Email is on the way.

The deal is done. The ol' lady and I met Bro RVP today and picked up the woman sized buffalo rifle. He was nice enough to throw in a ton of brass, bullets, dies, etc. Now all I have to do is find her the appropiate frock that can be worn in a Mississippi swamp while chasing deer and hogs. Life is good.

Good for you DD !!

You saved at least an extra $100 worth of time and trouble trying to figure out the proper matchup of rifle/dies and bullets buying that 38-55 package.

Let us know how she shoots and don't forget to post pics when you get some game down with it this fall.

DOO DAH...Good deal for you & Momma!!! Lemme know what kind of load you come up with or are using. A friend of mine here in the Ozarks just purchased a Mod. 94 in 38-55 and we're beginning to get the things together for him. I've never worked with the cartridge, as much as I'd like to. He'll be using cast bullets exclusively.

I have a 38-55 buffalo classic my load in IMR 3031 33.0 using a 255 FP sarco .380 casted to BHN 10 with out gas check.I get no barrel leading has a williams FP rear peep sight and a .450 front blade fiber optic sight.
I will say it can reach out to 500 yards and hold a 10" group
here is a 75 yard group from the bench

Yep, I guess I'm ready to get started. Soon as I get into the project the results will be posted. Sure do wish I still had young eyes like flintforever. Right now the crappie and bass are getting restless here on the lake and must be tended to.

flintforever, do you mean Saeco for the bullet? Never heard of sarco. That's a good load and good shooting!

DOO-DAH....you tend to those crappie and bass. I was "tending" some trout yesterday. Oh...you can send up 30-40 crappie slabs any time it suits you!

Vic

sarco#738 255 grain in the 38-55
and starline brass
my eye are not what they use to be now at 65 years old the peep set up is the way to go

you've got about 7 years on me....but man do I understand going to aperature sights! Yup, only way to go.

I took a large doe this year about 75 yards She never took a step