Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 38-55 Questions

I picked up a takedown rifle chambered for 38-55 Winchester. It has a bright shiny bore and seems to be in great shape for a 1907 made rifle. The downside is that the barrel has been shortened and recrowned and it wears a Lyman All-American scope. I am assuming that loads should be kept close to original loads in a rifle of this age, but was wondering if anyone had some favorite loads. Also, I hear that bore diameters varied quite a bit. Has anyone found this to be true? I have never reloaded with cast bullets, but probably will with this gun. Thanks, Tom

I've never did it, but people say you should slug your bore to determine diameter. I like Lee's sizer dies for sizing cast bullets. The only down side to their system is that it will not seat gas checks. For that you will need a traditional luber sizer press. Best of all is to shoot them as they come out of the mold if you can. You likely can find reload data in Lyman's cast bullet manual, or in any of their older reloading manuals. Best of luck!

Yep, but take it a step further and do a chamber cast that includes the throat area just ahead of the case mouth. Size your bullets to .0005-.001" under that diameter regardless of the groove diameter.

Thanks for the info. The serial number is 7462x. All numbers match. Would this be one of the earliest takedowns made? Also, would it be worth while to get it lettered?

Why not letter it? What else are you going to spend $25 on that'll give you a little boost like a JTC letter?

It's definitely in the early era of the takedowns. A couple show up quite a bit earlier, but takedowns don't show up in significant quantities until 71.xxx and higher. You're only 3 months later.

Thanks, I was curious about that since Murrays said takedown first offered in 1909 and I think mine was made in 1907.

Handloader Magazine has a lot of information on cast bullet shooting and used to offer it in a set of CDs. The NRA too has a wealth of literature in their past publications. I learned a lot from them in the use of powders especially what's appropriate for stepping up in velocities, though you will never approach jacketed bullet speeds without having a host of problems. Not sure how this actually translates to the 38-55, but it's good to keep in mind. With some cast bullet designs it works best to keep the bullet seated as close to the lands and grooves as possible in order to reduce the amount of jump it makes in the chamber that can damage the ogive on entering the rifling.

Thanks for the info. I shot half a box of factory Winchesters yesterday. Adjusted scope once and shot very well at 50 yds. Cases looked real good, with very slight protrusion of primers. Surprised me that they were only zipping along at 1,003 f.p.s. Very pleasant to shoot though. A kid could shoot it all day long.