Bgt a 1894 (year of Mfg) in .38-40 this past summer. Used it to take a big doe last tuesday. Heard the plunk' of lead hitting. Had to use Ultramax ammo as only kind I could find. I suspect its cowboy loads? 180 grain lead. Anyone know anything hotter?
BTW- read from old buffalo hunter books that an animal (deer and above) walks twice as far as it runs after being hit. That's what this one did.

Winchester makes a cup and core round, sort of a half jacket, but the velocity isn't much higher. With all the black powder .38-40s out there, nobody makes a .38-40 for rifles any more.

100 years ago, there was a Winchester HV load offered for rifles only, but not now. Someone would shoot it in a '73 Colt or Winchester and sue.

Alliant lists some .38-40 loads using RE7 that raise the velocity quite a bit, without exceeding the old BP pressures. As I recall, one involves the Sierra 180 gr. HP .40 pistol bullet with MV of 1750 fps or so. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds interesting.

I wouldn't shoot anything but low-power loads in an old gun like that. The best thing you could do is to retire it as a collectable. I had an 1894 in 44 WCF which was manufactured in '95. The second best thing you could do is to shoot it with black.

kidd

Mfg. in 1894?? Yep, that one is a collectable. If it were mine, I'd clean that baby up as well as possible, and hang onto it, without shooting it anymore. You've "made meat" with it, so why not relegate it to a place of honor?

If you like the .40 cal. pistol cartridge in a lever rifle, why not get a Marlin in .41 Magnum. I've been shooting mine since 1987, have killed a Mule deer with it, and I assure you that handloaded .410 bullet has much authority out there on a deer, coyote, or even up close, a Black bear.

Easy to clean and lots of fun to shoot. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

FWIW. L.W.

Thansk for the feedback folks. Having taken meat I may put it up. I do have a .45-70 pre-cross bolt I wish to use next year.

Trail boss is what I use in my 1873. Works well. Have shot a few pigs with those loads. Just about the same power as a 40 S&W pistol round.

I have one that was made in 1906. I use .403 cast bullets from Dardas Cast Bullets and 16 gr. of 2400. Average velocity is about 1450fps. Most books,if you can find any info will go 6.5-8.5 gr of Universal Clays, Uniqye, W231. etc.

An old Lyman book goes 18-22 gr of 2400 and the old Sharpe Handloading manual goes 17-23.6 gr of 2400.

Most of the Cowboy loads are about 800 fps. The biggest danger, IMO is the old ballon head cases floating around that can be dangerous to load with modern powders, Every once in awhile you can find new brass form a few different vendors

The 38- 40 true diameter is .401 so you might not find any jacketed bullets that shoot well from the 40 cal pistol bullets. .001-002 over the bore in cast bullet shoots well and Dardas is the only bullet mfgr offering a .402 or .403 bullet.
Problem I had with the 40 cal pistol bullets was finding any that were not FMJ around here.

I had a smith in Washington state reline my barrel so my headspace is right on .I also had to add a new ejector.

My father hunted with one his entire life in Pa and killed many a whiteail with it. I have two boxes of commercial Winchester ammo for my brother found in Gander Mountain years ago

Mine was made in 1884, it has proof marks so it has been back to the factory after they began proof testing the barrels. Probably has been rebarreled. The blueing looks better on the barrel than the rest of the gun.

Killed 3 pigs with mine last weekend. Lots of fun.