stepnmud#33546 Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 My Marlin C.B.38-55, 24" barrel has grown while resting up in the safe. Have had this rifle about 12 years and had shot it at several side matchs and hundreds of practice rounds with excellant results with close to MOA at 100 yrds.Mostly with Unique or blackpowder loads. The 100 ct. brass I had bought to begin reloading is Winchester original 2.130" with 245 gr. cast bullets. All this time, I was under the impression that 5 rounds was maximum magazine capacity as No. 6 round would not quite stuff in the tube. Recently at a CAS montly match a fellow shooter was using the same rifle and shooting Cody/Dixon category and I noticed he was loading six rounds in the mag. and having great results with his blackpowder loads. For some reason that had not occurred to me was that using 2.08" brass would be just enough to allow the No. 6 round into the tube. Have since purchased some Starline 2.08" brass and will start loading 6 at the loading table as opposed to loading 5-plus one, while on the clock. I know it shouldn't be a revelation, but just catch me off guard,cause I was positive that the 24" barrels could only handle 5 in the the magazine. I can still can learn a thing or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Fill 'Em 67797 Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 I'll check mine when I get home to see how many it will hold. I bet if you trimmed a little off the magazine spring you could get 6 of the long ones in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Woodrow Cahill, SASS # 54363 Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 The 38-55 case length has been a source of confusion for some time. The original Ballard 38-55 had the longer 2.130" case length. From what I've heard, the shorter 2.08" Winchester 38-55 came about as a result of them re-issuing the '94 in 38-55, but as a cost-saving measure used the 30-30 cartridge making equipment (keeping in mind the 38-55 is the parent case for the 30-30) and just made them .05" longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutch Al #22045 Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I have a 336 CB with a 24" barrel and a full length magazine tube. The overall length of my reloads is 2.515 inches. I can get EIGHT rounds in my mag tube (just tried it, to make sure). You should be able to do the same. If you can't get more than 5 in the mag tube, suggest you pull off the end cap and check the spring and follower assembly. Could there perhaps be some sort of a spacer in the tube. If I remember correctly, Marlin installed a spacer in the pistol caliber model 94s, so you couldn't load more than ten rounds. Perhaps one of those was installed in your 336 by mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stepnmud#33546 Posted August 23, 2012 Author Share Posted August 23, 2012 How far wrong can I be. Dutch Al is totally correct and these Marlin CB 38-55 hold easily 8 rounds. Happy with the results and glad I brought it up. Now just need to start shooting it again and more often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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