Marshal Fire, SASS 10064 Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 A close friend has loaned me a fine Marlin 38-55 he was not using. It is a 38-55 cowboy which I understand has a fine reputation as a shooter. The gun has not been fired with handloads by the owner and had only a few rounds through it. Has a distant thunder front sight with inserts and a MVA tang sight. Should be a great set up. I bought some starline 2.125 brass, bear creek sized.380, 255 grain bullets and loaded 5744 powder with Winchester large rifle primers. Benched it at 100 yds with sand bags. The powder load was in the mid range with what I would estimate a velocity of maybe 1450. brass was full length size in a rcbs die and a crime placed at the bullet grove. No issues chambering the rounds through the magazine or one at a time. Could not keep a 14 inch group Checked to see if the sights were tight and all seems good. Since I knw this is a popular rifle of SASS wondering if anyone would be willing to share their reloading information via PM. Any help , suggestions would appreciated. The gun was bought used by my friend so can't attest it is 100% factory but it really appears to have used very little and never neglected. I do plan to give the barrel a good scrub just in case leading is a factor but other than that unsure what to try next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griff Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Check groove diameter of barrel. Cast likes .001-.002" larger than groove dia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 31 minutes ago, Griff said: Check groove diameter of barrel. Cast likes .001-.002" larger than groove dia. Do this first. Also make sure the barrel is not leaded up. If the factory ammo your friend was shooting was under sized it is possible the barrel is leaded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VICIOUS, SASS#8014 Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 HOWDY; I sure hope someone did not try to FIX the chamber dimension by having it reamed out. Experts will explain it to you or go to starline brass web site and read the write up on 38/55. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VICIOUS, SASS#8014 Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Hi again. I use Winchester 2.080 brass and a top load of UNIQUE listed in lyman reloading book. Try that at 50 yards for group Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Fire, SASS 10064 Posted August 17, 2018 Author Share Posted August 17, 2018 Is there a way to tell if someone messed with the chamber dimension. How would you check and what to compare it to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Fire, SASS 10064 Posted August 17, 2018 Author Share Posted August 17, 2018 Well I worked on the bore, got some leading and I must admit the was a lot and I mean a lot of black fowling. The patch runs smooth through the bore now after 30 minutes of scrubbing. I have looked into the chamber as much as possible. There are no apparent signs of a recut. Chamber still looks factory for the amount I can see. Heading to a shoot early Friday so going to soak the barrel for the weekend and see if things loosen up more. Then give it another try. Still looking for a proven accuracy load for this gun is someone is willing to share in a PM . Thanks for suggestions, am inaccurate gun is useless! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Quote Is there a way to tell if someone messed with the chamber dimension. Cerro-safe cast of the chamber. Quote what to compare it to Chamber dimensions shown in a good loading manual. Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook 4th edition has them for 38-55 for sure. Check first if this gun has conventional rifling (Ballard) or the Marlin microgroove. Microgroove will have a lot of fine lands in the bore, ballard probably 6 lands. The microgroove barrels are notorious for being rather hard to get a good load developed for. Many I have heard go to a pretty hard alloy bullet (Brinnell Hardness Number of 16 and higher) so that the bullet does not strip loose from the shallow lands of the microgroove barrel. The 38-55 has been made with a wide range of groove diameters in their barrels. So the NEXT thing you have to do is get barrel slugged, then stock up a few bullet designs just over that groove diameter. Then you can start trying some loads. Clean jacketed bullet fouling from the barrel. Scrub, scrub, scrub, and use Hoppes 9 or similar ammonia type bore cleaner that will dissolve the metal fouling. Clean until patches come out perfectly white. Gilding metal left in the barrel makes it real hard to get a lead bullet load to hold tight groups. Good luck, GJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisco Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Try some different bullets before you go much farther. You might be surprised. I once bought a huge quantity of .358 158gr moly bullets and couldn’t keep them on a pie plate at 20 yards with several different rifles. Shot great in pistols, but for some reason my rifles did not like the moly bullets. Had a Browning Hi-Power key hole at 7 yds with 147gr moly bullets, but it shoots plain lead just fine. Some barrels just don’t like the moly bullets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High Spade Mikey Wilson Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 I have a Winchester 94 Legendary Frontiersman in a 38-55. It hates jacketed .375 bullets, and if I do hit the inside of the barn door with it they keyholed. However it loves .379 diameter , 262 grain cast lead bullets with a gas check and IMR4895 powder. I won quite a few big bore rifle shoots with it over the years. I would highly recommend gas check bullets to head off leading issues if you're going to load it up to its potential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Springfield Slim SASS #24733 Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 If it has been "fixed", like Vicious mentioned, just run non Starline brass and it should be fine. My Hand- rifle couldn't hit an 18" plate at 20 yards until I fixed it, now it shoots great. So use the right brass and correct diameter bullet for the chamber in the gun. I bought another Handi last month, have to chamber check it to see what is in there. Unfortunately 38-55 rifles vary considerably, so there is no one correct answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Throckmorton,23149 Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 Quote Clean jacketed bullet fouling from the barrel. Scrub, scrub, scrub, and use Hoppes 9 or similar ammonia type bore cleaner that will dissolve the metal fouling. Clean until patches come out perfectly white. Gilding metal left in the barrel makes it real hard to get a lead bullet load to hold tight groups. This is for sure important, as is slugging the bore AFTER a THOROUGH cleaning. If it's the Cowby, it prolly has deep cut rifling. If not, you have an uphill battle getting lead to shoot. good luck ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 1 hour ago, Throckmorton,23149 said: This is for sure important, as is slugging the bore AFTER a THOROUGH cleaning. If it's the Cowby, it prolly has deep cut rifling. If not, you have an uphill battle getting lead to shoot. good luck ! Microgroove barrels shoot properly sized cast bullets just fine. Shooters that have problems need to slug their barrels and shoot the correctly sized bullets for their particular firearm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 17 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said: Microgroove barrels shoot properly sized cast bullets just fine I would add to that, a hard bullet (16 Brinnell and harder) helps quite often, and a gas checked bullet helps quite often. It is very easy to make a load that does NOT shoot well in microgroove barrels. Which is why Marlin went back to Ballard style rifling by popular demand on rifles expected to be used with cast bullets a few years ago. Here's a REALLY good explanation of this subject: Fryxell on Microgroove Barrels Good luck, GJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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