375's & 38-55's

[Sarge]

I've got the itch for a levergun in one of the medium-large calibers and recent chatter here about them, has only increased it. If I acquire one it will be a Winchester. No offense to you Marlin folks, but I ain't interested in being 'converted'.

I've shot a couple of .375's and the cartridge suits me fine. A 200-220 grain bullet at over 2000 fps would meet my needs. I've read that the 38-55 in modern rifles can achieve this and if so, it would widen my choices considerable. If you've loaded the 38-55 to it's potential, I'd like to hear from you. I also read that bore diameters in 38-55 are all over the place. If you've slugged your Winchester or know about what the bores in Winchesters run, I'd be interested in that as well.

I'm fairly well-versed on a number of firearms/reloading topics, but this 38-55 stuff is new to me. I'd certainly appreciate anything you folks can contribute. Thank you in advance for your replies.

[Hobie]

Gee Sarge, I have used it in my Contender...

[Malamute]

I had a 375 H&H barrel that I used as a blank. It had a .375" groove diameter, and the same rifling twist rate as the 375 Win. Bullet for that size are easy to find, and you know what you'r starting with. I sent it to Mike Hunter who turned it to 20" short rifle configuration, chambered for 38-55, marked it with proper period markings and set it up for magazine ring, forend hanger and front sight dovetail. I wish I could report further on it, but I havent finished the rifle. I'm planning on shooting the 250's @ about 1800-1850 fps. Those that have reported shooting moose and other large animals have had mostly complete penetration on broadside shots with similar or slightly lower vel loads if I recall correctly. CIL used to load 38-55's to about 1700 fps for sale in Canada.

As far as I understand, about any 30-30 model 94 can be rebarreld to 38-55 with only a barrel.

I'd like to do a similar barrel for a carbine.

[2X22]

I'm planning on shooting the 250's @ about 1800-1850 fps. Those that have reported shooting moose and other large animals have had mostly complete penetration on broadside shots with similar or slightly lower vel loads if I recall correctly.

I can report complete penetration on a couple really BIG bull elk with 280gr cast @ 1700fps

2x22

[Hobie]

I would say that all of Malamute's info is correct. I'd like to see the rifle. I do believe that the .375" guns get more velocity out of the same loads than the .378" guns, on average. Lots of variation among the .38-55s but the .375" is the way to go.

[BenT]

Most commerative model 94's after the late 70's that were chamber in 38-55 are .375.

I purchased a octagon barrel from Numrich for my 94 that was chambered in 38-55. Just had to thread it on and change the forend stuff from carbine to a rifle. It is .375 and shoots MOA . It came out way better than expected.

[Malamute]

I have a carbine barrel from a Saskachewan Commemorative, it has a .379-.380" groove diameter. I'd really like to replace it with a .375" groove diameter carbine barrel.

[Goat]

Another option would be to re-bore a 30-30. I have a Marlin336T that was done by JES re-boring. You can specify what diameter you want and his prices are reasonable. I am very happy with mine shooting 255gr. Barnes Originals @1750 fps. I've only shot one animal,a whitetail buck, and found its performance to be great.
Goat

[Sarge]

Hobie- excellent article!

Malamute & 2x22- thank you for the field reports. Top notch stuff.

BenT- thank you for the late-model Winchester bore diameter info. Very helpful.

Goat- I appreciate your referral of a reputable reboring service.

Gentlemen, thank you all very much. I now know a whole bunch more than when I made this inquiry.

[Malamute]

Sarge, the point I was wanting to make about my Saskatchewan barrel was that you can't guarantee that later Winchester barrels are of the smaller diameter. I think there's more variation in 38-55 barrels than any other, even in the later production. Before screwing one on, I'd slug it if you don't want to go through the trial and error process to see what works in it. In my Saskatchewan barrel, to seat a bullet that actually fits the groove diameter of the barrel, the round woun't chamber. It may be fine with soft bullets and black powder that will slug them up, but not so good with jacketed and hard cast at even higher smokeless velocities.

[Bis]

I hate to ask dumb questions, but about how much does it cost to have a gunsmith turn a 30-30 Marlin 336 into a 38-55?

[Goat]

Bis, The last I knew JES be-boring was charging $225 to re-bore a Marlin from 30-30 to 38-55. I know he has a web site. If you can't find it send me a personal message and I'll find it for you.
Goat

[Hobie]

http://35caliber.com/index.html

[Bis]

Thanks for the link. $225 doesnt sound to bad, I presume that there is some modification required to the action to chamber the 38-55?

[Sarge]

Gotcha, Malamute. After reading Buck's posts & reading the JES site, I'd tempted to just have a forged 94 rebored.

[Tycer]

Thanks for the link. $225 doesnt sound to bad, I presume that there is some modification required to the action to chamber the 38-55?

Nope. Load and fire! The 30-30 was based on the 38-55 case.

[fisheadgib]

Gotcha, Malamute. After reading Buck's posts & reading the JES site, I'd tempted to just have a forged 94 rebored.

Why not just buy a 94 bigbore in .375win and call it a day? They aren't hard to come by. When I found mine at a LGS they had two of them.

[KCSO]

My original M94 was made in 1914 and had a .378 bore and shot best with cast slugs sized to 379. My built up 94 with the Numerich barrel slugged at 376 on the nose and shot well with 378 to 379 slugs. My best loads were IMR 3031 and i was pushing a 260 grain gc bullet cast from 1/2 and 1/2 ww and lino. This load was clocked at 1900 fps from the modern M94 with a 26" barrel and was good for under 2" at 100 yards and proved effective on large mule deer. In the original gun I stuck to 1500 fps loads with cast bullets from 220 to 260 grains. I HAD a 375 when they first came out and was shooting jacketed slugs with IMR 3031 up to 1900 fps chrono from my carbine. In actual practice the small increase in velocity from 375 to 38-55 is not noticable in the field. I don't try to load for the last FPS but rather look for the most accurate load, I have a buddy who is pushing 2000 fps with a 260 bullet in his Marlin but I am not shure that's necessary.

[Old Shatterhand]

A Win 94BB .375W can safely shoot Barnes 255 grs FN with 2050 fps at the muzzle, when loaded with 32 grs Norma 200. (Practically there is no reason to load that hot, but we still do it here, as we have to reach legal requirement of 2000 Joule at 100 meters.)

Old Sh.

[20cows]

I had Jes rebore a .30-30 trapper barrel to .38-55 and could not be happier with the results. I can get around 1700fps (275gr bullet)out that short barrel easy (my bro. goes 1800 in a 20" barrel), but the recoil is a bit brisk at those levels in a trapper.

I would think 2000fps with a 200gr bullet would be doable out of a standard carbine length barrel and easy out of the 26" Numrich barrrel.

[Thunder50]

I have had JES do a couple of re-bore jobs and wouldn't hesitate to send him another project.