Jacketed bullet for .38-55?

[vancelw]

I know this has been discussed before, but I don't fare well with the search function when using numbers.

What is a good jacketed bullet to use in a .38-55 that is currently available?
I haven't slugged the barrel yet, but I know my rifle shoots Winchester brand ammo very consistently. I also heard those bullets aren't available to reloaders. What else is out there?
Are the Winchester bullets .377? I do know a .375 sized cast bullet tumbles out of the bore.


I think my .38-55 is looking for a pronghorn this fall. I'm trying to get ready to feed it the right diet so it will be ready.

[Don McDowell]

I believe you'll need to get some Barnes originals, or Hawk bullets.
If you got really lucky (really lucky) you might stumble across a bag of the Winchester bulk bullets, but it might take the winning power ball ticket to buy them....

[JesterGrin_1]

You did not mention what 38-55 you have? If it is a Marlin CB in 38-55 I do now know of a jacketed bullet currently being made that would work with it since they would be on the small side.

[Mainehunter]

I believe you'll need to get some Barnes originals, or Hawk bullets.
If you got really lucky (really lucky) you might stumble across a bag of the Winchester bulk bullets, but it might take the winning power ball ticket to buy them....

+1 http://www.hawkbullets.com

Mainehunter

[JBledsoe]

.

What is wrong with using cast bullets? Cast bullets are more accurate, they are cheaper, easier found (broader selection), and they penetrate deeper. What's not to like about them? Only one of my six 38-55s has ever seen jacketed bullets (since they have lived in my safe). The Winchester that I tried Hornady jacketed bullets in gave very unimpressive results, properly sized cast bullets worked great so I have not used a jacketed bullet in the 38-55 in over 20 years. Over the years since that experience with jacketed bullets, I have acquired five more 38-55s including 2 Marlin CB rifles. They all shoot cast bullets very well. A 260 gr. cast bullet @ 1500 fps will penetrate 19 milk jugs filled with water, that is 6 or 7 more than my 300 Winchester Magnum has been able to penetrate.

Just my experience, YMMV.

[Old Savage]

JB - what have you shot with your 38-55s and how did that work out?

[2ndovc]

Vance,

I've gotted great accuracy out of my old '94 with the Barnes 255 JSPs.

Pricy but a good bullet ( for my rifle anyway).

jb

[Hobie]

I think our own David Deering might still be making bullets. They are excellent bullets.

[vancelw]

I have used the Barnes original bullets in my .348 with great success. I had seen that Barnes offered a .377 original bullet but didn't know about the hawk bullets.

Where is the best place online to purchase Hawk bullets? I might order a 50 of each to experiment with.

My .38-55 is a Chief Crazy Horse Winchester. I shot a box of Winchester (modern production) ammo through it and it was very consistent. I really wouldn't want to hunt with that ammo since it's a bit on the light side for my taste. I have shot some cast through the rifle, but was too aggressive with my sizing and the bullets keyholed. I've since purchased a .379 sizer die so I can lube without sizing. (too lazy to pan lube)

[vancelw]

.

What is wrong with using cast bullets? Cast bullets are more accurate, they are cheaper, easier found (broader selection), and they penetrate deeper. What's not to like about them? Only one of my six 38-55s has ever seen jacketed bullets (since they have lived in my safe). The Winchester that I tried Hornady jacketed bullets in gave very unimpressive results, properly sized cast bullets worked great so I have not used a jacketed bullet in the 38-55 in over 20 years. Over the years since that experience with jacketed bullets, I have acquired five more 38-55s including 2 Marlin CB rifles. They all shoot cast bullets very well. A 260 gr. cast bullet @ 1500 fps will penetrate 19 milk jugs filled with water, that is 6 or 7 more than my 300 Winchester Magnum has been able to penetrate.

Just my experience, YMMV.

Never said anything was wrong with cast bullets. I cast for almost every rifle I own. I asked about jacketed cause that's what I want to hunt with. Penetration is not an issue on deer sized game. I very seldom recover a bullet from a deer or pronghorn. It's almost always a pass through shot. What I seek is massive tissue damage to the heart and not a .377 to .400 sized hole.
I wasn't even going to try the Hornady bullets since I know they are .375. A lot of folks blast the Hornadys, but I've yet to have a performance issue with them. I just know .375 is too small for my rifle.
I'm almost tempted to sell the Chief Crazy Horse and buy a .375 Winchester so I'll have more bullets selection. But, if I try the Barnes or Hawk bullets and they work fine, the will be no problem with the .38-55. I've looked for .377 or larger bullets and the Barnes was all I had found, so I posed the question to this vast well of knowledge on Leverguns Forum.

[vancelw]

I think our own David Deering might still be making bullets. They are excellent bullets.

Thanks for that link, Hobie.

[JesterGrin_1]

You can give David a shout but I called him about a year ago and he informed me he no longer made them since they were cost prohibitive.

[hfcable]

Vance,

I've gotted great accuracy out of my old '94 with the Barnes 255 JSPs.

Pricy but a good bullet ( for my rifle anyway).

jb

my experience too. they are very accurate out of my 1894 that was made in 1895. like most of the older ones, they need the large diameter bullet. cast also works well, sized 378-379. the modern hornadys etc tumble.
as far as performance on game, the barnes old style knocks down big caribou quite well.

[Don McDowell]

Vance as you know that your rifle likes the Winchester bullet, another option might be to take a couple of boxes of factory loads , subject them to the inertia bullet puller, save the bullets and the primed cases, refill the cases with the powder charge of your choice...

[kimwcook]

I'm interested in the post, but I don't have anything to add.

Don, good to see you posting. Seems like you've been MIA for awhile.

[ollogger]

vance i did what Don said, worked good for me
also bought some barnes. ouch, shoots good though
now shooting cast, all that takes time to round up everything

[Don McDowell]

Kim been busy with the haying, almost done....
Think I saw Ollogger come by the house the other day, but I wasn't quite there yet and he went on... Just a couple of minutes wait and we could had a jug of countrytime rasberry lemonade....

[ollogger]

Don i stopped but didnt see anything but your lawn mowers

[Don McDowell]

Thought it looked like you had been in the drive...was coming with a load of hay on the bale wagon...
Was they nice to ya?

[vancelw]

Don's method is labor intensive (did I mention I'm lazy?) and I only have 20 rounds of factory Win ammo left. It's too expensive to buy. I can get 50 barnes bullets for less than that, so I'm going to do just that and give them a try.

I'm still debating over using the 94 in .38-55 or my 95 in .30-'06 for hunting this fall. May use one on the prairie goat and one on the muley. For my whitetails this year, I have other plans.

I'll post a Barnes range report if I don't die of heat stroke, It's been 112 the past two days here with no relief in sight.

Send me some rain, Don!

[Don McDowell]

We're not getting much rain here, lots of lightning tho...

[vancelw]

I purchased a couple of boxes of the Barnes original 255 gr bullets in .377 size.

I tried AA 2460 and IMR 4198. I settled on the 4198 (I don't have my notes handy, but I think 28.0 grains). they average about 1880 fps and I got 4 inch groups at 100 meters. One flyer kept it from being 3" groups. I was not real happy with the groups, but I have to remind myself I'm using a tang sight and not a scope.

I'll load up another 50 of these, fine-tune my sights, and I'll be ready to roll.
I'm not real crazy about the Lee dies I have. I have to lube the case mouth real good or the expander die will crumple a case. None of my other dies are so finicky, but then they aren't .38-55 either.

I can't get over how smooth the action on this Chief Crazy Horse model 94 is! Pronghorn better look out.

[Hobie]

Let Lee know about the dies, expander plug. It shouldn't do that. .38-55 brass isn't that finicky. Which brass are you using? If you said I must have missed it?

[msmith1228]

I use a separate expander die for 38-55 and 40-65 that has a gentle taper, about any size you want from track of the wolf. I think they were only a few bucks each.

[vancelw]

Sorry, Hobie. I thought I answered you.

I'm using Winchester brass.
I may take that expander die apart and see if there's a burr on it or something.
Or...read the instructions again to see what I'm doing wrong! Sometimes that works wonders.

[Hobie]

When in doubt, get the instructions out!

Is this the new SHORT Winchester brass? IMO, this is sometimes a problem with the longer brass, now from Starline only, much better.