375 Winchester

[elmo123]

I am in need of some assistance. I have a BB94 in 375 and it shoots jacketed bullets fine. My problem is I have tried using the Lyman 248 grain 38-55 bullets with various powder charges, Trail Boss, RL7, IMR4198 and Red Dot, nothing seems to work because the bullets strike on the verge of key holing. The Lasercast 240 grain bullets shoot fine but they are a little shorter. I realize the rates of twist are different between the 375 & 38-55 but does anybody have any suggestions? I have tried different sizing diameters to no avail.

Thanks,

Mike

[EdinCT]

If I recall correctly the 375 has a 1 in 12 twist which is faster than the 38-55's 1 in 16 so it should stabilize heavier bullets better so I don't think that's your problem. What dia. are the cast you are shooting ?

[elmo123]

.376 and I have even left them unsized and lubed them with Lee lube and the both shot the same. I have loaded them slow, 900 fps up to 1400-1600 fps with the same results.

[Shasta]

I have not had good luck with the Lyman 375248 bullet in my Winchester 94 Legacy in 38-55 because that bullet is too small in diameter. The RCBS 37-250-FN casts at .379"-.380" and that larger diameter cured my problem. If you have not already done so, slug your bore with a soft lead round ball and check the diameter. Your cast lead bullet should be one or two thousandths larger than the bore diameter for best performance.


Shasta

[elmo123]

.376 which is probably why the .377 Lasercast shoot better.

[Mainehunter]

.376 which is probably why the .377 Lasercast shoot better.

My Savage 99A 375 Win. is the same bore diameter as yours. I shot mostly .377-.378 cast loads in it with good luck. Have you tried "bumping up" those bullets? There's a method of enlarging the cast bullet diameter using a lube/sizer press. I never tried it but I've read it works pretty good but not great. Here's the link:
http://www.castpics.net/subsite2/HowTo/ ... bullet.pdf

Mainehunter

[Griff]

I guess that I'm going to have to get into casting for my 375 Marlin as Hornady keeps telling me to use their spritzer bullet, as it's too expensive to the time, material & machinery to produce their 220gr FN bullet. It's the only thing that's ever been shot thru mine... and I gave away the only box of those bullets I had left last year. (I thought I had two)! Heck, I only have like 200 cases...

[EdinCT]

I always had better luck with .377-378. I would also recommend you powder coat a few bullets to try. It adds 1-3 thousandths of an inch and stopped leading. I can recommend NOE 235 flat points also, they actually shot almost as well as Hornady 220's.