.38-55 head scratcher

[Abert Rim]

I recently came into a Marlin 336 rebarreled with a 28-inch Douglas .375 barrel with 1:14 twist and chambered to .38-55. I sized some Lee 379-250s RFs cast of range scrap and tumbled them in liquid Alox, then loaded them in Winchester brass, WLR primers, over 23.5 grains of 2400 and repaired to the range. Imagine my complete surprise at finding this on my 50-yard target. I am expecting some Sierra 200 grain .375 JSPs from Grafs and will load and shoot a sample of them, expecting accuracy. The crown of the muzzle looks to be perfect.

[Texas by God]

Yikes. That ain’t good.


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[ascast]

Great stopping power ! I had a '93 Marlin that did that years ago. It was the 330 grn Hudson bullet. I figured it was too long for the twist rate. It shot the smaller bullets OK. Are you sure there was no huge base deformation? And groove dia? I am not familiar with 2400 but it seems fast enough. Maybe try IMR 4198 SAY 18 GRN AND GO UP FROM THERE. opps Maybe 8 grns Unique and go up. Lets us know what you find

[15meter]

Had a guy show up at a military shoot once with a rifle that shot like that. Almost disqualified him for illegal line cutters.

He won the match.

Almost every shot was in the black, sideways.

Who woulda thunk that a rifle could shoot that well, sideways. Don't remember the caliber, could have been 7.5x55 Swiss.

[beltfed]

Slug the barrel. I may possibly be a (old spec) .378+ barrel
beltfed/arnie

[Abert Rim]

Thanks Arnie. Sorry for the double post.

[Abert Rim]

Grooves measure .375.

[725]

Just a thought; with that twist rate, I'd think the lighter bullet would do better. Those Sierra 200gr'er's would be my choice for the next testing at the range. Good luck.

[gnostic]

At first look I thought that was a three shot group. Was there any lead in the barrel?

[G W Wade]

Curious. What did the rest group look like.? GW

[Delkal]

2400 needs some pressure to burn completely. While your load sounds like plenty of powder (I didn't check) if you were getting variable ignition the sideways load could be from a case that didn't ignite completely and had too low of a velocity to stabilize. Like others have questioned was the rest of the groups OK? Did you notice a lot of unburnt powder or a difference in recoil?

I would try another powder. Maybe a pistol powder for light loads or an IMR powder for standard velocity. And if you have a chrony use it and check the velocity and ES.

[gunther]

Look at an older Lyman cast bullet manual, and choose a Red Dot load appropriate to cast bullet weight.

[Dan Cash]

Your problem is not the powder charge, it is bullet fit. As already noted, your .38-55 is a true .38-55 which will require a nominal .378 bullet. Many current rebore and rebarrel specialists ream out a barrel to .375 (Win) specs and call it a .38-55 which it is not. Slug your barrel and get a mould that gives measured diameter +.002 or so. My original .38-55 Marlin 1893 wants a .380 bullet. You will find joy.

[Texas by God]

That actually reminds me of that time I loaded my .377” 250 gr Lees in .410 shotgun shells as a “sabot slug”……


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[herian67]

Barrel clean and not leaded?

[Doog-Meister]

Slug the bore and check the booolit diameter. I have a NEF .38-55 that has a .379 bore. Have 2 moulds that drop boolits at .378 and .379 dia that go thru the target sideways. Went to the Lee 380681 mould dropping boolits at .381 to get it to stop doing what your pics show. Now shoots great, and round holes in the target.

[country gent]

Wondering if the bullet is stripping in the rifling? How does the bore look after shooting a few?

I shoot a 350 grain nasa bullet in my 38-55 at 1200 fps with great accuracy. Your 250 grn should be good as long as it fits the bore throat and is nt being push to hard to fast.

[Delkal]

There are 2 identical threads posted minutes apart with the same title in the leverguns forum. There are similar comments in the other one.

The threads should be combined.

[nvbirdman]

Will an unsized boolit loaded into a cartridge chamber? Try a few of those.

[Rockindaddy]

Abert: Send your address and I will send you some .382" cast boolits you can size to .002 over your groove diameter. My old 1893 Marlin 38-55 slugs .380". My .382" boolits shoot ragety 5shot holes at 50yds. Your 1 in 14" twist is spinning the boolit fast enough. You should be able to shoot 300 grainers with no trouble. Best regards.