I recently purchased a Lyman part#375449 for use in my Marlin 336CB 38-55. When lubing the cast bullet, I need to know how many grooves to lube, 3 or 4? I have been using the top groove to crimp the case into. They are slightly longer than factory ammo, but they feed thru the rifle fine. If you lube all 4 grooves, where do you crimp the case to the bullet? Thanks for any help.
38-55 bullet lubing/seating depths
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Lube all grooves that are contained in the case. I'm glad to hear that you're seating the bullets out past the crimp groove, as you'll have better accuracy with the long throats those rifles have. Anything below that crimp point go-ahead and lube, depending upon lube quality, you might not need more than two grooves filled to acheive great accuracy and freedom from leading, but to be sure, go ahead and lube all below your crimp point.
Hope this helps.
God Bless,
Hope this helps.
God Bless,
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9,603 Posts
Use the same bullet in a Win. 94 38/55. I don't size them, but pan lube them (had to work the mold over to .380" and don't want to reduce them). Seat to crimp into that top lube goove so long as the OAL works in your rifle.
Couple of things to notice. Old 38/55 cases are a tad longer than modern 38/55 cases...if you run into some of the older cases, your OAL may be too long (and not all that old...cases from the 1960's and 1970's). Why they became shorter I do not know.
Other thing to try is a casrd wad under the bullet. NO AIR SPACE, the card wad should be right against the bullet's base. 3/8" is a common enough wad punch at a large hardware store or on-line distributer. A thin wad acts like a base guard for a plain based bullet and may help...this thin (about the thickness of the cardboard used on primer trays), no load adjustment is needed.
ALso sell treated felt wads for .36cal cap-and-ball revovlers (which are actually .375-380"). these are thick enough to require load adjustments but can help accuracy in lighter loads (or BP loads).
Couple of things to notice. Old 38/55 cases are a tad longer than modern 38/55 cases...if you run into some of the older cases, your OAL may be too long (and not all that old...cases from the 1960's and 1970's). Why they became shorter I do not know.
Other thing to try is a casrd wad under the bullet. NO AIR SPACE, the card wad should be right against the bullet's base. 3/8" is a common enough wad punch at a large hardware store or on-line distributer. A thin wad acts like a base guard for a plain based bullet and may help...this thin (about the thickness of the cardboard used on primer trays), no load adjustment is needed.
ALso sell treated felt wads for .36cal cap-and-ball revovlers (which are actually .375-380"). these are thick enough to require load adjustments but can help accuracy in lighter loads (or BP loads).
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Let us know what loads you've settled on...guess there are more 38-55 fans than just you and I.
Would slug that barrel...even the modern made rifles tend toward larger diameters in 38-55. Wouldn't be too surprised to find a .378" bore. May be worth it to just finger-lube a half dozen rounds and test them at as-dropped diameter.
Would slug that barrel...even the modern made rifles tend toward larger diameters in 38-55. Wouldn't be too surprised to find a .378" bore. May be worth it to just finger-lube a half dozen rounds and test them at as-dropped diameter.
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