New to me Target Classic 38-55

[Noah Zark]

A semi-local fun shop had this in the rack, and seeing that the 38-55 is one of my favorite cartridges it seemed appropriate to do the paperwork. 

As background,  I have two Marlin 336CB rifles in that chambering; one wears the factory-length octagonal barrel, and the other had its barrel cut to 16.5" by a former owner.  Both of these Marlins have groove diameters in the .379-.3795 range, and shoot the best with .380 GC bullets, which I purchase from Moyers in central PA.  The Marlins suffer from the same undersize chamber malady as many have reported with 38-55 Handi.  My solution was to purchase the short 38-55 cases from Starline which have thinner walls than Winchester brass, and the Moyer .380 GC in the Starline brass chambers beautifully without any interference or extra force to chamber.  I get superb case life since I "mouth size" only. 

Back to the Target Classic:  Once home I slugged the bore about 2" in from each end and measured the groove diameter -  .3795" for both slugs.  So I took some of my Moyer/Starline loads using 11 gr of Unique and ran the Target Classic.  At 100 yds off the bench with the Williams Guide rear and Lyman 17 globe front, I was rewarded with a three-shot near-cloverleaf group about 1" in diameter.  Twice.  Thus satisfied that I have something with potential that I can work with, I returned home and cleaned it and hung it up for better weather. 

I may have overpaid at $400 OTD, but as most here know these Target Classics are out of production and their foibles are fairly well known and understood.  Mine appears to have fewer foibles than some, but I can wait for Spring to confirm it.

Photos follow; L & R views of the Target Classic, one with its sibling Buffalo Classic 45-70, and a photo of the two Marlin 336CBs in 38-55.

Noah

[gcrank1]

Nice bunch!
Good that you have worked out the chamber issue, it has thrown a bunch of guys. Mine (have had 3 H&R TM's) has seen mostly cast, and softer end of the alloy works best for me, as does a 100% load density of Traill Boss for fun shootin'. The jacketed 235SP (bumped bullets) at .375 Win. makes a formidable caliber (like about an 80% of a 375H&H?).
Your cast results have pretty much duplicated mine and shown again that the 'freebore' approach with shorter Starline isnt really an issue, though the chamber neck reamer from 4D is so easy on these.
You may want to try breech seating a soft, full throat dia. bullet right up to the rifling (a muzzle loader type 'short starter' works great for this) and a case just short enough to sit up behind the bullet base. It works best if you have a card or thin wax 'cap' over the mouth (NOT down on the powder!) to keep the powder in the case.
Oh, and yes, $400 for a good clean one is not outrageous any more around here (SC WI) , they are rarely seen for sale.

[Noah Zark]

GC1:

Thank you for the comments and the suggestion regarding seating the bullet out to just before the rifling.  I do that practice on some of my bolt guns, and when the weather breaks (2F overnight) I expect to work up a load for the TC which does that.  The Moyer .380 diameter 265 gr CG has plenty of length to adjust seating depth to close to the leade.

I lucked out in that the chamber of the Handi TC and my Marlins are nearly identical, and the bore diameter are identical.  The test loads I tried in the TC are standard "plinking" loads for the Marlins and they chambered and ejected perfectly in the TC.  The bullets are seated such that the mouth is s-l-i-g-h-t-l-y crimped into the crimp groove because they have to cycle through a levergun magazine and feed system, but I have enough Starline cases to set aside Handi TC-only loads. 

When I got my first Marlin 336CB in 38-55 and found that it had a tight chamber and a .3795 bore diameter and that Winchester cases would not chamber when stuffed with a Moyer .380 diameter bullet, I kept an OAL dummy made with those components to use for a "Go-No Go" gauge of sorts for any future 38-55s purchased.  It came in handy when I found the 16.5" Marlin, and this Handi TC -- the Winchester-cased dummy with the .380 would not chamber without force in either of those two rifles, and I immediately tried a Starline / .380 dummy which dropped in the Marlin and TC chambers by gravity. 

It pays to lug a messinger bag around in the car, loaded with headspace gauges, cartridge dummies, and M1 Rifle gauges . . . you never know what you'll come across that you can't live without.

Thanks again,

Noah