Author Topic: 38-55 in a Mod. 375. (Read 2076 times)

Singing Bear · « **on:** January 06, 2005, 04:40:04 PM »

Can or cannot? I come upon 12 boxes of factory loaded Winchester 38-55 ammo and was wondering. I know the 38-55 is a bit longer, but they seem to fit fine in the 375 chamber. Any help from you Marlin gurus will be much appreciated. :-)

big medicine · « **Reply #1 on:** January 06, 2005, 05:08:56 PM »

If it is Winchester factory ammo they use a .377 dia bullet in the 38/55. The .375 ammo should have a .375 dia bullet. I dont know if I would chance it.

Lone Star · « **Reply #2 on:** January 07, 2005, 04:02:06 AM »

"Seeming to fit" and being safe are two different things. The .38-55 case is longer than the .375 and it's bullet is larger in diameter; both raise chamber pressures. Will they raise the pressure too high for the .375's action? Don't know, probably not considering the very low pressures factory ammo is loaded to, but I would not try it. :eek:

Graybeard · « **Reply #3 on:** January 07, 2005, 05:37:59 AM »

The real concern here must be the longer case. The chamber is cut out only for the shorter .375 Win case and thus if you force a .38-55 into chamber it will go passed the end of chamber. This will create a real pinched area and make it difficult for the case to release the bullet. How much will it raise the pressure? I dunno. Personally I'd not try to find out either.

mr.frosty · « **Reply #4 on:** January 07, 2005, 10:44:39 AM »

sounds like an accident waiting to happe

Singing Bear · « **Reply #5 on:** January 07, 2005, 01:16:28 PM »

Well, that's why I asked. :wink: Thanks guys. I'll just wait till I rebarrel this rifle for 38-55. :-) Factory 375 ammo is impossible to find, here, and even mail order reloading components are expensive. Besides, 375 isn't legal for CAS long range matches.

445supermag · « **Reply #6 on:** January 07, 2005, 11:37:41 PM »

The 38/55 brass of today is not the same . The 38/55 was 2.13 and the stuff made is 2.o3 its a lot shorter than the origenol.
Just trim youe brass back to 375 lenth or mike the case lenth of 38/55 and 375. I would bet that they are the same lenth.
My guess is that with all the old guns made in 38/55 and the veryations in chamber and the type of steel used a easy way to keep the presures down is to shorten the case a 1/10 so the bullit has a good jump to the rifling. Same a weatherby. The 375 wenchester is listed as shorter than the 38/55 so a larger jump. Also most 38/55 barrels are not 375 dia but larger. Most jackets bullits are 375 so barrels that are larger will keep presures down.
If it were me i would mike the lenth of the 375 case and the 38/55 case not the case and bullit. If they are the same shoot the 38/55 in the 375. I would bet the chambers are the same with a different name. If you take a 38/55 case and cut it back to 2.00 and load it up to the old hivol load from years ago would not you get the 375 performance. Years ago win loaded the 38/55 in 2 loads, 38/55 marlin/ballard and the 38/55 win hi volicity for the lever actions and highwall. It was droped because people were putting them into week single shot rifles and blowing them up. Now can the 375 win be the hi vol in a nother name.

Lone Star · « **Reply #7 on:** January 08, 2005, 03:00:02 PM »

It's wild speculation like in the post above that gets people into trouble.
- First, measuring brass is useless by itself - measure the length of the chamber and the brass to be used in it, don't "guess".
- Second, brand new unfired .38-55 W-W brass on my bench measures 2.081" in length average for ten cases; new .375 brass is 2.014" long. One woud think that the chamber for the .375 is cut shorter than a .38-55 chamber, but only a chamber cast will tell for certain.
- Third, the original question was if it was safe to fire .38-55 ammo in a .375 barrel - .38-55 ammo is loaded with .377/.378" bullets and they will create more pressure in a tight .375" barrel than in the correct diameter barrel.
- Forth, the shape of the .38-55 bullet may place it closer to the lands than a .375 bullet, again raising pressures.

I do not know if the practice is safe or not, but I'd not do it, nor would I recommend anyone else to do it. It is best to read all posts carefully before following them - mine included.

ratgunner · « **Reply #8 on:** January 09, 2005, 07:08:49 AM »

:shock: DO NOT TRY to shoot 38-55 in a 375 or vise versa.In Sam Fadalas book THE HUNTING RIFLE he clearly states the two are NOT interchangable,though in some rifles you can chamber the wrong round. :eek:

handirifle · « **Reply #9 on:** January 11, 2005, 06:00:19 PM »

I agree with the above posts. Although I use 38-55 brass in my 375, it is loaded with .375 bullets to a length that matches MY guns chamber. I would not fire factory 38-55 ammo in my 375 Win even though the 38-55 is loaded to about half the 375's pressure.

If the bullet is too tight to get down the barrel, that pressure WILL go somewhere.

Now, if you want to load 375 cast bullets in the 38-55 brass and you've measured like mentioned above, it should cause no problems. Then you should be legal. make sure that the 375 Win IS legal BEFORE you go to all this work though.

Singing bear, you might want to look at getting brass in bulk for the 375. Sierra makes a good 200gr jacketed bullet that is pretty low priced for a jacketed. Barnes makes a 255gr but it is pricey and hard to find. Hornady makes a 220gr jacketed just a bit more than the Sierra.

I make my own fron bullets meant for the 375 H&H and the like. I take certain spire pointed bullets, ones with a canelure, and cut them to flat point bullets with a cutoff saw from Harbor freight.

My 250gr bullets comes from the Hornady 270gr spire point, Interlokt. They are about $15 per 50 as opposed to $23 for the barnes bullets.