I got me a "new" .38-55 barrel from Shooter 72. It came in Saturday, but I don't have anything that will fit it. Not a bullet, piece of brass or loading dies. It's a very interesting barrel, since it's been cut down to 22" and doesn't have any sights, so I'm in the process of figuring out how to put everything together.
I took the Hornet barrel off of the BC receiver and stocks I got recently from Haywire Haywood and installed the .38-55 there. The Hornet went to a synthetic stock with another SB2 receiver and the .223 barrel got stuck in a corner.
This is the way they ended up as seen in my "gun safe". The Hornet is next to the .38-55 and the .223 barrel is propped up against the .45-70.
It's been raining most of the day, so I decided to at least pretend I was doing something. I took 5.0 gr of Bullseye in .30-30 cases and put a little steel wool over the powder. Then I pretty well filled the case with hominy grits and topped it off with a paper wad over the grits. Stepped out the back door, pointed the gun skyward and quickly had newly formed .38-55 brass!
It sorta makes me wonder why .38-55 brass is $23/50 when .30-30 brass is $21/100, but takes more work to make.
I did find some .375 Win brass at Widener's for $14.50/50. It's a little thicker than .38-55 brass and 0.10" shorter, but it should do just fine, especially for the price difference.
I suppose it might look a little strange, but I think I'll mount a red dot on it, so I don't have to do anything about the non-existant front sight (there isn't even a dovetail for one).
Now I just need to find some bullets and . . .
