Well, I finally got some rounds loaded and some time to get off to the range this weekend with my newly purchased Buffalo Classic. The weather was pretty lousy so I only had a little quality time with the 38-55 barrel before the weather got really bad (too cold and VERY windy). The rifle is a used Wesson and Harrington BC with both a 38-55 and 45-70 barrel. I have done nothing to the 38-55 barrel with the exception of slugging it, which has shown to be .3795 in diameter. I purchased some .379 diameter bullets for fear that any larger of a bullet diameter might not chamber when loaded into a cartridge as so many owners of older BC's have reported. Plus, I had hoped that the bullets might obturate to the right diameter when fired since the grooves of the barrel are quite shallow. Fortunately, all loaded rounds chambered without any hang-ups.
Although I have loaded several other calibers over the course of the past 20 or so years, I have never loaded, or for that matter ever fired a 38-55 round. Nonetheless, here is a synopsis of my time at the range:
After zeroing the rifle at 50 yards with my first six shots, I changed to the largest eyecup (smallest aperature) on the marbles tang sight and fired the next four shots on a fresh target. When I stopped and checked the target I was, needless to say, quite amazed. I guess the attached photo tells the story.
The above load used is a 265 grain FNGC bullet from Western Bullet Company over 26.0 grains of IMR 3031 and the group size is 1 1/8".
I tested several loads consisting of half grain increments of 3031 up to 27.5 grains as well as 8.7 grains of Unique and 18.5 to 19.5 grains of IMR 4198. All of the listed loads gave ten shot groups of 2 inches and some slightly less.
I did not cronograph any of these loads but judging by the time span of report to the sound of impact, I approximate that the IMR loads were traveling at roughly 1,200 to possibly 1,300 fps. There were several other people at the range sighting in slugs from their shotguns and the time delay from report to impact with the slug loads seemed to be approximately the same as my loads. The Unique load was definitely traveling at significantly less velocity. The delay from report to impact was very long, more like a .45 ACP round at 50 yards (900 fps or so).
I did fire quite a few different loads from the 45-70 but did not have such good luck. Between the heavy wind, some possible reloading issues (lots of hang-fires) and the shooter being beaten up by firing all too many 420 and 500 grain bullets, I just couldn't keep things on target. I'll have to work on my loads and pick a better day for my next trip out and hopefully I'll have better luck on the 45-70. For now however, I'm fairly satisfied with the 38-55. Next time out I'll try it out at 100 yards if my eyesight doesn't fail me.
