Slugged my 38-55 barrel

[Rube Burrows]

Ok, I slugged my 38-55 barrel and this is the first barrel I have slugged.

Its kind of hard to get a measurement but it looks like im getting around .374 and .375. Maybe im not measuring right...kind of hard to get both sides on a high part.

Does that sound right?

Its a Numrich barrel.

[BenT]

Mine slugged at .375 . Bullets sized at 377 shoot great.

[win92]

Mine is a 26 inch barreled winchester and slugs at .378, from what I`ve read there is a lot of variation with 38-55`s

[Rube Burrows]

I have heard lots of different barrel sizes and so I was just curious. I dont have the barrel on the gun yet but looking to get myself set up in the reloading part of things also.

[vancelw]

Mine is a 26 inch barreled winchester and slugs at .378, from what I`ve read there is a lot of variation with 38-55`s

What year production is your Winchester? I just acquired a Crazy Horse version (made in the early 80s?) and was wondering if I need to slug the barrel on it before ordering a sizing die.

[Rube Burrows]

Mine is a 26 inch barreled winchester and slugs at .378, from what I`ve read there is a lot of variation with 38-55`s

What year production is your Winchester? I just acquired a Crazy Horse version (made in the early 80s?) and was wondering if I need to slug the barrel on it before ordering a sizing die.

Well mine will be on a 1979 receiver and it has a numrich barrel. Its a project build. Not something I bought like that.

Its always a nice ideal to slug your barrel....esp on the 38-55 caliber.

[Irascible]

I have a Marlin 336 Cowboy that slugs at .378, A Browning 1885 at .375, a M94 SRC at .379 and a Ruger #1 at .3805. The M94 and the Ruger 1 are problems because they wont chamber rounds with the proper size cast bullets. I opened up the Ruger with a custom throating reamer, but I don't want to touch the M94. 38-55s can be a problem, but I still love them!

[457121]

Mine is a 26 inch barreled winchester and slugs at .378, from what I`ve read there is a lot of variation with 38-55`s

What year production is your Winchester? I just acquired a Crazy Horse version (made in the early 80s?) and was wondering if I need to slug the barrel on it before ordering a sizing die.

i have a Crazy Horse 38-55. yes you need slug your barrel and figure out if the throat will chamber the proper size before ordering a mould or sizer die. my Crazy Horse has a .380" groove diameter. a .381" bullet in Winchester brass wouldn't chanber without turning down the outside neck of the brass. the neck thickness on my brass was .010" and when turned down to .008" it chambered. Starline makes brass with a thinner neck thickness so you can avoid that problem if you have it. i have seen two other Crazy Horse rifle that had .375" and .378" groove diameters, so they do vary.

[kimwcook]

i have seen two other Crazy Horse rifle that had .375" and .378" groove diameters, so they do vary.

Well, that just sucks. You'd think they'd at least been a little repetitious.

[Irascible]

I tried to turn the necks on my brass. It is a little diffucult due to a straight taper case. I found you had to use a sizing die which left a straight case neck for bullet seating. Sizing in such a die will leave a straight section that can be turned.

[Nicknack]

I got the 26'' Cowboy octagon 38-55 from Numrich for the Winchester 94 and before I bought it I inquired what was the twist rate and the grove size. They said it was a 1 in 14 twist and a grove size of .377 and a bore of .370
I slugged the bore and the groves are .375 and 1 in 14 twist yee ha!
Note:- these barrels are not tapered and are .850" across the flats The barrel polisher was overzealous on mine and rounded off the corners of the octagon the barrel has all it's dovetail cuts and is chambered ready to screw on.

[457121]

i have seen two other Crazy Horse rifle that had .375" and .378" groove diameters, so they do vary.

Well, that just sucks. You'd think they'd at least been a little repetitious.

well, they made 19,999 of them. so you figure that the rifling tooling is not going to do all of them without wearing to some degree. i personally believe that the manufacturers of anything 38-55 are more apt to try to over use the tooling since the cartridge already has such a history of wild variation in dimentions.