I've been wrestling with the decision as to what rifle to deer hunt with this year. The season is coming up in mid-November, so it was time to make a decision. I've decided to use my original Winchester Model 1895 chambered for the early 38-72 cartridge. This rifle was received in the warehouse August 8, 1904 and shipped June 3, 1905, and has a tapered octagon barrel.
For tradition's sake, I wanted to use the original cast bullet, a bunch of which I cast from an original Winchester 38-72 mould. I have never been able to get that bullet to stabilize ..... it always wobbles slightly, giving so-so groups at 100 yards. I figured I'd give it one more try using cotton filler to see if that helped at all. After 10 rounds, I decided that the original bullet is not going to do it, no matter what I do.
Fortunately, I had ordered a custom mould from Accurate Moulds that drops a 264 grain, gas check bullet that I can use in both my 38-72 and 38-55. The load was 24 grains of 5744 for a velocity of 1,492 fps with the 265 grain bullet. I only had time for five quick shots and no time to cool the barrel between shots. Up went the target at 100 yards. The five rounds gave a group of 1 & 7/8" at 100 yards, using my shooting bag as a rest and using the original open iron sights. Good enough for deer hunting this fall. For the next few weeks I'm going to practice with this rifle offhand, but first I'm going to adjust the windage a bit. Right now, it shoots about 2" to the left at 100 yards.
Here's a photo of the rifle .....
and here's another one showing more of it, including that gorgeous crescent butt ....
Here's a photo of the mould and the GC bullet. To the left is the original bullet that I have given up trying to stabilize (faster, slower, still wobbles) dropped by the original Winchester mould ....
Finally, here's a photo of the five shot group at 100 yards .....
Kirk I got faith in ya 
