factory .38-55 ammo

rockquarry · Dec 1, 2022

I was given some old .38-55 factory ammo loaded with jacketed soft point bullets; all appears to be in good shape. I'm not an ammo collector and intend to shoot it. Anyone know how long it has been since the REM-UMC and WRA headstamps have been used?

DWalt · Dec 1, 2022

They both changed roughly around 1960, to R-P and W-W. But not all at once. When the earlier headstamp bunters wore out and needed to be changed, new headstamp bunters were used. And that was a caliber-specific change. Very common calibers changed bunters quickly, slower-selling calibers took longer. So the conversion was spread out over several years.

If you do not reload, there are probably some here who would like to have the fired cases.

rockquarry · Dec 2, 2022

DWalt said:
They both changed roughly around 1960, to R-P and W-W. But not all at once. When the earlier headstamp bunters wore out and needed to be changed, new headstamp bunters were used. And that was a caliber-specific change. Very common calibers changed bunters quickly, slower-selling calibers took longer. So the conversion was spread out over several years.

If you do not reload, there are probably some here who would like to have the fired cases.

Thank you for the information.

I bought a Winchester (Miroku) reproduction 1885 high wall Traditional Hunter .38-55 when they first came out about twenty-five years ago and have fired only cast bullet loads in it. These "new" rounds will be the first factory ammo (and only jacketed bullets) I will have fired in this rifle.

An old GUN DIGEST (1952) shows ballistics of both Remington and Winchester .38-55 ammo to be pretty modest with a 255 gr. jacketed bullet at 1320 fps, only slightly slower than my favorite mild cast bullet handload with a 280 gr. bullet. I'm curious how the factory cartridges will group at 100 yards in comparison with my handload.

DWalt · Dec 2, 2022

You may or may not be aware that .30-30 brass can be fire-formed to .38-55. The only downside is that the case length will be slightly shorter, which is not really much of a problem.

rockquarry · Dec 2, 2022

DWalt said:
You may or may not be aware that .30-30 brass can be fire-formed to .38-55. The only downside is that the case length will be slightly shorter, which is not really much of a problem.

I have plenty of Winchester .38-55 brass and cases seem to last almost forever with cast loads. I did use .30-30 brass in making .32-40 cases some years ago when .32-40 was impossible to find. Brass was a little short but worked fine. When .32-40 brass became available, I compared loads using the two different cases. There was absolutely no difference in velocity or accuracy, something that surprised me.

ArchAngelCD · Dec 3, 2022

So, let us know how well that ammo shoots when you get a chance. I'm sure you will be happy. Those.rounds might just make some good hunting ammo...

rockquarry · Dec 4, 2022

ArchAngelCD said:
So, let us know how well that ammo shoots when you get a chance. I'm sure you will be happy. Those.rounds might just make some good hunting ammo...

I'm looking for a good day weather-wise next week so I can do some shooting and chronographing. I'll report back...

rockquarry · Dec 7, 2022

ArchAngelCD said:
So, let us know how well that ammo shoots when you get a chance. I'm sure you will be happy. Those.rounds might just make some good hunting ammo...

I fired a few rounds of the old .38-55 REM-UMC and WRA factory ammo this morning. Both are loaded with a 255 gr. flat nose jacketed soft point. Chronographed muzzle velocities of the two were surprisingly close, around 1250 fps.

Three-shot groups aren't worth much, but I fired one with the Remington ammo and got a 100 yard group size of approximately 1.5" using the tang mounted aperture sight on my Winchester (Miroku) 1885 Traditional Hunter.
That's a little better than my cast bullet handloads will do.

factory .38-55 ammo

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