Old winchester lever action ammo, help.

Nevada Ed

Nevada Ed

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Just received an old rifle that has been in the family for a long time. My sister could not find the box of ammo that I sent years ago, or the spent cases, before shipping it to me.

Does anyone know of a ammo dealer that sells a box of........
375 Win. 200 or 220gr for under $49.00 or is not out of stock ?

It was $28.00 the last time I bought ammo...... things sure have changed.
 
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Ed, is it a 375 Winchester or an old 38/55? The cases are pretty much the same but there's a helluva difference in how the two cartridges are loaded.
 
The proper round will be marked on the barrel , you need to order the right ammo, they won't exchange it .
38-55 is an old round , it predates 30-30 , dates to 1880's and was a black powder low pressure round.
The 375 Winchester came out in 1978 , smokeless powder and much higher pressure .
Even if the 375 fits in a 38-55 chamber, I would not fire it !
Gary
 
"Old" and "long time" are relative. The correct caliber should be marked on the barrel. I have a Marlin .38-55 that's my most accurate lever gun if loaded with heavy lead bullets and a moderate charge. I assume that both .38-55 and .375 ammunition will be difficult to find at any price.
 
Sorry for the poor picture but my vision is still off and
none of my pictures turned out in focus.
I will post a picture of this rifle soon, though.

The old Wells Fargo BP turned out ok on the "Other Brand" area
that I posted the other day.

Here is what I have right now.........
Thanks for putting up with the picture.

68by15.jpg
 
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Obviously your 94 is chambered in .375 Win. The .375 is considered as being (at least) obsolescent, but is still available from internet sources. The problem is that not very many .375 rifles were sold during the relatively short time it was on the market, and few retail outlets will stock the ammunition as it is a very slow mover. Unless you are lucky and happen to come across some at a garage sale, etc., cheap, you should probably expect to pay about $50/box. There is nothing at all wrong with the rifle or the cartridge other than it never caught fire with the hunting public.
 
.375 Winchester, another unneeded re invention of the wheel. Not a bad round, just not popular. If you want to shoot it much, start hand loading.
 
If you check the auction sites, you'll see that .375 Winchester ammo actually brings $100-$135 per box. It's hasn't been produced in a long time and I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for another run. $50 is a good price and you should snap up any you can find.

Buffalo Bore produces a "Heavy" .38-55 load that's safe to shoot in your .375 Winchester Big Bore carbine. It operates at lower pressure than the original .375 Win ammo, but produces the same velocity. It's about $65 for a box of 20, but it's good stuff and it's available. Check out the Buffalo Bore website and you'll find a lot of information about it.

FYI - The Winchester Big Bore carbines have become collectible and bring $750 - $1000 in high condition. Nice gun!
 
At least the .375 is listed "out of stock" and "limited production" from most suppliers. Maybe there's some small hope. For my .356 it is listed as "discontinued" everywhere. Luckily I have a pretty good supply of brass which is also discontinued. The Winchester Big Bores were I think good ideas just never took off.

Good luck in your search. The Buffalo Bore route may be a good way to go.

Dan
 
Recall when this round came out. Darn shame when the round does not catch on and folks are stuck with an expensive rifle that is often tough or impossible to find rounds for.
 
I wouldn't call the .375 exactly slow given you can run it up to around 2200 to 2300fps. Several places make projectiles for it. The problem is the brass. Rumors continually abound that starline is going to make a run of it this year. I have found it on the net. The .375 casing is designed for 50kpsi, the 38.55 is more in the 35k range. Thus you can fire a 38.55 in the 375, but shouldnt the reverse. Although ken watters in pet loads stated in probably wouldn't blow the gun, i wouldn't do it. Starline sells two length's 38.55brass, you can the shorter one and trim it to work in the .375, loaded to 38.55 pressures. I have found four or five boxes of .375 winchester ammo in various places but i paid about 50bucks a box for it, which i was happy to do just for the brass. I cast out of a lyman mould a 250grain lead bullet, and it works like a charm in a marlin version .375. if you go to the marlin owners forum, there is a dedicated thread to .375 with a lot of information on it.
 
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Just as,a side note, from what I'm told the .375 in a levergun kicks like a mule. Loading the 38-55 heavy is probably a better choice anyway. You will probably enjoy shooting it more.

Still, I would be great if your sister could find that original ammo or brass so that you have it.

As I'm writing I was also looking on the net and actually found .375 Win brass in stock, look here...
375 Winchester Brass for Reloading (50)
 
Interesting that those .375 cases are stated to have been formed from .30-30 brass. Opinions on doing that stated here in the past have been that .30-30 brass is not strong enough for .375 use. I never went along with that. As the case is fully supported in the rifle chamber, I cannot believe that .30-30 brass is "too weak." If I had a .375 Win rifle, I'd have absolutely no hesitation about .375 case forming starting with .30-30 brass. I don't know if the .38-55 case is of any different basic construction from the .30-30, but I suspect that it is exactly the same in head dimensions and material. If so, I cannot understand why .38-55 brass would be unsafe for loading .375 either.
 
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I agree w/DWalt

The 375Win is shorter than the 38-55.
The 375Win is shorter than the 30-30.
30-30 brass is plentiful.
The 30-30 is a perfect parent case for the 375Win

Expanding 30-30 to 375Win should leave you with an acceptable length case if not one that will need but a couple .000" trimmed from it.


So what if it doesn't say '.375 Winchester' on the case head..

Find a set of FL dies in 375Win and make all the brass you'll ever need for that rifle.

....Or sell the rifle if they've become collectible$$ and you don't want to bother with the ammo situation.
Buy something else more ammo friendly.
 
I own a .38-55 Lever Rifle and the ammo is not readily available now or when I purchased it. I got together with a bunch of Cowboy Action Shooters years back and we contacted Starline to see if they would produce a run. They eventually did and we all purchased enough that we will always have a good supply to reload.

What I am saying is maybe if enough .375 owners contacted Starline, Winchester, etc. they would consider doing a run of Brass - even if they won't actually do loaded ammo. It's worth a call. I have no idea how many would have to be ordered to get them to do so, but you will never know unless you ask.
 
Just did a quick search and found this:

375 Winchester Brass for Reloading (50)

Not cheap - but it is available. There is also some available as loaded ammo on GB and other auction sites. I also read on another site that Winchester does do runs of this ammo on occasion. I'd give them a call and ask when. If you plan on shooting this rifle I would definitely set up for reloading of this caliber - I am a firm believer in getting what you need to be self sustaining while you can.
 
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