Uberti 38-55

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  • Last Post 27 July 2024
4060may posted this 15 July 2024

Reply to Aaron

my friend bought a Cimmeron 1885 Hiwall DST, 38-55,  about 2009 IIRC, He could not stay on a 10" square at 100yds, he bought this gun to shoot the local Silhouette matches, using a bore scope and taking a picture, the barrel was reamed with what looked like a tap, after considerable discussion with Cimmeron, he sent the rifle back and a gunsmith in Texas installed the new barrel, took 4 months IIRC, I can't ask him , he passed last Thursday, when he got it back he give me the rifle to work up a load for him,

he had two 8# jugs of 4895 pulldown, he insisted I try, the new barrel was not as large as the original, slugged .378-79, using Lyman .378674, cast from bank scrap about 12 BHN, I don't remember the charge weight, so I won't guess, it was reasonably stiff with the Lyman bullet at 335 or so grains, I kept adding a grain at a time until the rifle would group at 100yds, with Iron sights, Hoke rear, Pedersoli front, this rifle shot well enough for Sil. , it was definitely not a target rifle per se,

he also bought another stock for the rifle and cut that silly hooked butt plate off and put a recoil pad on it. no more blood clots in the shoulder

I never tried the 38361, not sure why, I have the mold, I tried SR4759, it works ok, but unobtanium now,

He had a bad heart attack, 2015 and quit shooting Sil. with us, he had all the information in his book, but like I said he passed, 7-11-24,  and I'm writing this so I don't forget

Chuck

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Aaron posted this 15 July 2024

Chuck,

Buffalo Rifle from Shooters World works exceptionally well with cast bullets in my Cimarron Arms (Uberti) 38-55 High Wall rifle. I mostly shoot the Lee 379250 with 24gr of Buff Rfl. I have shot the Hunters Supply 250gr bullet and the NOE 379235 bullets. Accuracy was fine for hunting but really not competition grade.

Then I went to a paper patch bullet and Black Powder. OMG what a difference. I patch the Buffalo Arms PPB365300 slick up to bore diameter and launch it with 55gr (compressed) of Graf FFG. My groups halved!

I am sure that with Swiss powder, I can get even tighter groups, or with varying the charge weight too. What a difference the Paper Patch made on a slick. Of course the slicks are pure lead and they bump up when hit in the rear end with a BP charge.

 

 

With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.

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4060may posted this 15 July 2024

Aaron

Try shooting the CBA match #22, I usually shoot a Hepburn 38-50 PP, KIK or Olde E, 1 1/2, mold was made by my friend, going to try DDPP as soon as I get up enough nerve to open the base of the mold up, this year I am shooting my CPA in 38-50, GG, mold is a copy of Dan T. mold, somewhat...some health stuff is making it hard to keep up

not much for smokeless in the 38-50, in the 40-60 I shoot mostly SR4759, still have 10#, when not using BP

picture of one of the targets a few years ago, only one I kept

 

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Aaron posted this 15 July 2024

I am using the Buffalo Arms #9 Onion Skin paper at .0018". The math says by bullets should be at .3722 when wrapped, but they come out at .3711". I don't think the rifle minds the peach fuzz difference.  I, like you, realize the value of BP in the 38-55 (38-50). They just love that propellant. The lever actions could care less and They digest Buffalo Rifle just fine. Like I said, hunting accuracy below 150 yards.

That's some good shooting on that target above. NICE rifle too!

With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.

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Tom Acheson posted this 15 July 2024

Chuck,

I started that Postal in 2013 (I think). 

That is a very nice looking target.....great shooting....8 out of 10!

Although my shooting suffers, I still enjoy doing it. Every year I've used my Model 74 Sharps with black powder, chambered in 40 cal 2 1/2 (40-70 Sharps Straight).

I do have a Rem Rolling Block in 38-55 but so far have not used it in this Postal.

Tom

 

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4060may posted this 15 July 2024

Tom

I am shooting this year just to say I did, May, June, didn't do good, but not bad for Iron Sights, getting hard to see, working on my 82nd time around the sun

Chuck

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Scota4570 posted this 15 July 2024

I lusted after a 38-55 M-1894 rifle, in concept, for years.  After researching I found that the SAAMI specs doom the 38-55.  The groove diameters are specified to be 0.379".  Most old rifle are larger.  Bullets are specified to be 0.377".  Undersized bullets are hard to make shoot.  IF you try to use and oversized bullet then the cartridge will not chamber.  

I guess with black powder and soft bullets can work  OK.   I do not want to be limited to black powder, especially in a 1894 Winchester.  I am glad I never went down the 38-55 rabbit hole.

I did get a 32-40 High wall and ran into the same problem.  

https://saami.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ANSI-SAAMI-Z299.4-CFR-Approved-2015-12-14-Posting-Copy.pdf

Page 137

 

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Aaron posted this 15 July 2024

I guess with black powder and soft bullets can work  OK.   I do not want to be limited to black powder, especially in a 1894 Winchester.  I am glad I never went down the 38-55 rabbit hole.

If you still have the desire to get a '94, don't let the "specs" refrain you. Starline makes 2.125" 38-55 brass with thinner mouths at .0072" which allow the seating and chambering of .380" cast bullets. I do it all the time in the Uberti M94 rifles. I cast to .381 and size to either .380 or .379 depending on the bullet being used.

Commercial ammunition sporting its .375" bullets is, as you can surmise, undersized to fire in a rifle with a .379 groove diameter. Jacketed bullets simply wobble down the bore. Unless the rifle is made with a .375 groove diameter, these bullets won't work well. My T/C Contender in 38-55 has a .375 groove and I simply feed it .375 bullets. It works well and will shoot the larger cast bullets just fine IF loaded in the shorter Starline cases. The longer cases position the big fat bullet too far forward in the tighter chamber. Barrel blanks used for the T/C have 375 groove diameters.

If you cast bullets and purchase the 2.125" Starline brass, you can make the M94 rifles with .379 barrels dial right in. Most owners of these rifles shoot commercial ammo and get very disappointed with the results. That seems to be where the disconnect is and frustrates the user community who then posts all kind of nonsense online. Fitting the bullet to the chamber/bore, with thinner mouthed brass, will fix this issue with modern rifles sporting older dimensions. I applaud Uberti for making the rifles with the older 19th century dimensions.

My 94's and High-Walls thusly fed with Starline brass and .380" bullets work with either BP or smokeless. They do love their Buffalo Rifle powder.

 

With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.

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SkinnerD posted this 16 July 2024

Good to see a 38-55 thread at the top

I'm looking forward to casting for my new Uberti 1884 Hi-Wall Sporter this coming summer (your Northern folks winter). I've done some 50m load development withe the factory iron sights. Currently waiting on a response from Buffalo to confirm which Marbles sights to order..its a long way for them to come only to find I got it wrong.

From my perusal of their website I think I need: Rear - sight base Part #991001, screw set Part #995033, upright selection = Short.

Not sure what globe sight to order for the front to combine with Marble rear, or whether I should get a second length rear post at the same time given shipping costs down thisaway are so expensive.

Any input welcome.

For a report on my load dev and 38-55 adventures thus far look here: https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co.nz/f15/uberti-38-55-1885-high-wall-sporter-first-impressions-photo-heavy-102729/

John - New Zealand

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Aaron posted this 23 July 2024

John, sorry for the late reply to your post. I strongly suggest getting the posts you think you will need all at once. I ordered all but the 1000 yard post because frankly, I won't be shooting that far. I have two 1885 Uberti rifles and they have different front screw holes on the rear sight. Was one rifle tapped by a smith or did hole sizes change? The replacement screw I ordered for the rear sight front hole seems to fit neither.

The screw sizes confuse me and I am simply hesitant to order another rear sight since the supplied screws may not fit. I need a good set of tap to determine what pitch and size screw to use in each one of those holes. I can't believe Uberti produced a rifle with two differing rear sight front holes.

Uberti will simply not respond to any request from me to clarify what the hole size and thread pitch is of those holes. That is exceptionally frustrating.

Anyway, I hope you get your sights in soon. Oh yea, I use a standard globe on the front with replaceable inserts. You can insert the proper ring up front to match target size, distance, and brightness of the day.

 

 

With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.

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4060may posted this 23 July 2024

John

this is where we obtained all the parts needed for my Uberti LowWall 22lr, and my friends 38-55

https://www.vtigunparts.com/store/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=45&cat=Uberti+1885+High+Wall+Rifle

Thee front sight we both used was a Pedersoli, https://shop.davide-pedersoli.com/en/front-sights-inserts-set/1050-tunnel-sight-for-muzzle-loading-guns-with-12-inserts-set.html

screw set and tang sight

https://www.brownells.com/search/?page=1&search=tang+sight

I am not if they are available for NZ, worth a try

If you have the money, Ii would suggest an MVA Soule sight instead of the Marbles, if you are going to target shoot, if not the Marbles is OK, but difficult to use if going from one distance to another

Brownells has the screw sets made for Uberti, VTI has the longer screw for a rear sight

HTH

Chuck

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SkinnerD posted this 27 July 2024

Thanks for the info guys. 

 

Pedersoli sights are available in NZ from the agent I bought the rifle from but what he has not only have no windage adjustment, which is hopeless, but also run to near $1000. A budget of $500-600USD is roughly the same. so might as well get the best I can. clearly a Soule sight would bust that unfortunately. Fortunately I'm very unlikely to be doing serious target shooting of a competitive nature. There just is not the interest in it here anywhere I know of on a regular (say monthly) basis. Most of my range shooting will be solo or with a buddy out to less than 500yrds. Otherwise I intend to do a bit of hunting with it, mostly feral goats, possibly hogs and deer. ranges out to 200yrds max, with the vast majority of shots 100 or less.

So having had a look around the main restrictions I face are a supplier having stock and being willing to ship, at a reasonable cost, to NZ. Buffalo Arms have the traditional Marbles Tang sight in stock for $127 and change. They have the Marbles Improved Tang Sight which is modular with 4 Post options but two of those, the 0-200yrds and the midrange 450-750 yrds are out of stock. The total cost of the Improved T Sight with all four posts is $266USD. So Im thinking the traditional Tang sight will do most of what I'm after. Both require a $8 screw set and I guess I have to trust that what they state is for the Uberti will actually fit.

For the front sight I'm looking at the Shaver New Style 17A.  $98USD. Can anyone confirm the .375in dovetail is correct for the Uberti?

 

cheers

 

John - New Zealand

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