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.38 Winchester under lever accuracy

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 11:40 pm
by Alpha1
New Club. Under lever dragged out of retirement. Its a Winchester trapper can I get it to shoot straight. NO.
Im sure I could get it to group standing at 25 yards a life time ago so whats happened.
How do you get yours to group am I doing some thing wrong.
No scopes please iron sights only.

Re: .38 Winchester under lever accuracy

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 11:53 pm
by Kungfugerbil
Eliminate one thing at a time. Shoot it off bags. Try different loads. Give it a damn good clean. Hand it to someone else and see if they group...

It will come :)

Re: .38 Winchester under lever accuracy

Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 7:08 am
by Sim G
Clean the barrel.

Re: .38 Winchester under lever accuracy

Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 7:36 am
by Daryll
Different loads would be my guess....

I accidentally bought some 158gn RNFP bullets last year instead of my usual 158gn TC, so i gave them a try... same gun, same load, only difference was the nose profile....

TC = 1 inch group of 5 shots... RNFP =3 inch group of 5 shots..!!

wtf

Re: .38 Winchester under lever accuracy

Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 3:28 pm
by Lever357
Daryll wrote:Different loads would be my guess....

I accidentally bought some 158gn RNFP bullets last year instead of my usual 158gn TC, so i gave them a try... same gun, same load, only difference was the nose profile....

TC = 1 inch group of 5 shots... RNFP =3 inch group of 5 shots..!!

wtf
Maybe that's where I'm going wrong - always used RNFPs!!!

Re: .38 Winchester under lever accuracy

Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2017 10:16 am
by Alpha1
It could be the ammo I fired it using PPU ammo I bought at the Club. They are semi wad cutters and it was OK. Reasonable scores were obtained.
I loaded some round nose flat point using unique and they are the ones shooting all over. I can not remember the last time I cleaned the rifle as it had little use up to now. So I am going to give it a good scrub and shoot it side by side with home loads and bought ammo. I have some molds as well I could try casting I suppose. The bought bullets are hardcast so that may have some thing to do with it could be to hard an alloy. I could melt them and add pure lead to soften the alloy I suppose.

I would like a better front sight as well if I could get some thing to fit like a fire sight may be. Any one know were I can get one for a Winchester.

Re: .38 Winchester under lever accuracy

Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2017 10:46 am
by FredB
This has been said countless times on this site: slug your bore. Your bullets should be groove diameter or up to two thou larger and relatively soft. Hard, undersized bullets will be inaccurate and will cause leading.
Fred

Re: .38 Winchester under lever accuracy

Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2017 11:50 am
by dodgyrog
I found the Lee 140gr SWC with 3.4gr of fast pistol powder works - 99 ex 100 two nights ago

Re: .38 Winchester under lever accuracy

Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2017 2:26 pm
by dodgyrog
Just a thought - I size my boolits to .358".
What size are yours and have you slugged the barrel?

Re: .38 Winchester under lever accuracy

Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:38 pm
by Alpha1
.3578 to .3581 These are the bought GM hardcast. I have not had the opportunity to cast any yet.
I will probably start a new thread in the reloading forum unless this one is moved its turning into a re loading thread.