Swiss 38 cal. target rifle

[Colorado Kooler]

I recently bought a Swiss 38 cal. target rifle that has a 1 in 48 pitch barrel . I have a Lee .375 round ball mould that works fine for it . I know that Lee makes a .375 conical mould for 36 cal. revolvers . Would the 125 grain conical work in my rifle considering the twist rate ?

 

[Grenadier1758]

@Colorado Kooler, it's not the twist rate that you need to consider, it's the dimensions of the barrel. What is the land-to-land diameter? What is the groove depth? Does the rifle have a false muzzle? What is the diameter of the 0.375 conical bullet as cast from the mold. Probably it would require a sizing of the conical bullet and a paper patch to get best performance from that bullet.

The 0.375" diameter bullet when loaded with no patching would not seal the grooves. while the bullet could be shot from the rifle, the gas blow by would adversely affect accuracy. A lubricated paper patch to fill the grooves would improve the fit of the bullet to the barrel.

The Lee bullet is designed to have the diameter of the bullet sized to the barrel by shaving a ring of lead from the diameter upon loading. You don't get that in a rifle.

 

[rmark]

38 caliber with 1-48 twist suggests its intended for round ball shooting not bullets. However if you wanted to try shooting bullets I'd start with getting a close measure of bore diameter using pin gauges, ordering several around .380.

https://www.travers.com/product/vermont-gage-911138000-class-zz-pin-gage-58-503-800
If its truly .380, I'd look for a bore size grease groove bullet, maybe something similar to (maybe even shorter)

https://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=38-202E
Cast of soft lead, sized to .380, and loaded with a card wad under it to protect the bullet base.

As mentioned above, groove depth may be a problem, round ball guns generally have deeper grooves (say .008 - .10) while bullet guns have shallower (about .004 - .005). With deeper grooves the card wad combined with the upset of the fired bullet may not seal the bore.

 

[longcruise]

38 caliber with 1-48 twist suggests its intended for round ball shooting not bullets

My thoughts also. Let it be what it is.

 

[wiscoaster]

I recently bought a Swiss 38 cal. target rifle ...

Pic of the rifle, pleeeez?!?!?

 

[rmark]

I also would like to see a photo if possible.

 

[nkbj]

A mold for .38"-.39" diameter hollow base bullets (at right below) for .41Long Colt revolvers mite work but prices for those molds are usually higher than a cat's back.