I've done a google search and found little on reloading the 38-40 RH. Is the cartridge that rare? What bullet weight would you recomend? Factory hepburn has I believe a 16 inch twist. I've got a lyman 375 248 on the way. Just punching paper here. Any advice from someone experienced with this cartridge?

Oops, you said 38-40 Rem.  Donnelly's book recomended 15.0 gr 2400 with 250 gr lead bullet with modified 303 Brit cases but 30-40 cases might work also.  Would slug it also and begin light.  Ideal 375248 probably would work, good bet.
Jim

I had that issue (chamber neck) with my 40/63. I just turned the necks to fit the chamber and bullet. But, BSing is more accurate.

Frank

Any other 38-40 Remington Hepburn shooters out there? Am thinking of having one of my Hepburns barreled in 38-40. Am thinking I'll go with the modern 0.367"/0.375" bore/rifling dimensions in a 26" long 13.5" twist barrel. Think that would work pretty well with a the 325gr bullet I have available. Thinking that 16-18gr of 5744 would be a good place to start. Am thinking the 38-40 R-H would make a better 200yd rifle then the 40-60WCF.

Spoke with a gunsmith who specializes in Hepburn rifles (has the correct roll-mark to do both the receiver and the barrel - a previous owner over-polished my receiver and the stamp is about 50% removed.) and he can chamber in either 38-40 Rem or 38-50 Rem. Am thinking I'll go ahead with the longer 38-50 as it is easy enough to "load down" (lighter load) for 200yd shooting with the 38-50 while it is almost impossible to "load up" with a 38-40 if one needs more 'umph' behind the bullet. 

Let us know your results and what loads are working for you. Hepburns rule!!

The 3 gunsmiths I've spoken to agree with you about the rarity of the 38-40 Remington. Turns out the one who said he could chamber it would be short chambering with his 38-50 reamer.

Hi Steve - how did you chamber it? Do you have the 38-40 reamer or did you short chamber with a 38-50?
What length & twist barrel did you go with? Looking  forward to your load info & shooting report.

Dang, drat, rats, etc., etc. I was all ready to go with Baldwin's 35-40 Maynard based on the 38-55 case, but I really like the 38-40 Rem idea better since it is a Hepburn. Especially now that I know you have the reamer. 

What twist and barrel length did you go with?

My neck measures .395

I'm still tempted to chamber neck ream this up to .405 to allow fixed ammo.

Well, I've had a couple of range sessions with the .38-40 RH. The first trip looked promising but I was having some trouble chambering a few rounds. I left one round to measure at home. What I found was that I didn't have my compression plug set to the right depth and I was compressing the powder with the bullet and the bore riding section would upset and not chamber. Adjusted the dies correctly and the problem went away.

Today's session went much better. All loads used Federal 150 primers, .060" fiber wad, and a bullet cast in an old Ohaus mold that comes out at 265 grains with 30-1 alloy, lubed with Glenn Fewless' lube. I set the bullet to just touch the rifling. This bullet has a short nose so powder capacity is reduced. All shooting was at 100 yds. today.

First I tried 33 grains of Olde Eynsford 1&1/2 F. This gave 1177 fps and a 5 shot group of 1.727" Next I tried 36 grains of the OE and the velocity went up to 1221 fps but the group opened up to 2.824". It appears the Olde Eynsford doesn't like to be compressed, at least in this gun.

Next I switched over to Swiss 1&1/2F. Starting at 31 grains the velocity was 1171 fps but the group was a surprising 4.5". Increasing the charge to 33 grains brought the velocity to 1207 fps and put 4 shots into .875" and I jerked one out to 1.7". I know many people say Swiss powder doesn't like to be compressed, but I've always had better luck with lots of compression. 

I'm not trying to make a silhouette rifle out of this, just a 200yd offhand gun, so heavy bullets and maximum velocity aren't needed.

I'll post updates as I go along.

Steven Durren 

Yes........ thanks for the update.
What is your twist & barrel length?
Would you like to try some BACo 325gr 'Money' bullets? I'm thinking that is about the heaviest bullet I'll be shooting and you should be able to load it longer so can get in a bit more powder. PM me with an address and I'll send along.
I also compress Swiss. ~0.10" in all my loads.

I do not have the information so I will ask. What is the proper length for .38-40 Rem-Hep cases as compared to cases for the .38-50 Rem-Hep.?

Steve - any results with your 38-40?

Have a 12" twist 38cal barrel and was thinking the 38-40 might be a pleasant round thru it. Can always punch it out to 38-55 or 38-50 or 38-70 or 38-72 or 38-90 or 38-100  if that doesn't work. Think those last few are getting a little extreme.

Bartlein barrel & CPA action off to Steve to be fitted and chambered in 38-40RH. 100 .303 cases inbound. Plenty of time to expand to 38cal, cut back to 1.78" and anneal. Should be great fun.

Thanks for the load info. I'll likely be shooting 330gr Money bullets to start, though I'm thinking something in the 275-300gr range may be needed. 

When I talk about the 'old dead guys' that I would like to emulate, I'm talking about those before the turn of the 19th century. I'll likely shoot BP, but may try a duplex load with 4-5gr of Unique under 35gr of BP or something similar. Think the ODGs started using duplex loads prior to 1900. Of particular interest to me is lengthening the recoil with the slower burning BP. I find shooting off the bench to be about the worst position for me, recoil-wise.

.303 Brit -to- 38-40 on left and 30-40 Gov't -to- 38-50 on the right. 
One stroke resize thru a die that Chris Christensen made up for me (thank you, again, Chris). Makes life easy.
38-40 case will get chucked and parted-off from 2.175" to 1.80 and then trimmed to final length in the Forster.
38-50 cases come out almost perfect and only the occasional case requires trimming after firing. Then all cases will get their annual trip thru the annealing flame.

Am hoping to get enough primers to resume load testing this next spring. I have a 245gr & 265gr GG bullet and a 300gr PP bullet. Initial testing with 44gr of 2F were positive, but brass needs some additional work. Will be reaming the case mouths.

I am having the same problem of sorts. Picked up an all original Hepburn in 40-2 1/2 (40-70 ST) and the bore is toast. Wanted to keep it original but can't if I want any reasonable accuracy out of it. I am looking at a rebore to 44 cal or liner and keep the same chamber. There were some chambered in 44 cal but that would mean rebore cost more expensive dies and brass and a bullet mold. And then the cal marking on the barrel wouldn't be right. Decisions decisions...



JMH

Yes... My mistake. It is a Sharps straight.