What, in your opinion, would be a good cast bullet mold to use for a W&H  (H&R) 38-55 Buffalo target using 1.5F Swiss???

Many .38 and .40 caliber shooters are moving towards Swiss FFFg in the smaller calibers.
Get about 10% more velocity with the finer powders.

I use 50 grains Swiss FFFg and 310 grain Money bullet in my 18:1 twist .38-50 Remington Hepburn and 53 grains Swiss FFFg and 410 grain Money bullet  in my 16:1 twist .40-65 Winchester.

My rifles have shallow throats so I have to use finer black powder to increase the velocities.
I cannot get more powder into the cases without compressing more than .250".
Anymore compression of Swiss and my group sizes open up.
With coarser Swiss the Money bullet falls to sleep before it gets out to the Rams at 500 meters.

Both my rifles have 30 inch barrels.

Stick to a 310 grain bullet if your .38-55 has a 18:1 twist. You can go up to 360 grains if your barrel is 16:1 twist.

Quote:

The Accurate clone of the 320gr Ideal 375166 with 42gr of Swiss 1.5Fg and a 1/8 dry felt wad 
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Don Miller did an excellent article for the Spring 2007 issue of the Black Powder Cartridge news entitled … A New Twist Rule Applied to Black Powder Rifles. In his very extensive calculation, he determined that the Ideal 375166 bullet has the best ballistics characteristics (17.61) in a BPCR with a 1:18 twist

Took me 2 years to put together a group buy to have Lyman make a remake of the Ideal 375166 mold  

The 375166 is my Go To bullet and have shot it with accuracy to 500m
Quote:

Model CR3855 - Target Model Rifle
Specifications 
•  Action - Color case hardened, break open, side lever release.
•  Safety Mechanism - Patented transfer bar system.
•  Barrel - 28" with a 1:18 rifling twist
•      Bore – 0.373 and 0.379 grooves
•      Actual: 0.374 and 0.378
•      Sights - Lyman 17AUG .584
•      Sight Radius – 32.375” … 0.009”
•  Sights - None, dovetail front, barrel drilled and tapped rear…. Lyman 17A
•  Length of Pull - 14" Drop at Comb - 1-3/4" Drop at Heel - 2-5/8"
•  Weight - 7-1/2 lbs.
•  Overall Length - 42"
•  Stock - Hand checkered, American Black Walnut with case colored, crescent steel buttplate.
•  Forend - Hand checkered, American Black Walnut.
•  Ammunition - 38-55 Win. Factory Winchester 285gr

To shoot BPCR lead bullets in the H&R 38-55, the chamber will have to reamed to a true 38-55 because when Green Mountain made the barrels, they were chambered for the 375 Winchester (the modern caliber of the 38-55) and was the round that the factory used for testing

SSShooter wrote on Jan 16^th, 2015 at 8:23pm:

1:18 and 28"

Chester, here's some additional information regarding the Ideal 375166:
* At Ridgway R&PC a couple of years ago I did a test:
* Fifty (50) rounds of 375166 loaded with 42gr of KIK 1.5fg and FFg.  Shot these reloads starting from the 500m Rams back to the 200m Chickens with no blow tubing or patching of the 50 rounds.  Yes, the rounds were accurate and I only had to make minor vernier adjustments from my prior year's settings.  After shooting the 50 consecutive reloads, here's the results of the fouling in the bore: 
1 wet cotton ball and 3 dry balls ...
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I don't know where else to put this.
I am a newby at reloading the 38-55, and have a few concerns.  There seems to be two case lengths out there. Short at 2.080, Long at 2.125, are they both 38-55 cases or is one for the 375 Winchester?  I want to shoot the same reloads in two different rifles. Model 94, (MFG 1897), and a Rolling Block, (said to be a #5) barrel maker and twist unknown.
Mike Venturino claims the Winchester has larger bore and recommends a .379 Dia. Bullet, and since the RRB has a modern barrel I assume the, 377 Dia bullet would be the one to use.
My reloads seem hard to chamber in the Rolling Block, is this” normal” or do I have a crimp problem, I crimp using a Lee Factory Crimp Die.  I have not tried to chamber a round in the Winchester.
Suggestions / comments?  Thanks, Spitball

Hi-Wall, information reply:
* 375166 as cast @ 1:10 = 379.  Base variance - 0.005
* I shoot the bullet fixed as cast with black powder
* Groove diameters:
- H&R = 377
- Uberti HiWall = 378
- Relined Wurfflein = 376
All reloads using 2.125" Starline brass
At 100 & 200yds, it prints less than MOA with 42gr of BP.  My 1st range test was with Goex CTG - Swiss 1.5 and KIK FFg

Modified the post with more info