I saw a video a couple days ago of a guy shooting an 1893 Marlin in 38 55 at 1/2 mile. He had the gong zeroed in in three shots. He had some sort of tang sight. I don't know any of the particulars.

That is a neat rifle for sure but I dont think there is enough time for muzzle loading the bullet.  Probably wouldnt want the tools out there in the dirt either.  Looking at you picture you may not have enough sight staff for over 800 yards.

800 yards with a 38-55 depends on how the rifle is set up It needs a 12 to 14 inch twist  to run the 330 to 350 grain high BC bullets needed.  Trying to run the old 250gn flat nose at long range makes it hard on all but very calm windless days.  My 1/14" twist barrel seems to be doing good with a 330 grain round nose bullet.  We are still so wintered in I cant get out to try 800 yards. Hopefully spring and shooting weather will be here before fathers day so I have time to get all sight settings worked out.

There’s potential accuracy then there’s practical accuracy on a particular target.   When the morning 200 yard offhand match is finished our club shoots a 500 yard single shot iron sight match offhand on a steel Buffalo. It’s cut from 48x48 plate about 36x36 effective target size.

38/55 often wins in the hands of good shooters that have spent time prior to the match establishing zeros.  Obtaining zeros is the key, it’s very hard to spot 38/55 bullets at 500 on painted steel if it’s shot up with previous hits . Hits off the plate extremely difficult to spot depending on the time of year & vegetation on the 600 yard berm. Berm 100 yards behind the target big factor.

Have never been to the Quigley but talking to shooters that have sight in times are limited and you're not going to get perfectly painted targets or berm spotting situations. Larger the bullet easier it is to spot,  generally 45 caliber heavy bullet  is best for long range work. Good look at past match results would be first thing I would do if planning to attend. Have 38/55 rifles done well ? 

It’s very frustrating to show up at a match first time on a particular range & never get strikes on target. It happens frequently to new shooters on our 500 yard target.

If you have 800 available at home it would be a big advantage . If so best to have zeros bit shorter and longer than your home target too. Few ranges are precisely measured you could find 25 yard or more variance target placement yours to theirs . Range of sight adjustment for distance variance is useful new situation. 

Boats

Thanks guys, your helping to build up my courage.

When H&H came out with their big 375 magnum in 1912 they chose a 1/12" twist .  The idea of the fast twist was to keep the none expanding solid bullets on a true terminal course as aimed without deflection from that intended course. The fast twist was not intended for stabilization of a max length bullet because their heavy projectile the 300 grain round nose was not max length for the twist. The 1/12" twist nicely handles quite heavy bullets.  I have designed a 370 grain bullet that is very accurate in the 1/12" twist of my 375 Whelen.
    When Winchester came out with the 375 big bore even though it was only offered with a 220 grain bullet they for what ever reason also chose to use a 1/12" twist.  The 375 win rifles very handily use a 350 grain bullet the heaviest I have used in the cartridge.
  Now it seems to me that if a 1/12" twist were used in a 38-55 and maxed out for bullet length with an efficient nose shape the resulting BC of that bullet should be right up there with the big 45's in something like a 530 grain Postell or money bullet. 
  If the BC's are equal and the muzzle velocity equal then the trajectory and wind drift will be equal regardless of caliber.
  My rifle has a 1/14" twist and is limited in bullet length.  I have found the Lyman Postell at 330 grain in a 20-1 alloy looses stability at about 300 yards when launched at about 1300 fps.   The custom bullet from NEI at 330 grain in pure lead is slightly shorter than the Lyman Postell bullet and has proven to remain stable to 800 + yards.  If I were to cast the Postell bullet in pure lead it will likely go about 340 grain thus raising the BC over the same shape at 330 grain.  Any gain in BC that will stabilize to and beyond the intended range is a positive gain in any long range shooting weather BPC or high power.

oneatatime wrote on Mar 31^st, 2023 at 8:07pm:


But we are talking about loads in the black powder pressure range at maybe 25000 psi which is about half the pressure of the 375  H&H.   If it works in long range muzzleloaders it will certainly work in cartridges.  Remember the Irish team at the first Creedmoor match used Rigby muzzleloading rifles to 1000 yards to good effect against the US team and if not for one shot from the Irish team delivered to the wrong target they would have tied the US team.