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jhm
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38-72 win
May 28th, 2024 at 6:27am
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Have been contemplating building a rifle in this caliber. I know it takes 405 Win brass for the round but are dies and chamber reamers available? Is anyone shooting or loading for this round?




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beltfed
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Re: 38-72 win
Reply #1 - May 28th, 2024 at 9:45am
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Depending on what you intend to do with the rifle:
1. Could be a good hunting rifle caliber for BP loads

2. OTOH, I and several  others have found that it is a ctg
that seems to be 'overbore capacity, and is finicky to load match grade accuracy level.

3. A better, and easy to  develop accurate loads for is the 38-50 Remington-Hepburn ctg.  Brass is made from 30-40 Krag brass that is more available, than the Very Scarce 405 Win
brass. Dies are available, too from CH 4D.  The 38-50  cases can be formed from the Krag brass by fire forming with cornmeal after running the Krag brass thru a 303 Brit die to reduce the shoulder diameter so as to be able to chamber
the cornmeal loads. 

beltfed/arnie
  
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ssdave
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Re: 38-72 win
Reply #2 - May 28th, 2024 at 10:16am
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I built one for my son to shoot gong matches when he was young.  We found no problems loading it; it's pretty straightforward.  76 grains Goex express compressed .4 inches, 360 grain NASA bullet finger seated.  It's as accurate as the .45-90, has identical ballistics in our load.  You do need to use a 12 twist barrel.  I think a lot of the people having trouble with it are using traditional 200 yard 16 twist 38-55 barrels.

4d made my dies, I have the reamer cut by Manson.  I made a straight neck on it instead of a taper to the mouth, and sized the reamer to match the Hornady .405 brass.  

This cartridge is almost identical to the 375 flanged nitro 2.5".  Enough so that they can share the reamer.  I'm going to build a bolt gun for the .375 flanged using a P14 action.

I'm fortunate as I have a lifetime supply of .405 brass and .375 flanged 2.5". 
  
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marlinguy
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Re: 38-72 win
Reply #3 - May 29th, 2024 at 9:56am
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9.3x74R brass can also be used and is just a slightly smaller rim OD. Doesn't seem to cause any extraction issues once fire formed and trimmed to length.
  

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Lead Pot
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Re: 38-72 win
Reply #4 - May 29th, 2024 at 2:02pm
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I also would go with what Arnie said.
I have talked to shooters that have a .38-72 I was going to build on in this caliber and all but one said that the caliber has some quirks.
I went with the .38-50 Rem Hep and it turned out to be a fine shooter. But I had a second one build for my Grand Daughter to use and it turned out to be a problem child. 
The .38-50 caliber you can use the brass mentioned and also .40-70 SS. I just ordered 200 .40-70 cases from Buffalo Arms and for these they used .303 British stretched cases instead the Rem brass .30-40 Krag and they are very good. I ran them through a cutdown Lee 30-40 Krag sizing die I cut the neck and some off the base and it makes a very good one pass through sizing die forming the brass. 
I think the die was about $14. 
I have still to see a ram standing hit with a 356 gr bullet with 63 gr of Swiss.
I like using the .40-70 cases. A lot less work forming the cases. Just one passs though the sizing die and trim. 
Kurt
« Last Edit: May 29th, 2024 at 2:10pm by Lead Pot »  
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jhm
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Re: 38-72 win
Reply #5 - May 29th, 2024 at 2:32pm
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Well you might know I would pick a problem child to go with. Just wanted something no one around here had. What y'all think about the 40-72? Same problems but different?


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beltfed
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Re: 38-72 win
Reply #6 - May 29th, 2024 at 2:47pm
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JHM, 
Would you like to try a 40-72?
I have a Ruger Number 1 with a Douglas Prem
heavy barrel, cal 40-72 as in uses unchanged Hornady
405W brass.  12 twist.  Have dies, brass, and several bullet molds up to a 480 grain BFSS bullet. 
beltfed/arnie
  
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Old-Win
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Re: 38-72 win
Reply #7 - May 29th, 2024 at 5:31pm
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Lead Pot wrote on May 29th, 2024 at 2:02pm:

I went with the .38-50 Rem Hep and it turned out to be a fine shooter. But I had a second one build for my Grand Daughter to use and it turned out to be a problem 
Kurt

Kurt, did you use the same builder for your second rifle? What do you think made the difference between one being a good shooter and the other one not? Bob
  
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Lead Pot
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Re: 38-72 win
Reply #8 - May 29th, 2024 at 9:48pm
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No Bob,
The second one was not build by DZ Arms. 
I just today finished setting the barrel back .320" and rechambered it with the .38-50 reamer I ordered from Manson. I loaded some ladder loads this evening and if the sky is not falling in the morning I will see if this thing will come alive for me.

Kurt
  
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jhm
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Re: 38-72 win
Reply #9 - May 29th, 2024 at 9:51pm
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Mr. Beltfed that is a tempting but probably very expensive offer so because of the cost incurred I must decline your gracious offer. In other words I ain't got the money. Lol... I am building a Borchardt from a Rodney Storie kit and can't decide the caliber so was kicking the 38 and 40-72 rounds around. Just didn't know all that was involved but I am being educated by the fine folks here on the forum. That is why I like it here. Somebody usually has already been there and done it.



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JerryH
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Re: 38-72 win
Reply #10 - May 29th, 2024 at 10:04pm
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If you're OK with a .40 caliber you can't go wrong with a 40-65 Winchester. The 38-50 Hepburn mentioned is a sweetheart also.

Green Mountain has a 20% off sale till the end of the month. There are some 14.5 twist .40 caliber barrels in stock. Reamers and brass for the 40-65 are easy to come by. Just something else to think about.
  

I'm not a complete idiot, some of my parts are missing.
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