I have my granddads Texas Ranger rifles one of which is a Win. mod. 92 in 38-40..The last time I shot this gun I was 10 years old and it shot terrible, couldn't hit a 5 gallon bucket at 100 yards, so put it up...

Yesterday, for some reason known only to the Gods, I took it to the range and shot it off the bench..One and two inch groups and it was fun to shoot. Apparantly I had a flinch in my early years! ..Coming home and doing some ammo research I find its very expensive to shoot a $75.00 per box, and nobody makes jacketed bullets?? I do have dies and found a shoebox full of lead bullets.. sooooo the search is on for those jacketed HPs.

Can anyone tell me if I can shoot 40 S&W bullets in the .38-40...I see no reason why not as the S&W bullets are .401 and the 38-40 riflebore is .400.??

If you are set on shooting jacketed bullets check out Hawk Bullets http://www.hawkbullets.com/maintest.htm
They have bullets for the 38-40.
I picked up a nice 32-40 that key holed everything I put through it and was close to becoming a lamp or trade bait until I discovered Hawk it's now a real shooter.
Just out of curiosity why not a good cast bullet?
Mike Venturino has a good book on shooting lever guns with reloads and lots of good reloading advice for them.
Good Luck have fun

I will do that..I looked around in my shop and found about 1000 lead bullets in a box marked .38-40..Must have been there for 50 years, they are really gritty and dirty. Its going to be a pain to clean them. One at a time I guess...

The load books that I have show a 180 gr. Jacketed HP at 2000 plus FPS in a rifle and a 200 gr. at 1700 plus, both with IMR-4227..That is getting up there and I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a deer with that load at pistol range with my rifle and I intend to do that..This old gun is a lot of gun..I also found about half a box of WW factory and a full box of Remington fac. The chronographed at about 1133 FPS average. Pretty weak.

I will definately order some heavy Hawk bullets and I'm betting they will expand and be good killers, as the tend toward softness. I like them in the old calibers.

Yes you can shoot 40 cal bullets in your 38-40 but they may or may not feed depending on the point shape. And they usually don't have a crimping groove which might or might not matter but I usually crimp a bit for a tube mag. I use 38-40 exclusively in revolvers and lever rifle in cowboy shooting. And I don't use squib loads, in case you are thinking that.

the bbl on that rifle is SUPPOSED to be. 400-401
but i doubt it is.
you might want to measure it before you go to just loading up a bunch of cast bullets.
if it is more like 403 a 401 cast bullet will only lead to misery.
the necks on 38-40 brass is delicate and easily crunchable.
fortunatly rifle chambers [versus revover] seem to be a bit closer to what the die makers think they are.

i run into this with a 44-40 the bbl was not 427 and the die set i have wouldn't allow me to load anything bigger than a 428 diameter bullet.
i had to hone the neck portion out carefully and slightly re-work the crimp portion to allow the die to work with my rifle.

magma engineering makes a nice 180gr rnfp boolit mold for the 38-40 with the crimp groove in the correct place.
all the major cast bullet makers use their equipment so finding more bullets shouldn't be too hard.

My mod. 92 win. bore is .401, probably .400 when it was new..
I found a cigar box full of dirty .400 180 gr. lead FN and loaded R-P, CCI 300 and 10 grs of Unique, and shot about 100 of them yesterday..Very accurate at 2.5 to 3 inches at 100, but always in a nice clover leave pattern. I can certainly live with that..I really want to try IMR-4227 for 1900 FPS plus with a good JHP bullet and try it on deer next year. I figure that would work fine up to about 75 yards give or take a few yards either way.

The 38-40s started out hell to load with those thin necks and crimping but found out that gentle and slow is the secret to bullet seating. Really a fun gun to shoot..

BTW in my lot of brass I found half a dozen 38-40 formed from 303 British, 303 Savage and 44-40s. and they worked fine...I have a hunch the brass from 303s is a bit better than the factory stuff, we'll see on that..

I have been picking up 38-40 components for years from time to time because I had one, but just started shooting it.(see original post above.) Having fun and the neighbors are probably glad as the noise level is less than most of my guns, but hey I was here first.

One of the most usefull things you can buy is a Lee factory crimp Die.

I started loading for the .44-40 just before the advent of Cowboy shooting an duit was hell. I have a Smith N frame and until I got the Factory crimp die I had a heck of a time crimping.

I have several 92s in 38-40 and they shoot great. Have shot many 40 S&W bullets in them. I have a CH crimp groove tool for putting the groove in the smooth sided auto bullets. Cast bullets work good too. Cowboy loads are fun but if you want to hunt with it you better up the load to around 1500 to 1600 fps.

Sam

I have a 1890 vintage 1886 in 40-82 that was reputed to be not real accurate when I got it. Needless to say the bore is not as smooth as when new. I am loading cast bullets that have a copper gas check and have found accurary to be very good. You may want to look down that path, I sourced mine thru Buffalo Arms.

Ray, that CH crimp tool that Sam mentions is well worth owning. I used one extensively when I was in the custom swaged bullet business. Might want to try the Starline brass in .38-40. They boast that is is thicker and tougher and easier to reload and crimp properly.

Thinks Bill I will do that and I intend to get a Lee crimping die...

BTW I ordered and got some Hawk 180 gr. bullets with a .0125 jacket and they have a properly placed crimp groove...made a lot of difference in how they load if you careful, and these puppies are accurate at 1.5 to 2" at 100 yards and they expand big time in a coyote at 50 and 100 yards. Ran a trap line with a friend and go to test the old gun on two coyotes...I will shoot a deer with this gun after Xmas in Texas hopefully..

Glad to hear those hawks work if been running them in most in not all of my Lever Guns

I bought some 200 grain LFN cast from Montana Bullet works sized to .401". These bullets, ahead of 14.0 grains of HS-6 give me 1300 fps in my Bisley. It will flat kill a deer.