EXPRESS,



I have always liked the Winchester High Wall. When I was a kid it was a sought after action to make a varminter. As time went by I did buy a few and still have one in 38-55 and a custom in .219 I.



As you know there is a lot of overlap in cartridges and with handloading one can increase any rifles flexiblity within limits. One can always load a big cartridge down but it's not easy to load a small cartridge up. Therefore for general hunting and target shooting I would select the 30-40 Krag from that list. Such a cartridge would shoot light loads well and even cast bullets. When loaded up in a strong action it will range 300 yds or more so it's a very good choice.



The pictures show "rifle" butt plates on all but one gun. Rifle butt plates really hurt. I suggest one with a shotgun butt if it's available. When I use one of my 38-55's for schuetzen shooting I wear a leather coat to soak up the recoil and both my Hepburn and High Wall have rifle butts.



The High Wall is a really beautiful rifle. Get one.



http://www.uberti.com/firearms/1885-high-wall.tpl

www.sixguns.com/tests/tt3840.htm



After the 30/40 my second choice would be the 30/30.

I got a little '92 Winchester in 38/40. Handloaded with 6.5gn AP50 behing the Lyman 180gn projectile I have no problems hitting steel silhouettes out to 200yds. It is a really fun gun to shoot. Cases are reformed from 44/40.

Uberti confirmed the .38-40.



I think there was a mistake with the .35-55, which is likely supposed to be .38-55.



The .38-55 may be the one I'd go for, though I was looking at something like the .32-40 which unfornately they don't make. I was hoping for something a little hotter than the .357 pistol round.



What's the .38-40 like?

I have a Browning 1885 in 45-70 which I would recommend for serious hunting.Very accurate ,potent and easy to find components. For less recoil - 40-65 a favorite in BPC shooting and the cases can be made from a 45-70 case. Third choice would be 38-55 also very accurate and at one time they loaded a high velocity load which was excellent for hunting.

.38-40 is a pistol cartridge with similar ballistics to a .40 S&W when loaded to black powder velocities. In a 24" rifle, with a .40 cal. 180 gr. Hornady XTP over a charge of Reloader 7, it will do about 1750 fps according to Alliant. With a cast bullet and 30 gr. of FFFg, you might get 1200 fps.

This old round used to be a fairly popular deer rifle in the East. The father of one of my friends used one every year clear into the 1960s. I have a Marlin 1889 in that caliber, and I'm thinking real hard about shooting a whitetail with it this fall.

.38-40 is a nice round for a revolver or carbine. If I were getting a high wall, I'd get something a little hotter. BTW the .30-40 will shoot like a .30-06 when loaded for a modern rifle. The old Krag action was pretty wimpy, thus the light loads required, but a modern-made falling block rifle is a different story.