We just shot the .38-55 barrel on my daughter's H&R Handi-rifle for the first time last night. The gun is one I bought used that started life as a 30-30 and had been rechambered for 30-40 Krag when I got it. I sent it back to H&R and had a .38-55 barrel fitted, and then I bedded a steel block into the top of the wrist of the stock to mount a tang sight on.

Since this is a starter black powder cartridge rifle silhouette gun for my daughter, it will be fed with black powder and cast bullets. The first load we have tried uses a 275-grain bullet sized to 0.379 inches and lubed with SPG, propelled by 40.5 grains of ffg Goex. After three fouling shots, we proceeded to shoot a two-inch five-shot group at 80 yards with iron sights. We didn't have time to shoot more as my wife called us in for dinner. However, if this gun is typical of other black powder cartridge rifles I've played with, the groups should settle down to around 1-1/2 inches at 100-yards after the barrel has had a couple hundred rounds through it.

If you want an inexpensive low-recoil black powder cast-bullet gun, this is a good way to go. I actually have more money in the tang sight then in the gun with both barrels.

Neat rifle for the little lady
My neighbor has one in .45-70 that he seems quite proud of, but I don't think he's brave enough to try the original gun powder in it

Thanks for the range report loud-n-boomer...I'm new to Black Powder and will soon be ordering a H&R Target in 38-55 so your info is timely to say the least..

I hate this now I'm going to have to buy one. This just sounds like toooo much fun. I think it would be very interesting to hunt with.

I bought H&R Target Model to see how I liked the caliber then sold it and "graduated" to a 1885 Hi- Wall by C. Sharps Arms. It's a fine gun and very accurate.
Besides the obvious the biggest difference between them is the groove diameter. The H&R was .380" while the 1885 is 376". The 255 grain Barnes Original JSP .377" diameter bullet performs very well in the 1885.
I've been loading only smokeless powders so far with cast & jacketed bullets, but in future I'll be trying the black powder cartridge loads that I developed for the H&R.

Follow-up range report on the H&R 38-55.

Well, we just returned from the Quigley shoot in Montana where my wife shot 15 out of 48 and my daughter shot 18 out of 48 with the H&R. Their scores are especially great since neither of them has ever shot anything like this. The average score for the match was a 19, and the winning score was a 37. The gun had no problems, and both my wife and daughter were consistently hitting targets, including the Buffalo at 787 yards in spite of a 15 to 20 mph cross-wind. Though they had one of the "cheapest" rifles on the range, they out-shot most of the other first-timers.

At least our particular gun is plenty acccurate for BPCR silhouette, and makes a great starter rifle. The problem is that now my wife wants her own black powder cartridge rifle; a C. Sharps High-wall in .40-65.

Sounds like the Lady of the house has good taste in guns... Gotta love that!