.38 caliber muzzleloader

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jims

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My home State permits .38 caliber muzzleloaders to be used for deer. It appears that the .40 smokeless is the closest thing currently available to meet that criteria. Does anyone out there know any other combinations, sabotless or otherwise, that would permit one to be even closer to .38 caliber with a smokeless powder using centerfire projectiles?
 
Do your regulations specify the actual bore size or are they referencing "caliber"? I ask because the various old-time cartridge .38 calibers were ".36s, but the .38-40 is a .40"!

jim
 
The regulations says, " a muzzleloading rifle .38 caliber or larger"
 
Are there any other clues in the regulations? (A .38 Special shoots a .357" bullet.)

I would call the game department and ask them what they mean...jim
 
jims said:
My home State permits .38 caliber muzzleloaders to be used for deer. It appears that the .40 smokeless is the closest thing currently available to meet that criteria. Does anyone out there know any other combinations, sabotless or otherwise, that would permit one to be even closer to .38 caliber with a smokeless powder using centerfire projectiles?

The problem with matching to an exact caliber is what bullet will you shoot.

The only common barrel diameter near that caliber (but not below) is .375 itself. The only bullet near that size is also .375. As seen the two won't match because you can't force swage the bullet it has to be the same size as the lands to work.

If you could somehow undersize the bullet to .367 or .368 you could get it to work same as a .40 caliber bullet works in a .408 barrel.

For those who would mention the 9.3 mm bullet I admit there looks like hope but I think it is too small for an exact fit and those bullets are very heavy for a muzzle loader. Still if you are on a tare you might see if some one has a 375 barrel with .366 lands and if it does go from there.
 
HunterJim said:
Are there any other clues in the regulations? (A .38 Special shoots a .357" bullet.)

I would call the game department and ask them what they mean...jim
If the barrel is stamped 38 and looks about that size, I doubt the game wardens will actually have anything in hand to actually measure the bore size. My bore has never been checked.
 
never had a muzzleloader checked by odnr but it does say .38 cal. or larger. but they do not specify about sub calibre bullet size. so we can shoot any size bullet in a minimum .38 calibre barrel. so you could have a .375 barrel and if someone would make sabots, you could shoot .35 or .323-(8mm) bullets.
sb
 
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