Killing Hogs with the Marlin 375 and More Woes with Starline

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Killing Hogs with the Marlin 375 and More Woes with Starline

Post by Ranch Dog »

Ranch Dog wrote:From a post dated 07 Oct 2016... I've started using Starline's long (2.125") 38-55 Win brass in my 375 Win with my TLC379-235-RF cast bullet. That cartridge has an enormous amount of freebore cut into the chamber and short brass, an effort to relieve chamber pressure, but that also makes the cartridge a lousy cast bullet shooter. The 375 Win sizing die is too short for the 38-55 Win long brass. Rather than rob my 38-55 Win set of its die, I simply wanted another sizing die and not a whole set of 38-55 Win dies.
After a year of few hogs on the ranch (you hate them when they are here and are bored when the boars are no here), my place all of a sudden was loaded with hogs. So, it was time to get busy.

I haven't been doing much reloading; I decided to shoot put much of the ammo I have in storage, anything that has been sitting over two years. I had just started in on my Marlin 375 when the hogs appeared and immediately had success.

My wife walks every day and had some problems with a sow, not letting her down the road. I went back out and did see her, but it was now several hours later. I told her that when I got back from patrol the following day, I would take her walk and wanted her to stay at home. Sure as the sun comes up, I'm about 300 yards from the house at 4:00 pm and there is the sow giving guff. I busted her with the Marlin 375 and about 35 yards.

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The hog killing came on hard and then the Marlin choked, a Starline case split and separated in the chamber. The failure was my third strike with Starline, but I wasn't surprised honestly. I left the pasture, got the case out, and cleaned up the chamber. I went through the ten or so remaining rounds and found a couple with light splits at the case mouth and disassembled the cartridges. The Starline 38-55 Win Long brass is very thin at the case mouth, after being fired two times they mic .007" thick.

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So it is what it is, and it was back out there to shoot hogs with the remaining cartridges. I'm starting to stalk a hog in about 1:00 in the morning and remember that the rifle was at the rack by the back door of my house, unloaded, so I slowly chamber a cartridge. It doesn't feel right, and it isn't. I can't figure it out in the dark, so I head back to the house, hog opportunity lost.

What happened is that as the cartridge comes up the lifter and starts into the chamber, the case bends. Yep, a dimple in the case begins below the bullet base, and if you continue to actuate the lever, the case collapses and the bullet tears through the side of the case.

It happened again on a reload out in the dark, trying to shoot a second hog. Luckily it was running from me and not toward me.

The Marlin 375 is one application where I like the Starline brass. The long brass solves a cast bullet problem with Marlin's chambered in 375 Win; eliminating a heck of a bullet jump. I've looked for an alternative for the long brass, and the only thing that I've come up with are cases that Buffalo Arms makes for this need from 303 British brass. Unfortunately, they are costly. I did anneal the cases after the second time fired and that no doubt was a mistake. I think annealing is a mistake with any Starline brass from my experience. What I'm going to do is continue with the Long Starline and chuck it or leave it in the field after the second firing.

I moved on to the Ruger Mini 30 shooting the Speer 123-grain #2213, and it has taken four hogs in six nights. I want to run this stock of ammunition down as the Speer bullet was discontinued, but I now have the PPU 123-grain B210 on hand . That bullet looks identical to the Speer, but the PPU has a cannelure.
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Re: Killing Hogs with the Marlin 375 and More Woes with Star

Post by RBHarter »

That sounds like a gun quirk more than a brass issue .
I only have had a couple of Marlins and while neither were fussy about about short cartridges and the 38/357 was fed some really short cartridges long was the problem and even just a little bit long will jam , fail to lift , and hang entering the chamber .
I have a friend that has a 92' type rifle in 38/357 that feeds 38s like water through a garden hose bullet shape doesn't seem to matter . 357 hangs 3/5 and damages the cases as you described your cases .

I wonder if maybe you have a lump , bump , burr , sharp or tool mark hanging up .
I have had a couple of 45 Colts 92's , I know apples and oranges , but they would feed Schofield with the wide rim fine and 5 brands of Colts brass but would not feed Remington at all . Not plain or nickled . Single fed was fine but from the mag it wasn't going to happen .

A guy might "save" that brass if he had a 44 mag or was loading snake shot in the rimmed 45s taking advantage of the cyl length case .
Of course they could be turned into the sisters too if you're short on 35,32 or 30-30 . Seems a shame to just toss 2x brass .

Just food for thought .
Just a Red neck,White boy, Blue blood American.....
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Re: Killing Hogs with the Marlin 375 and More Woes with Star

Post by Ranch Dog »

No, nothing wrong with the rifle other than Marlin cut a pretty good throat on the 375 Win. I think it was to help get the pressure off the action. That leaves a lot of airspace around the bullet. Cast bullets need something to get them forward, or accuracy suffers; hence, the long brass. With rifles that have had a lot of jacketed bullets pass through them, eroded throats are not uncommon. The Winchester's levers in this cartridge are cut to the SAAMI spec.

Two cycles aren't bad. Starline only warranties their brass to the third shot. I've had a lot of problems with their brass, and this is the only rifle application that I still use it with. I shoot it in 9mm Makarov but have been leaving it laying on the ground as well, going to PPU with it. I had SL brass in some pretty good quantities across a large range of cartridges. After the failures I experienced and poor customer service, I got rid of everything but the two mentioned. What they didn't want to hear was that I had been shooting the same loads in the same cartridges for years. The problems went away when I switched brass.

I pondering turning case rims to a small diameter. If I can do that, I will form my brass for my 375 Win application from 303 British
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Re: Killing Hogs with the Marlin 375 and More Woes with Star

Post by Ranch Dog »

Well, the rim of the 303 British has no issue mating with the bolt face of the Marlin. The aft half of the case would need a forming die(s), there is no way a sizing die could get it down to the correct diameter. Given that, I will stick with the SL Long 38-55 Win brass and run it two cycles.

This Buffalo Bore article is what helped me resolve the 375 Win. I've owned three Marlin's, and one doesn't count as I bought it new in the box and never shot it. I've shot the heck out of the other two, trading one for a 1895G (Guide Gun). I always regretted that as I felt the model was a toad.
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