I have an early Tip-Up rifle chambered for a 38 centerfire black powder cartridge. The rifle is not marked for caliber. With a 30" half round barrel the groove diameter measures .375", twist is 1-22", but the chamber length of 2.415(+ or -) is what has me confused. A 38/55 case goes in with room to spare, a 30/40 Krag does not chamber(head area to large). Using a 255 grain flat nosed cast bullet, powder capacity equates to around45-55 grs. depending on granular size. My question is; would this be too much pressure for a Stevens cast reciever. Could this be an original chamber or is it probable it has been changed. Any help appreciated, Jim.

Welcome to the forum Boer. Rules are simple, be nice and join in.

You might want to do a chamber cast and mike it to see what it's chambered for. Brownell's and Midway both sell a chamber casting material to do just that. Once you have a chamber cast it's easy to mike it to compare to other cartridges.

Hello Boer 1899.

The Stevens 'Tip Up' was the first of the Stevens actions and was made between 1870-1900. Some sixteen variants were made each being given a name or number, all of these were made on essentially the same action. In the .38" calibre range it was chambered for the following cartridges:- .38 Long Centre Fire, 38-35 and 38-45. Your rifle could have course have been rechambered since manufacture. All the above rounds would be Black Powder propelled. You may have a job finding any empty brass for the above rounds these days.

I would suggest you have the rifle checked out by a gunsmith qualified in working on these old rifles to ensure it is safe to fire, the early Stevens were not particularly robust actions. If it is safe to fire and you can find or make some brass, I would certainly suggest you stick to Black Powder loads only. Some were sold as Target Rifles but they couldn't be used as such today. It would make a nice 'plinking' rifle out to 100 or 150 yards, but a lot depends on the condition of the barrel, action and sights.

Of course, using Black Powder you would have to clean it every few shots for it to retain any accuracy it may still possess, the fouling left in the barrel after each shot does not assist accurate shooting.

Harry