NM Super BH 44 mag leads up

The gun is a NM Super BH 44 mag made in 1974. The gun always leads up when shooting cast bullets. A 0.432 pin gauge goes in all chambers from the front, so I assume big throats are causing the leading. The gun has the high luster blueing, so I don't want to send it back to Ruger and get a new dull cylinder fitted, even if they do it for free. Any suggestions?

Have you slugged the bore? And if so,what did you find? Oversized bullets will often help.

How fast are they going with what kind of load data and do the bullets have Gas Checks? Do you know the cast bullet Manufacturer or alloy contents?

First Post 45LC, Welcome to the club from another new member!

I doubt seriously that you will find the bore larger than .432...you will want bullets that will not "fall through" the chamber throat...you want them large enough that they have some tension and have to be slightly pushed through the chamber throat. Chamber throat will determine bullet size...also, make sure that your bullet BHN matches your load.

I put a 50 cal ball the whole way through the clean bore and measured 0.4285-0.4288. Some resistance was noted at threads.

Recleaned bore with brass wool on brass brush and got 0.4286-0.4287 on second ball whole way, again noting resistance at threads.

The third ball was stopped short of thread choke and backed out muzzle. It measured 0.4289-0.4292. I am no gunsmith but that doesn't seem like much choke.

With the cylinder throats at 0.432, seems like they are big.

I have shot all types of loads and cast balls over the years, from mild to pant leg shakers. Leading is usually pretty bad so I only shoot jacked balls anymore. I don't cast and always used bullets my cousin gives me. He sizes to 0.430 and has more Rugers SA's than Carter has liver pills. Maybe I will see if he has a gas check mold for the 44 or can size some at 0.431.

I would try some sized at 432 to fill the throats better.I normally size to 432 for my Redhawk.

Another idea is to try powder coated bullets. Getting popular, and one of the reasons is they cut down on leading.

Proper bullet size and BHN are key, but after reading about them and trying them I'm starting to believe in the PC bullets.

Powder coated bullets may be just the trick in your gun. Well worth a try.

Inspecting the forcing cone with a bright light shows pretty bad machine marks or gouges running across the lands. They can be felt when a scribe is drawn across them. Can't believe I had this gun for 40 years and never saw them before. The leading is probably due to the machine marks being perpendicular to the bullet travel. Maybe the cure is to recut or polish the forcing cone. Anybody know what the angle of a 1972 NMSBH forcing cone is? I have seen people saying 5 and others saying 11 degrees.

Sorry, the gun is a 1974 NMSBH.

if your going to shoot lead , 11 degrees is what you want for your forcing cone .

Contact member DougGuy about recutting your forcing cone and Taylor Throating your barrel. As long as you have thread choke, it is going to swage bullets down to let them pass, whereupon they will suffer from gas cutting once they pass the choke. IMHO, leading is inevitable with your current conditions, regardless of what diameter your bullets start out.

If you are going to be shooting lead, I would say that firelapping would do a better job than recutting the forcing cone. If it is not a stainless you will likely get what you need done in about 25 rounds. It would not only clean up the machining marks in the forcing cone, it will get rid of the thread choke, give you a nice tapered, highly polished bore.

The .432 chamber throats are about normal for a Ruger 44. Use a .432 bullet and you will be good to go.

Firelapping won't fix a wonky forcing cone, you would be better off to recut the forcing cone first, -then- firelap the bore if you so choose. My own SBH was every bit as bad as yours, it spit lead out the sides and quit when the forcing cone was cleaned up. Made a LOT of difference in it. Your slugs say that the choke isn't severe and you have a blued gun which is two very good things going for you if you decide to firelap it. I likely would after I recut the forcing cone and sized lapping bullets to .432"

.4325" throats are quite proper for the SBH, my throats are all .4325" and I size to .432" which works very well and yours will too. Absolutely nothing wrong with throats of that size and most of the .44 cylinders I do for my customers leave my shop at .4325" Also, too hard an alloy and hard lube will lead the crap out of a bore even if all the dimensions are correct. I prefer an alloy that is 50/50+2% coww/pure lead with 2% tin added, and Felix lube, or other soft lube. I shoot the Lee C430-310-RF over 17.0gr H2400 WLP primers I get a black bore that stays seasoned from the Felix lube, I get a lube star at the muzzle, ZERO leading, very accurate groups and I never have to clean the bore. The fat nosed Lee RF is a gas checked design that works great with this alloy AND this 1180 ~ 1200fps velocity. You have to hit on the combination for it to all work and when you do, you will know it, the gun will just "come in" on it's own when you get it right.

This is not a max load, it's clocked back just a tad from the max but it shoots really good and there isn't a deer, bear, or hog in this state that will walk away from it.

This is what you want your forcing cone to look like, I can do this for you if you don't feel comfortable renting and using the reamer from 4D rentals, send me a PM if you need to.