Well I guess it's just jacketed ammo for the Alaskan!

[Mus408]

Fired 6 rounds of Oregon Trails .454 sized Laser Cast bullets today and lead again in the first part of the barrel. Was hoping the larger sized bullet would help seal the Rugered oversize cylinder throats...but no go.
Loads were mild at 9.5 gr. of Unique with the 255 gr. bullets.

Shoots fine but leaves the lead to clean up. Only revolver of mine that does this and it's the most expensive Ruger I own!

Again are other .454 Casull revolvers like this when shooting lead bullets or is this just the special treat you get from Ruger at no extra cost?

 

[kooz]

I feel your frustration, it blows me away that they just can't get the damn throats right . Just curious , what do the cylinders measure out at ?

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

I shoot lead through my Toklat and have zero leading in it. Perhaps that load does not build enough pressure to obturate your bullet. Blowby will cause major leading.

 

[Mus408]

I feel your frustration, it blows me away that they just can't get the damn throats right . Just curious , what do the cylinders measure out at ?

A good .455!

I liked it for being a beefy short barrel DA revolver I could shoot hot .45 Colt loads out of.
Really wasn't going to shoot .454 Casull with it.

But with the huge throats it can't shoot any lead Casull rounds either.

In the reviews you read nobody mentions any leading issues.

 

[Mus408]

I shoot lead through my Toklat and have zero leading in it. Perhaps that load does not build enough pressure to obturate your bullet. Blowby will cause major leading.

Well I have no issues at all with leading in any of my other .45 Colt revolvers and I shoot same hard cast bullets from mild Colt loads...800 FPS up to hotter ones with my Bisley Blackhawk.

The big throats of my Alaskan are like building an engine with no piston rings!

What is the size of the throats in your gun? Giving Ruger a call tomorrow and maybe they can fit a correct sized cylinder to it.

 

[kooz]

I feel your frustration, it blows me away that they just can't get the damn throats right . Just curious , what do the cylinders measure out at ?

A good .455!

I liked it for being a beefy short barrel DA revolver I could shoot hot .45 Colt loads out of.
Really wasn't going to shoot .454 Casull with it.

But with the huge throats it can't shoot any lead Casull rounds either.

In the reviews you read nobody mentions any leading issues.

Those Oregon trail bullets are hard as a rock, the 9.5 unique load will not bump them enough to slug up and seal the barrel . If you are interested in trying some softer bullets, I can send you a few .454 Keith bullets at about 12bhn that will obturate with that unique load. The other option is to try gas checked bullets

 

[Mus408]

Again...I use 21 hardness bullets from Better Bullets and Oregon Trail with their special alloy in my other .45 Colt revolvers and at loads of 8 gr. of Unique and no leading with them.
I have used gas checked 315 gr. lead bullets from another vendor loaded with 10.5 gr. of Unique and same leading issue with the Alaskan.

So I can keep it as is and just shoot jacketed ammo....call Ruger and see if a new cylinder will fix it ...or just sell/trade it for something better.

 

[Mus408]

Good read here!
http://www.shootingtimes.com/ammo/ammunition_st_lowdownleadfoul_201002/

 

[Arky]

I had terrible leading in my SBH .41 using unique. After discussing chamber, bore, and bullet sizes tried, an old retired gunsmith suggested switching to the slowest powder I had. I switched from Unique to ACC #9 and no leading.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Over on the "other" RugerForum, resident fount-of-knowledge IOWEGAN has posted an extensive article on revolvers and lead bullets. I quote here a critical bit of that post . . .

"Matching bullet hardness to chamber pressure is the key to accurate and foul free
loads. The concept is simple …. it takes a given pressure to force a bullet to obturate.
(bump up in diameter) The higher the chamber pressure, the harder the bullet must be.
The process is a bit complicated and requires some math."

"To compute bullet hardness, divide the chamber pressure by 1400 if rated in psi or 1440
if rated in CUP. Example: a 38 Special with a 158 gr lead bullet has a max chamber
pressure of 17,000 psi; 17,000/1400=12.1 so a BHN 12 bullet would be optimum. A 38
target load with a 148 gr bullet generates about 14,000 psi; 14,000/1400=10 so a BHN 10
bullet would be optimum. A 38 Special +P load with a 158 gr bullet generates a max
chamber pressure of 20,000 psi. 20,000/1400=14.2 so a BHN 14 bullet would be best. As
long as the BHN number is reasonably close to the computed value, the bullet will
obturate properly and shoot quite well. When there is a significant mismatch between
chamber pressure and bullet hardness, the bullets will leave a nasty lead deposit in the
barrel, which builds up more with each shot and destroys accuracy."

This of course does not lessen the requirement that the bullet/throat/bore relationship be proper. I just offer it as further evidence that the entire situation is not as simple as we might believe. There is software available to accurately determine chamber pressure for given loads. Guessing based on primer appearance, etc, doesn't do it.

 

[powder smoke]

Mus, do not know if you seen this or not lots of good stuff may help.ps

From ingot to traget: http://www.lasc.us/ArticlesFryxell.htm

 

[Mus408]

Well talked to Ruger and yes I should have known....

"We have a special note on shooting cast lead bullets in these guns.
Lead bullets will leave lead residue so be sure to clean it out"

I've read several articles on matching the lead hardness to pressure and powder
but I can shoot the same bullets at 8 to 9 gr. of Unique and no lead in the other guns.

Shot same bullets at up to 10. 5 grain in Ruger Blackhawk and no lead in it but in Alaskan even using a .454 bullet should have expanded the extra .001 for a seal you think?

So I'll stop beating on this and just use jacketed type bullets when I shoot it.
I have a bunch of 250 gr. XTP loaded up with 20 gr. of 2400 in .45 Colt I made up for it anyway but
it would have been nice to just shoot my regular Colt lead loads thru it too.

It's still a good shooter with 3 good shots here using the .454 dia. bullets in 45 Colt.

 

[tsubaki]

Think about powder coating.


Cheap toaster oven
Thermometer
Harbor Freight red powder
Bowl of Cool Whip
Roll of parchment paper

 

[RalphS]

A few words of advice -

1. Stop comparing it to your other guns. Every gun is different. You seem to be obsessed with using the exact same loads that don't lead your other guns.

2. Try some other bullets besides your super hard BHN 21 favorite loads. Missouri Bullet offers BHN 12 and BHN 18 bullets and they will size them to whatever you want.

 

[Mus408]

A few words of advice -

1. Stop comparing it to your other guns. Every gun is different. You seem to be obsessed with using the exact same loads that don't lead your other guns.

2. Try some other bullets besides your super hard BHN 21 favorite loads. Missouri Bullet offers BHN 12 and BHN 18 bullets and they will size them to whatever you want.

Well might give that a try.

I cleaned the Alaskan up today with my procedure being soak the bore with Ballistol and let sit for several hours and it cleans right up with some brush work.

Maybe problem child has a Glock barrel ! :shock:

 

[Snyd]

I cleaned the Alaskan up today with my procedure being soak the bore with Ballistol and let sit for several hours and it cleans right up with some brush work.

You're doin that the hard way. Get some Copper Chore boy. Cut some off and wrap it around your bore brush. Run it dry and it'll scrape the lead out in about one minute.

 

[DA_TriggR4Ruger]

My Toklat did this.

 

[Mus408]

My Toklat did this.

So what did you do to minimize the leading?

 

[Laserbait]

Both of my Supers in 454 Casull lead with light loads. Now, I only use lead bullets for near max loads with Lil'gun (going to try H110 when I get around to it), and jacketed for light loads.

 

[tsubaki]

See if these might interest you.
http://missouribullet.com/details.php?prodId=210&category=20&secondary=14&keywords=