>44 Mag Barrel Leading

[sailorb]

I took my SBH Hunter to the range yesterday to try some new loads. I used Vance 240 gr LSWC bullets and either 7.5 gr of Universal or 8.0 gr of Unique. Both shot well at 25 yds with the Universal load being the best. When I got home and started to clean up, it looked like something pooped in my barrel. The first 2 inches in front of the forcing cone were terrible. I have had this gun for about 4 years and never experienced this before. I have shot this bullet using cowboy action loadings with great sucess. I have shot a bunch of other stuff with stiff loads and no leading, although they were different brands of bullets. Are these too soft for the loads? I think these guys are a sort of regional caster out of Tennesssee. They sell bullets at the gun show here in Indianapolis and I ahve always had good luck with them in many calibers. At the last show, they did comment on the fact that they were having a harder time finding lead to cast out of. Maybe this is a result of that. I know I have seen posts here about leading, and if where it is in the barrel and why, I just can't find them now.
The bottom line is I got the barrel clean finally and don't want to do it again!

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I'm no expert but from what I've learned here on RugerForum I would guess the "hard cast" wadcutters aren't bumping-up with the light loads you are shooting and you are getting some blow-by causing leading at the first part of the barrel. Max load with Universal and 240gr LSWC is about 10gr. I would say try a little more oomph with those bullets.

...Jimbo

 

[DGW1949]

I'm going with what Jimbo said.
And if that's the case, you can bet a dollar to a doughnut that the lube they came with aint right neither.

If ya want to try coating them with Alox, sometimes that makes a perty-good crutch when the bullet aint suited to the load just right. Might be better than loading hotter. On the other hand, that's up to you....but one thing's for certain, trying the Alox-thing is cheaper than buying more (new) bullets.

Hope this helps.

DGW

 

[sixshot]

Try dropping one of those slugs in each cylinder throat, you might have some undersized bullets. I use .431" in all my 44's. It has to be that or too hard for the velocity you're running them as has already been mentioned.

Dick

 

[Boxhead]

Good advice above. I have moved to Titegroup for my "reduced" loads as it still runs up there in pressure and has proven to be very accurate in a number of guns and calibers. I suspect that high pressure is helping to obturate the slug hence the accuracy I am experiencing. This with some old rock hard cast .431" slugs with crayola lube given to me years ago.

 

[Big Bubba]

Usually if you get leading in the forcing cone and a little bit forward, the bullet is too hard, pressures are too low, bullet is too small, or the cylinder throats are too tight and are swaging the bullet down too small. Sometimes the forcing cone is too rough or has too abrupt and angle and needs to be recut.

I too have taken some hard cast bullets and rolled them in Lee liquid Alox, and sometimes it makes them shoot better. Bump the powder charge up a little may help.

Most commercial cast slugs are way to hard for low or mid-range loads.

 

[WESHOOT2]

Penn Bullets.

 

[revhigh]

You can't run a soft bullet too fast, or a hard bullet too slow ....

Words to remember.

REV

 

[357Nut]

Maybe "can't" should be replaced with "shouldn't". I kept thinking you had it wrong then realized you meant you "can't without running into problems". As it read I first took it to mean you can't run a soft bullet too fast as in it could take high speeds with no worries.