.454 bullets the cure for lead?

[Mus408]

Had my Alaskan out yesterday and fired a few of my 315 gr. hard cast loads which are run with 10 gr. of Unique after shooting a few XTP 250 gr. loads.
Those 315's hit where I wanted and slam the steel gong good but leave a good bit of lead smeared on the small diameter of the bore right after the forcing cone area for about a 1/2 inch of bore travel.
Don't see much if any in the rifling grooves.

My other .45 Colts don't lead up using same hardness bullets but at lesser loads.
So is it the larger throat dia. of .454,which I measured the cause of this resulting in using the larger lead bullets for this gun?

When I shoot the 250 gr. Hornady XTP type bullet I don't notice any big copper build up.

 

[sasu]

I cannot comment on the leading, but I can confirm that my Super Redhawk 454 Casull also has 0.454" throats as measured with pin gauges. A 0.454" gauge goes into the throats, 0.455" does not.

My current task is to find an accurate load for the gun, my theory being that I have to bump bullets with a hot charge so that they fill the throat better. That means full power loads or soft bullets. The experiments have only begun so there is nothing special to report yet.

 

[Mus408]

I had heard that the leading may come from the hot gases not sealing around the bullet.
Anyway a bit of scrubbing with the bore brush with my Ballistol and it's shiny clean now.

 

[jsh]

Sounds like classic thread choke to me. Forcing cone or what ever the proper term, may have a burr in it or be rough.
99% of the time the leading moves reward, not towards the muzzle. It just snags,piles up and keeps building in the opposite direction the projectile is going.

Size is king. Then alloy or lube, which ever one wants to put second.
When a harder alloy shoots better than a soft or average wheel weight, you are just masking a problem, imho. This is for the most part.
A hard lube may be an issue. I have had better luck with a softer sticky lube. My thoughts are on the hydraulics end of it along with lubing. Hard lubes never worked for me.

I would say to try some of the "softer" loads and see what your results are.

I tried the powder coating and it is OK, but I don't see it as a cure all,YMMV. I am old school I guess, I have went back to sizing and lubing everything. Besides that is the last step in my quality control.

 

[Sagebrush Burns]

I am surmising that your load is a relatively light one for that cartridge. If so there is a good possibility that the bullet is too hard and not obturating well to seal the bore thus allowing some blow-by in the forcing cone area. Bevel base bullets and hard lube can also contribute to the problem.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

I cast 325 gr GC bullets for my .454's out of 50/50% WW/Lino. Sized .001+ over they can be ran up to max with no trace of leading, will penetrate the biggest Deer end to end. They (Deer) don't go far.

 

[steve8261948]

Sounds like a good case for fire lapping the bore to me?
Steve

 

[DGW1949]

I am surmising that your load is a relatively light one for that cartridge. If so there is a good possibility that the bullet is too hard and not obturating well to seal the bore thus allowing some blow-by in the forcing cone area. Bevel base bullets and hard lube can also contribute to the problem.

True that...plus, a hard cast GC bullet without a GC is not going to seal very well at it's base. I'm not saying that that's the problem here, I'm just saying that it's something to add to the list of possibilities.

DGW

 

[Mus408]

My 315 gr. bullets are GC and 10 gr. of Unique isn't what I would think is a light load.
I may just try some .454 sized bullets and see what happens.

My other .45's don't lead up after shooting 250-260 gr. hard cast bullets at the 8-9 gr. Unique power level.

 

[Dienekes]

Well, they were in my case. Had a NM .45 Convertible that leaded something awful at .452. Thought I was in big trouble. Dug out some old .454 sized Keith 250s (wheelwright metal) and my awful leading stopped right NOW. (Also had the chamber mouths uniformly reamed out.) My usual load is 8.5 gr. Unique. The combination shoots great and cleanup is quick and easy.

Life is just too short to fight excessive leading.

 

[Laserbait]

I always got leading when using light loads. Both of my 454 Redhawks stay squeaky clean as long as I use good heavy load like 24 grains of Lil'gun with a 350 grain hardcast bullet.