Lead bullets in .30 Carbine for Blackhawk

[gunman42782]

So I purchased some lead bullets for my .30 Carbine Blackhawk from Missouri Bullet Co. 115 grain LRN, sized .309. Used brand new Starline brass. OAL was within specs. Several of them did not want to go all the way in the cylinder. I tried both full length sizing, and no FLS, as this is brand new brass. My suspension is that almost nobody loads lead bullets in the .30 carbine, that the cylinder throats are not big enough to accept the .309 bullets. My plan is to buy the bullet sizing die kit Lee makes in .308, run the bullets through that, then load them and see if that fixes the issue. Does this sound reasonable?

 

[Rat76]

Sounds reasonable to me. I cast my own with a Lee 308 mold & run thru a 308 sizer. No problems. I've also run 311s thru the 308 sizer with good results.

I have had the problem of some rounds not seating all the way. Cleaning the cylinders real good took care of that. I'd been loading on the light side which may have been the culprit.

 

[s4s4u]

So I purchased some lead bullets for my .30 Carbine Blackhawk from Missouri Bullet Co. 115 grain LRN, sized .309. Used brand new Starline brass. OAL was within specs. Several of them did not want to go all the way in the cylinder. I tried both full length sizing, and no FLS, as this is brand new brass. My suspension is that almost nobody loads lead bullets in the .30 carbine, that the cylinder throats are not big enough to accept the .309 bullets. My plan is to buy the bullet sizing die kit Lee makes in .308, run the bullets through that, then load them and see if that fixes the issue. Does this sound reasonable?

Did you slug the throats of your cylinder? Did you slug the bore of the barrel?

I would take one of those bullets and push it down the barrel and see what it measures after doing so. Hopefully it will be smaller than .309"

I would then take that "slug" and see if it passes easily through each throat of the cylinder.

Depending on the results, opening the throats might be in order, rather than downsizing the bullets.

 

[GasGuzzler]

Try seat and size separately or post size with a Lee die. I loaded .358" bullets in 9X19 brass for a Blackhawk and had a similar issue.

 

[kmoore]

Another possibility, you didn't cover or mention. On straight walled cases, when flaring or belling the mouth to accept the bullet. Sometimes you can do that too large and even when sized it will be too large and not slip into a cylinder. I have had that problem. I don't want to adjust the dies each round. So, when rounds are loaded I take time to drop them into the Lyman cartridge sizer. You could use the guns cylinder removed from gun to do the same. The ones that stick, set aside, unload and adjust the die a little and try again.
BTW, I did load lead bullets in a .30 carbine Blackhawk back in the mid 1970s. The reason was lower FPS practice loads. A few years later I found DA ,38 spl handguns and that Blackhawk sat in a gun cabinet for many years never fired again until it was traded off. Not that it was a bad gun, it was just not getting used. I shot many FMJ military loads through it to get brass to reload.

 

[Bruce51]

Interesting! I shoot lead all the time with no issues. Is this a new model BH? What is the OAL of the cases? I find many need trimmed. My OMBH can chamber and shoot 327 Federal so the chambers are quite generous in size. Last be sure the chamber throats are really clean as that really makes a big difference.

Bruce

 

[Paul B]

I concur with the post to check case length as trim to proper trim to length. I've done that with a cast semi-wadcutter bullet mold I have in .30 Caliber that I use in my old model .30 Carbine Blackhawk. I'll eventually have all my .30 Carbine brass at the same length. Probably the best reason for doing it is all crimps will even and that has to help accuracy.
Paul B.

 

[needsmostuff]

Did you slug the throats of your cylinder? Did you slug the bore of the barrel?

I would take one of those bullets and push it down the barrel and see what it measures after doing so.

Seriously, pin gauge measure those throats.
Mine were seriously undersized and uneven.
Very bad combo for lead.
But very easy to fix yourself. Takes a $20 chucking reamer and about 20 minutes.

I opened mine to .309 to get them even and they fit this bullet snuggly on the push thru test.

An added plus,,,,,, If you then get the .309 Lee bullet sizer die you can resize and use all the cool .312 bullets being made for 327/32mag.

As far as slugging the bore would certainly do that but not with a 'Hard" cast bullet. They are really difficult to pound thru and can get really stuck.
Oil the bore well and use a pure lead round ball or sinker.
The size will be fine but what I look for is the constriction by the frame that Ruger has gotten really sloppy about. You can easily feel it when pushing a ball thru.
If left unaddressed the gun will endlessly lead up while shooting,,,, But that too can be fixed.
After fixing these two things my gun is a wonderful lead shooter and leading is never a problem

 

[Rich/KY]

How are you crimping, my experience with straight cases has been to seat and crimp in separate steps for 45 ACP as it, like the carbine, headspaces on the case mouth. The advice to check you have remove all the case mouth flair is spot on. What length are you trimming to, 1.290 is max and 1.286 is suggested trim to length.
Take one of your bullets and drop it into each chamber on the cylinder and see if it pass through with little or no resistance. If not the throats may be undersize, if they go through then the problem is elsewhere.
You may need to taper crimp after seating, dies are available if you do.

 

[the_leper_colony]

If you're going to be running your cast bullets through a sizer anyway, these may be of interest:

https://www.sagesoutdoors.com/30-caliber-plain-base-aluminum-gas-checks/
I've used quite a few with 35 caliber cast bullets with good results, and I've got some of their 30 cal gas checks waiting to try out. As always FWIW, IMHO, YMMV, etc., etc...

 

[gunman42782]

Thanks for all the replies. I ended up sizing the lead bullets to .308 and now the seat just fine in the cylinder.