guess its time to try gas checks

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  • Last Post 16 May 2012
idahosawtooth posted this 14 May 2012

Just can't stop the leading with the keith type bullet in my 44 mag. I already posted some of the combos I have tried. My most recent efforts have been. Swithched to lyman #2 alloy. Bullet weights were 246 with this aloy compaired to 256ish with strait wheel weights. Switched from H110 to Alliant 2400 loaded from bottom to top loads getting leading even at lower velocity. Tried diffrent lube recipes. The latest is bees wax and synthetic 2 stroke oil. This gave me severe leading and terrible accuracy. Bees wax vasoline and lla, got the least leading and best accuracy with this. Also tryed bees wax and lithium grease, worked ok but no better than with vasoline, plus it stinks. Been reading through the lyman casting book not anymore info there than here or a cast boolits. The pistol is a ruger super blackhawk. Have read some things about the threaded end of the barrel being smaller I will asume that is the problem. My bullets are sized to .431 and take a firm push to fit through the cylinder throat.

Guess its time to start watching ebay for gas check bullet mold.

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Buzzard Bill posted this 14 May 2012

Had a friend with the same problem. He reamed the forcing cone and polished the barrel and the problem went away.

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delmarskid1 posted this 15 May 2012

I had a Blackhawk in .45 Colt it did the same thing. A friend fixed the forcing cone and most of the leading went away. Too bad you are having to deal with it. They are great handguns. I had a 4 5/8” Super Blackhawk and it never leaded to speak of. You'll get it figured out. I never would have futsed with mine as much as you have.

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CB posted this 15 May 2012

My current Redhawk it my first Ruger 44 that doesn't seem to have thread choke. I had to fire lap my Super Redhawk a lot to make it work. It would probably be best to slug your barrel to see if this is really the problem or if it's a bullet issue.

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onondaga posted this 15 May 2012

Polishing could very well help.

Another way to minimize the leading at this point in your adventure is to use a different method to select a powder. You can gather a lot of data and select the powder that has the lowest ballistic pressure in the load range that you set as a goal. I do this regularly and correlate my data to the strength of the alloy by the Lee method. I consider that very important for plain base bullets.

If you do real well you end up with a load that has low pressure for the velocity and your bullets will hold together better on firing and lead your bore less.

There are also plenty of loads with airspace in the cartridge. I see that as an opportunity to use BPI Original Ballistic Filler. It acts as a Quasi Gas Check on plain base bullets to stop or minimize leading. I am Currently shooting a 500S&W with BPI and LilGun at 1700 with a plain base 340 gr bullet in #2 and get zero leading in my Handi Rifle. Without the filler in that load, I get poor accuracy and leading.

Gary

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hunterspistol posted this 15 May 2012

:coffee     Had the same problem with my 41 magnum but, I'd been shooting some factory loads before that.  I had to clean ALL the copper fouling out, switched to a gas check mold.  But I think that the one thing that made a difference was the size!  The gas check mold is .001” smaller than the other plain base mold.  It doesn't sound like it would make that much difference but, with copper fouling, it sure did.  It dragged that lead all through the rifling!  When I got it cleaned up, it stays that way.  Even the larger plain-based bullets shoot in it now!

     Good Luck,

           Ron

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idahosawtooth posted this 16 May 2012

I have some lapping compound, maybe I could try lapping the barrel. Anyone ever try the lapping bullets, I know they make them for rifles not sure about pistol calibers.

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onondaga posted this 16 May 2012

http://www.castbulletassoc.org/view_user.php?id=6224>idahosawtooth:

Lapping can do wonders if you really need it, but something much simpler make work very well for you too. Here is a link to a post I submitted on the bore polishing method I use. It will completely remove all lead and copper from your bore and polish the bore:

http://www.castbulletassoc.org/viewtopic.php?id=8364&forumid=63

Gary

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Michael K posted this 16 May 2012

Another variable to consider checking would be the throat dia on your chambers along with slugging your barrel. In the event the bore dia is larger that the cylinder throat(s) switching to a GC bullet may not produce much improvement and the bullets will still rattle down the barrel, I sent 2 BH clyinders off to the cylindersmith and them reamed. In my opinion it was money well spent, $75 plus shipping. That might cover a new mould and a box of GCs. All the best, Michael.

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idahosawtooth posted this 16 May 2012

Thanks for all the good info. I have sluged the barrel .429 and the cylinder a touch over .431 sizing bullets .431. I will keep trying to work through it all I'll keep you all updated with the battle.

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Pigslayer posted this 16 May 2012

I have a Ruger Blackhawk in .45 Colt. The bore is .451 & I size to .452 and use a gascheck. My throat dia. is a little larger than my bore. I get no leading & great accuracy. I use a Lyman 255 gr. SWCGC. I lube w/SPG & I charge w/8.0 gr. Unique. CCI Large Pistol primer. I speculate that the GC will make a difference. Good luck!! I just realized something. I bought this gun on consignment and it looked as though it had never been fired. Meaning no copper buildup from jacketed bullets. I have never shot anything but cast bullets through it. That's probably why it's so clean.

Pat

If someone else had of done to me what I did to myself . . . I'd have killed him. Humility is an asset. Heh - heh.

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hunterspistol posted this 16 May 2012

:coffee I have never shot anything but cast bullets through it. That's probably why it's so clean.

       << My 44 Special has never had a copper round through it, all lead and no problems at all.   I'm going to stop ever buying that extra box of ammo with the gun.  It's become useless.

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