Muzzle Break and Cast Bullets

[Chiefs50]

I recently picked up a 14", .45 70 barrel for my Contender pistol. This is the Hunter barrel with the factory muzzle brake. I had planned to use this a cast shooter. Is the fact that the barrel has a muzzle brake going to be problematic? I seem to remember some guys claiming a braked barrel would not be a good candidate for Pb.

Thanks,

Mike

[stubert]

I have a Super blackhawk that was magnaported back in 1985 or so. I have been shooting cast for years and the only problem I have is the front sight getting dirty on the sides from the gasses. It shoots real good.

[selmerfan]

I shot hundreds of cast boolits through my .357 Maximum Encore barrel with a Ross Schuler brake on it with no problems, great accuracy. Shoot away!

[geargnasher]

It's not safe to shoot a gun with a muzzle break. You should have it re-barreled by a competent gunsmith first ;-)

Gear

[The Double D]

I use to work for company that made and installed Muzzlebrakes. We fire all kinds of bullets including lead. No adverse affects.

You have crappy bullets or load and you will get lead wash just like you will get barrel leading.

Gear,

Don't under stand your comment about MB's being unsafe? They do have there issues, but unsafe, isn't one I of them?

[whisler]

Muzzle brake or muzzle break? That's what the smilie was about on Gear's post, I think

[stubshaft]

I have fired thousands of boolits through MB's and have never had a problem.

[geargnasher]

Muzzle brake or muzzle break? That's what the smilie was about on Gear's post, I think

Correct. Just a little chiding. Other than semi-permanent lead wash in the slits no problems with brakes or compensators in my experience.

Gear

[Chiefs50]

Thanks for the responses. Sorry about the "Break/Brake" mixup - don't know what I was thinking.

Mike

[41magfan]

I seem to remember a thread not long ago where somebody was getting hit in the side of the face with something with every shot. Turned out to be lube if I remember right. Don't recall the gun/brake being used. Just wear your glasses.

[geargnasher]

If bystanders are getting hit with debris from the compensator, they would be getting hit with the blast anyway in the case of shooting jacketed bullets, and something is wrong with that whole situation the way I see it. Same goes for cylinder gap.

Gear

[firefly1957]

I had a S&W model 28 that would spit jacket with 158 gr bullets made me very unpopular at the range. It never did it with lighter bullets the timing was good but cylinder gap was large at .018. That gun would shoot 4 inch 50 yd groups all day with 110 gr bullets. Shooting it at night was a blinding experience especially with my favorite load of AL-8.

I have shot lead bullets out of a Magnaported barrel with no problems except a grey stain on front sight. The barrel is a contender in 357-44 and is better suited with Jacketed bullets than cast.

[XWrench3]

i shoot cast pb through my marlin guide gun (with a muzzle brake) all the time with no ill effects. i do not know about shooting paper patched boolits. the paper may catch in the ports, and cause a restriction. but as for regular and gas checked boolits, they work fine in my rifle.

[Moonie]

I seem to remember a thread not long ago where somebody was getting hit in the side of the face with something with every shot. Turned out to be lube if I remember right. Don't recall the gun/brake being used. Just wear your glasses.

I believe that was a custom shop S&W 500 X frame

[pdawg_shooter]

i shoot cast pb through my marlin guide gun (with a muzzle brake) all the time with no ill effects. i do not know about shooting paper patched boolits. the paper may catch in the ports, and cause a restriction. but as for regular and gas checked boolits, they work fine in my rifle.

Been shooting patched bullets in my 1985g with ports without any problems. Just a few over 6000 now. Works fine.

[quilbilly]

I have two Contenders handguns and one TCR all with the T/C muzzle brakes and have not had any problems with any using cast boolits. I have noticed that there is a specific velocity with each weapon where the unpleasant muzzle blast caused by the brake kicks in. With the TCR (338 Winmag) that velocity is between 1640 and 1800 fps. With the 10" 7mm TCU it is about 1500. You will have to find out that velocity in yours for yourself whatever it may be but it will be in the velocity range where your CB's will be happy.
Knowing what I know now I would not have had the muzzle brake put on any of them if I had been using CB's at the time. That came with experience.

[bbqncigars]

I have the same barrel on my TC, and I've never had a problem shooting boolits.

[The Double D]

Correct. Just a little chiding. Other than semi-permanent lead wash in the slits no problems with brakes or compensators in my experience.

Gear

Sorry, the batteries were going dead in my hearing aid and I didn't hear the spelling and smilie. :)

[nicholst55]

I used to have an old High Standard .22 pistol with a factory muzzle brake in my Arms Room many moons ago. It was thoroughly leaded up. I have no idea of how many hundreds of thousand rounds it had pass down the bore, though.

[DragoonDrake]

I have the same barrel. All I shoot out of it is cast. 340-500 grain bullets. I shoot about 100 rounds between cleaning. I get a little lead build up in the brake. I use hoppe's lead remover and an old toothbrush and it comes right out.

[AZ-Stew]

I hope this isn't considered "piling on".

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=778140&postcount=8

That said, I have a Contender .45-70 barrel that I had ported. No problems. I also have a Taurus Titanium Tracker .41 Magnum that's factory ported. The front sight and the milled recess around the three ports on each side collect a bit of lead while shooting plain-base boolits, but it's not a problem. I don't own a GC mould for .41, so I can't test it with 'checks. I suspect that as long as you use a 'checked boolit you won't have any issues.

Regards,

Stew

[Swede44mag]

I have a Tarus Raging Bull in .454 I have shot RCBS 255-KT boolits in it. It leads a lot it spits a lot after a few cylinders full it wont rotate anymore. It builds up in the Ports on the Muzzle Break so I quit shooting lead boolits in it anymore. I had to scrape out the lead in the Muzzle Break I think the problem was/is the boolit lube I have been using. It is some hard and brittle stuff I got from C&H a long time ago. I am going to try with some Carnuba Red when I get it.

It don't hurt to try worst you can have to do is dig out a scraper.

[Chiefs50]

Thanks for the reassurance. The .45 70 is the only one of my Contender barrels that has a brake. I just loaded up a few cases with the 350 grain Lee bullet (casts at 352 grains/.458 with my alloy) and 44.2 grains of IMR 4895. I tumble lubed with a Lee Alox/Johnson Past
Wax/mineral spirits lube. I'm hoping this will be a relatively mild load that will be fun to shoot. Of course it will be fun only if it is accurate too. We'll see.

Mike

[ricksplace]

I have a brake on my .458 Win, 375H&H, and 416 Rem. I shoot cast through all of them and never have any leading build up on the brakes. With porting, the boolit touches the ports whereas with a brake, the boolit never touches the brake.