First slugged barrel and questions

[LittleBill]

Today I was able to finally get to slugging a barrel. I have a .44 mag revolver with a 2 1/2" ported barrel. I was given about 700-800 cast boolits by a friend of mine a long time ago, before I learned about barrel slugging, etc. He also gave me gas checks, and so I bought a Lee sizer to size the boolits and install the gas checks. The Lee sizer sizes the boolits to .430 - they are cast right around .432 for the ones I chose at random.

So after two tries with two chunks of lead, I think I got an accurate measurement. The barrel measures .430. Does this mean I am sizing the boolits to be too small? I haven't shot a bunch of rounds out of this thing yet, probably only about 50-60. I did not see anything that appeared to be leading in the barrel itself, but...

I am getting some serious leading coming out of the ports. Is this going to be a fact of life for shooting cast out of a ported gun? I also recently acquired a ported Marlin 1894 in .357 mag that I want to shoot cast out of. Will that be a problem?

Do I need a different sizer? Do I need to size them at all? If not, how would I get the gas checks installed? And finally, how does velocity affect all of the above? I know this is asking a lot for one post. I am doing a lot of reading, but sometimes I think my brain is going to explode.

Oh yeah. I have seen some people write slug the barrel, while other say no. Then there are the ones who write slug only the barrel, while others say the chambers also need to be slugged. This is just some of the stuff that makes my head go funny. :???:

[turmech]

For me I size the bullets so they take very little pressure to be pushed by hand through the cylinder throats. I think of it this way if I size the bullets larger than cylinder throats the cylinder will size them anyway.

When you get into problems you have throats smaller than your barrel.

I don't use gas checks for 44 mag and push them to 1400+ fps. You do need the right alloy and lube and throats as large or larger than your barrel

[turmech]

And to one of your other questions. My marlin 444 does not lead at the porting, but that is my only gun with a ported barrel (that I can think of).

[LittleBill]

For me I size the bullets so they take very little pressure to be pushed by hand through the cylinder throats. I think of it this way if I size the bullets larger than cylinder throats the cylinder will size them anyway.

When you get into problems you have throats smaller than your barrel.

I don't use gas checks for 44 mag and push them to 1400+ fps. You do need the right alloy and lube and throats as large or larger than your barrel

Thank you. When you write, "right alloy", what do you mean? In other words, what alloy are you using?

[turmech]

For 44 mag I use WW. I water drop them straight from the mold. Knowing what I know now I might not water drop them and just air cool, but I have the loads worked up and I like them and see no need to change. Both too hard and too soft can cause problems just depends on the load and gun.

I don't think you said what your load was or if the bullets you got seemed hard or soft. I just mentioned the alloy sometime has to match the load.

In other calibers like 45 acp and 38 special for me the alloy has not made much difference and I cast what ever softer mystery mix I may have.

For my 38 sw load I cast pretty soft as I need the bullet increase in size to fill the barrel.

Your lube can cause issues as most commercial is reportable too hard. I can not comment as I have never bought commercially cast bullets.

[Lefty SRH]

Need to check the size of the cylinder throats, heofully they are larger than .430". If the revolver is a Ruger they are more than likely .431"-.432". If they are .432 then just load the boolits without sizing them, just need to lube them.
As far as your ported barrel, they are notorious to spit debris when shooting any type of bullet. Ive been hit with **** from both cast and jacketed bullets from ported guns. May want to tell the person next to you to move while you shoot.

[Lefty SRH]

I use air cooled COWW (clip on wheel weight) alloy for my .44mags (up to 1450fps) and specials with ZERO leading problems. They are also plain base boolits, not gas checked. A correctly sized boolit is one of the most important issue to control for accuracy and leading.

[turmech]

And I never said but I size mostly 430 for my 44 but also shoot 432 bullets in my 44 that I cast mainly for my 444. Neither size has leaded the barrel and for me I get better results with 430. I have I guess been lucky and keep it simple and so far not had many issues. So far my guns have not been too picky.

[LittleBill]

Thanks for the replies guys. I went back to the shop after posting, and fooled around with my slug again, and even slugged the barrel again. I am pretty sure now it is .429, but I could be off. Why? The barrel apparently has five grooves. Try getting a good measurement off that! It does not help that I have huge paws. An N frame in my hand is like a J frame for a lot of folks. Getting hold of that itty bitty slug and holding it to measure it is no fun atall. For the record, the gun in question is a Smith and Wesson 629.

The boolits I am using are of unknown mix. They were given to me by a friend whose uncle cast them years ago. He doesn't shoot .44 mag, and was not interested in melting them down. I am not sure why. At this point I figure I will load up some more and see how the barrel handles them. As I wrote in my OP, the barrel did not seem to be leading up, although the front sight was covered in lead. I guess that is the porting.

[MtGun44]

Throat diam is more critical than groove diam. If throat is groove or larger, then size to throat or
throat +.001, Mr. Target will tell which is best. If the throat is smaller than groove diam then
you are likely to have problems with cast. Test firing will tell.

Aircooled wwts will be fine. GCs are not needed.

Bill

[runfiverun]

if they take gas checks put them on.
before i get all worried about slugging and measuring i just go shoot some boolits.
things point themselves out right quick that way.

[turmech]

I was just thinking exactly what was posted about putting the gas check on. When I said I did not use gas checks I should have been more clear and said I don't use molds which cast bullets that require gas checks when casting specificity for my 44 revolver. If a 44 rifle or 444 gas check would be more needed.

If the bullet design has a gas check it would do best with the gas check.

[Mal Paso]

Slug the Cylinder throats Too. If your Cylinders are a thou or two larger than your groove you'll want to size to just push through the throats. A number of 629s have small throats. Mine were .428" to .4285. I eventually reamed mine .431"

[LittleBill]

Thanks for the continued responses guys. I am also learning the differences in different lubes and how they can affect this.