ballard land leading at muzzel

[ffffg]

I have a 1951 35 remington.. and have been experiencing leading on the lands. rifeling is quite deep and can give problems at breach due to very short lead, but doest seem to be a big problem, unless this slight fouling on lands there have been causing leading on the muzzel lands.

(it shoots best loaded short, the gas check is below the neck. could this be a problem?)

bore is .360 - 3605 measured with muzzel slug. it shot under 2 inches at 100 last time out with .360 sizer, but by no means is the average, it can vary and be real ugly with same loads ( not consistent).. i have been using .359 sizer before muzzel slug, with poor success of course,


probably will order a .361 sizer from buffalo and expander, what size expander should i get for the .361 sizer, .359 with a .362 step up? (thaat will bet max diameter for bullets being cast).

My main question is why am i getting leading on the lands at the muzzel? Unless the deep rifling is cutting too deep into the bullet not giving the lands enough lube (meaning bullet grooves too shallow?)

i do not wish to go to hard cast!!!!. just wheel weights plus 1 percent tin.. cast hardness 9, highest hardness 12, current hardness 10.5 . This is over about 4-5 week span. wheel weights are not conistent by any means, for me anyway..I could go to 2 percent tin? thanks for any comments. dave

[williamwaco]

If it is happening only at the muzzle, you could be running out of lube but I expect a different cause.

That old boy has fired a zillion jacketed bullets.

I expect if you clean that bore diligently and get it bright and clean then look into the bore from the muzzle end with a strong light, you will see a copper wash on the lands.

If your bore is actually .3605, I doubt that you will get good results with a .361 bullet.
After you decide on your bullet diameter, ask buffalo what size expander to get.


Making the bullets harder will not help and might even make it worse if you are using light loads.

[Paul Tummers]

Think William is right on that, certainly with the use of harder lead your problem will not be solved. Just for fun, get some under-size bullets and paper-patch them and look at the results of that maybe?

[Shiloh]

+1 for running out of lube.

Have you slugged just the muzzle end? Is it the same?? Just curious.

Shiloh

[ffffg]

what diameter would you suggest for a .3605 bore?

I suspected the copper fouling also and give it a good dose of 762 before this and did get some blue out but ill do it again.. Im hoping your right..that would be too easy. thanks dave

[ffffg]

all i did was slug the muzzel. afraid of getting the darn bullet stuck to go all waythru..

(the lands are pretty rough, but washborded down pretty much from all that shooting over the years... Ill give a real good double dose of 762 tonight and see if that helps.. thanks dave

[williamwaco]

what diameter would you suggest for a .3605 bore?

I suspected the copper fouling also and give it a good dose of 762 before this and did get some blue out but ill do it again.. Im hoping your right..that would be too easy. thanks dave

I have always had best results with .002 over.

Lyman offers a .360 and .363.
In my experience they are almost .0005 over the stated diameter. I would not risk the .363.

I expect you will have to buy a smaller die and lap it.

BUT.

Test what you have before messing up a new die. Occasionally something that absolutely cannot work - Does!

[Wayne Smith]

How much you wanna bet that your muzzle is slightly enlarged due to aggressive cleaning? Although, with the bore in that condition most anything is possible.

[44man]

Most old guns have rod wear. Old guys used aluminum jointed rods too. Nothing goes in my guns except hard steel, one piece rods with a muzzle protector. Even cleaning from the breech will have the rod fall against the end of the barrel when the jag exits. Aluminum will load with dust, etc and you might have a rat tail file.
Even my muzzle loaders are cleaned with a steel rod, rotating jag and a muzzle protector. My short starters have muzzle protectors on them.
Yet I have to consider a lube loss or failure with leading at the end too.
Consider using Ben's red or Felix in the .35, great caliber. I have been using both in my 30-30 with great results. Try getting away from any Alox. I swear it burns and leaves ash to pick up lead.
You will find opinions about a copper wash and lead but copper should be removed before cast.
A few will say to shoot jacketed to clean out leading but the bullet can run over leading and pack it so tight, you can't remove it all.

[44man]

The deep rifling is exactly what you want for cast. New micro groove rifling will be about .003" deep and so is the Ballard rifling pushed by Marlin, it is not the same as the good old guns. I would rather have a Marlin made in 1892 then a new one.

[Larry Gibson]

ffffg

Add the 2% tin to your COWWs. It will give you a better alloy and make the bullets a bit harder.

What bullet?

What lube?

What load (powder/gr)?

Larry Gibson