Ruger 41 mag leading

[tommyn]

I have a Ruger 41 mag that leads beyond belief. I am casting bullets from a Lee SWC mold . I'm using a lyman sizing die in my sizer and luber .410 and bullets come out at .409. I lubed some unsized bullets with Alox and wow the leading was unreal. I had a hard time getting it out with a Lewis lead remover. I have not been water dropping my bullets and am planning on doing that now. I am using WW. My question is I would love to send my lee mold and lyman sizing die to someone who could lap the mold and die so that I got .411 or .412 bullets. Is this logical? I just started casting after 30 years not and am finding leading using WW where it didn't happen before. Help this newbe. Thanks

[targetshootr]

I think it's due to the boolit size compared to the cylinder throat size. It might be a good idea to check the throats and then size your boolits just a skosh bigger. Skosh is a technical term meaning .001. (I think). And check the bore size too. My 4 5/8" Ruger om 41 shoots well even though I haven't checked any of those things.

:castmine:

[beagle]

Beagle it up and find a .412" sizer somewhere. I shoot that diameter in mine and no leading./beagle

[jhalcott]

I think .409 is a bit small for the .41 mag bore. Call Lyman and see if the will exchange your die. A cheap Lee push thru might be an economical remedy. If needed you can lap one of them out a thousandth or so. First you need to KNOW what diameter the bore and cylinder throats are. The bullets should JUST push thru the throats under finger pressure, NOT drop thru on their own weight.

[docone31]

I agree with the sizing, however my Rugers have had rough bores also.
Have you shot jacketed through it, enough to break in the barrel?
I might consider getting a fishing sinker and slugging the barrel. At least you will know exactly where you stand. Once you know the bore, then you can accurately size. Water dropping is my favourite means in casting, both rifle, and pistol.
Leading is a pain for sure. I like to have some jacketed to plow through my bores after a session. Less lead for later.
Slug it so it is not by gosh and by golly bore sizing. I was lucky. When I first started casting, I lucked out. I already had a size that worked before I found this forum. My .303, not so. It took slugging. I did not want to do it, but, it was simpler than I thought. I have considered lapping that way also.

[GLynn41]

You might also changing you alloy with harder being somewhat larger--example - LBT mold with ww runs .411- adding harder metal brought it up to .4125 not much but it can make a big diffference

[dakotashooter2]

Gotta agree with all of the above. My Ruger prefers bullets around .411-.4115. And leaded less after I had the throats reamed.
What is your bullet size as dropped? Even before the work on my gun I was able to shoot lee SWC as dropped w alloy lube and saw very little leading.

My Ruger does not like bevel base bullets though. They tend to lead like all getout.

[Blkpwdrbuff]

Check your chambers, I'll bet you have a couple at least .408-.409.
Then have them all reamed out to .410.
Size your bullets .413 and don't look back.
My .41 mag Blackhawk suffered the same problem. No longer.
I wish I had done it years ago!

Blkpwdrbuff:castmine:

[**oneshot**]

I had the same problem, slugged the cylinders and had to get a sizer that would size to .411. That solved all the problems. My sized boolits now require a little push through the cylinder where before they would just slide right through.

[Lloyd Smale]

could be the size the alox or the alloy or a combination of all of them. Id first try a totaly different bullet cast out of your ww alloy and sized to 410 and conventionaly lube (not tumble lubed). Make sure its 410 as just because a die is marked 410 is no guarantee that thats what you have. Most of the 41 rugers ive shot have been good shooters out of the box so i have to doubt if its a matter of having a gun that has poor tolarances.

[tommyn]

I tried jacketed bullets and it shoots very poorly. Accuracy isn't there. I have tried other bullets some from different molds. Some were sized in another sizing die marked .410 and I tried some of Mark Taylor's heavy 41 bullets. I believe its just a bad Ruger so selling it and have found a Bisley Hunter model 41 mag to try and buy. Thanks all for advise.