The results are in

[High Desert Hunter]

I fired 30 rounds of the .310 sized bullets over 5gr of Unique from the Ruger 32/20. They still leaded a bit, but no where near as much as before, and there was only one chamber that had a bit of lead on the shoulder. Didn't really shoot for accuracy, but was able to bounce a pop can around at 35 yards. Not certain about the whole affair, as the concensus seems to be that I should have a .312 barrel, so when I can afford it, I may invest in a .312 sizer die, after all the .310 should work for a 30-30, or even an '06. It was pretty chilly, only about 36 degrees, much better than the 10 it was this morning. Will have to load up a bunch more and do more testing, I will be casting with the RCBS 98gr mould next week, it and the 405gr GC 45/70 bullet. One thing of interest, set up a box full of dirt to try and catch a bullet or two to see how they looked, they whipped through 10" of dirt at 15 yards like it wasn't there, found one of the SWC bullets lying on top of the dirt about 25 yards downrange, good sharp rifling marks.

Dave Beeman :lovebooli

[Bman]

Dave, take a real close look at your dimentions. I read an article I think from Taffin about this sort of thing and from chamber to muzzle you want a funnel. Your chamber throats should be just over bullet and bore size . Except the forcing cone the bore should be the smallest. If you are getting leading in the chamber throat and / or forcing cone then the breech end of the barrel it might be that you have an easily remedied problem. And your sharp rifling marks should be there if the bullet obturates once in the bore. But the leading will occur between the time an undersized bullet enters the bore until it slugs up and seals it. I found out the hard way about all this with a .45 Colt. I couldn't hit any part of the barn from the inside and leaded like crazy. My throats were .002 undersized compared to bore size. I did find a load or two that worked much better with soaft bullets but nothing really satisfactory until I reamed my throats to ~.4525 .4535. Hate to keep harping but until you know for sure what you are working with you might spend, like I did, a lot of time on loads instead of shooting good ones.

[High Desert Hunter]

One quick question, the leading in the chamber, is not near the mouth, it is literally back where the shoulder slope begins. Why is this? I have dealt with the Ruger .45Colt issue, I have one that was good straight from the factory (Accu-Sport Bisley), and an older New Model that was not, I opened the chamber throats to .4525 and it helped considerably. The leading in the barrel is towards the throat, but was very light when compared to before with the .314 bullets. I will invest in some sinkers and see what I come up with.

Dave Beeman

[Bman]

In the chamber at the beginning of the throat I think is an undersized throat indicator. If I recall lead there is actually rubbed off the bullet as it sizes down to throat size. Also while I'm not sure of this I think that is more pronounced if your chambers are generous and throats are small. I noticed it mostly on the base pin side of the chamber. I was mostly shooting the Lee 310gr FNGC seated in the nose most crimp groove. Using a .452 sizer the nose would not chamber in the rear groove now it's just dandy. All the lead bullets I used did the same thing though Lee 255 gr SWC and 228 RNL, even some store bought Speer's gave me problems. The only build up I get on the throat step now is lube/powder residue between the case mouth and throat proper.

Yep I'd start with some sinkers and go from there.