Got my first leading (after almost 40 years)

[ghh3rd]

I fired 150 .38 cal in my S&W snub and can see some leading in the barrel. Near the end of my session, I noticed that my groups opened up. It seems to all be in the breech.

These are 148 gr wadcutters from a Lee tumble lube mold with 2.7 gr of Bullseye. They had one coat of Lee Alox on them. They were made from 50% clip on and 50% stick on wheel weights.

Do you think putting a second coat of Alox will eliminate the fouling, or at least let me shoot more before fouling occurs?

In almost 40 years of shooting I've never had lead fouling. I've always used Hoppes #9 to clean my barrels, but suspect that it won't take the lead out. What is the easiest way to get rid of the lead -- another better solvent?

Thanks,

Randy

[44man]

I bet you seen a lot of smoke with each shot too. Does it make you wonder what the lube is doing in the bore?

[ghh3rd]

My first reloads were shot indoors. Actually I didn't see any extra smoke, but I could definitely smell the difference.

We're not supposed to shoot reloads at the indoor range I go to, but after casting and loading my first boolits I was too anxious to to wait to get to the outdoor range during the weekend.

I fired a few reloads at the indoor range. I was paranoid that the smell would alert the 'range police', and the fact that my wadcutters were cutting perfectly round holes in the paper didn't help either :smile:

[44man]

Try another lube to see if it stops leading.
I also believe a full wad cutter or a semi wad cutter with an under size nose hits the forcing cone with a square edge instead of the nose fitting to the cone to guide it. Might scuff lead off. At least every gun I had to clean for someone that was fed a diet of wad cutters were always packed with lead, even on the OUTSIDE from lead squirting out of the gap.
Also try straight WW's to harden them, water drop too and let them age.
Use a bronze bore brush. Hoppe's is fine. Get some Curly Kate pot scrubbers. (Make sure they are not plated steel.) Wrap a few strands around an old brush and scrub the bore.
You can soak the bore with Kroil overnight first, it might work under a lot of the lead.
Yeah, I know, we are all crazy shooting grease balls instead of bullets! :mrgreen:

[ghh3rd]

I have about 100 more all lubed up, and another 400 cast. Can I heat them in the oven (the unlubed ones :-) and then drop them into cold water? If this would work, I could continue to conserve my WW by mixing with my supply of PB.

If so, what temp do you recommend? How long do they have to age before trying them? What would you suggest as a next lube to try?

Thanks - Randy

[Recluse]

I use a 50/50 mix of LLA and JPW, thinned about 10% with mineral spirits. Have seen zero leading and superb accuracy in all boolits/calibers lubed this way.

As far as heat-treating, folks seem to heat the boolits up to around 400 - 425F. Not sure for how long, but when done cooking, most folks then dump them into a bucket of water for quenching.

If you do this, though, best to size the boolits fairly quick.

:coffee:

[EMC45]

I'd say do away with the stick ons and run pure clip ons and you should be good. IMHO.

[Echo]

Well - what is the diameter of the boolits? Are they fired as-cast, or do you size them? What is the bore diameter of your pistola? What is the diameter of the cylinder exits?

It seems to me that all leading problems are generally caused by firing a too-small boolit. If your boolits are smaller than the cylinder holes, you will have leading...

[ghh3rd]

Diameter of my boolits? Well that's a good question that I should be able to answer in a day or two, when my Midway order comes it. It includes a digital caliper - finally getting one so I'm not 'shooting in the dark'.

Thanks - Randy

[waksupi]

Diameter of my boolits? Well that's a good question that I should be able to answer in a day or two, when my Midway order comes it. It includes a digital caliper - finally getting one so I'm not 'shooting in the dark'.

Thanks - Randy

Hi randy. Hate to tell you, but you will most likely need a micrometer to really know your bullet diameter. It takes a real good caliper to get a good reading.

[UncleClark]

Regarding the heat treatment I have had good results heating the bullets in a toaster oven at "400"F for 30 minutes, then immediately quench in a tub of water. It seemed to take about 2 weeks for the treated bullets to reach full hardness.

I got the 30 minute number from an article in the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook.

The temp setting was determined by experiment. If I set the temp any higher the bullets will start to melt.

You can heat treat the ones already coated with Lee Alox, but they are going to smoke a bit and the Alox will turn dark. But just relube and shoot. I have done this with good results. Since I started heat treating my bullets I no longer have any problems with leading.

[farmerfish77]

Im not sure if it is the right way or not. What I have done in the past is fire some jacketed rounds and it seems to remove a lot of lead from the barrell. Don't know if this will work for you or not. Maybe someone else can tell me if there is a problem that could occur from doing this.

[jsizemore]

I heat treat my buckshot and boolits at 425 deg for 1 hour and then water quench.

Try this, www.lasc.us/HeatTreat.htm