More on lite .44 Mag & leading.

[Murphy]

Took time during lunch today to check my cylinder throats on my Model 29. I took a an un-sized #429421 and tried slipping it through the throats...'no go'.

I then sized the boolit to .430 and tried all the cylinder throats again. Interestingly, it took a fair little shove get them through thru the cylinder throats. I didn't (and probably should have before posting this) check the boolit dia. after running the .430 dia's through the cylinder throats. But...by all indications, I'd say they are probably very close to being .430 dia.

What say Ye'?

Murphy

[NVcurmudgeon]

My 629 8 3/8" has throats of .4295 to .430". Groove diameter is "slightly smaller" according to my loading notebook. (Can't get an accurate measure of the five-groove slug without a special tri-mike, but the groove slug is close to throat diameter when pushed through the cylinder.) I size to nominal .431" (actual .4307") with ACWW + 2% tin. No leading @ 950 fps. My Keith boolit is the RCBS version. If I had to guess I would try sizing .431" or not at all, and if that didn't work, softer metal. HTH.

[Bass Ackward]

Murphy,

You could hand that gun to 5 different people with a set of mikes and get 5 different answers. There are many .... styles to shooting handgun bullets. I continue to try the entire gambit. In fact I have another sizer do in today.

The bottom line to leading is not so simple. I can find generalities about sizing and hardness that "tend" to work better than others. In the end, you can always make something work with an altered reloading technique and by the same token, you can screw up perfection.

When I usually see leading as you describe, 99% of the time it is a gun break in issue. My Redhawk had the same propensity in exactly the same location. I was rushing to get to the lead stage when I had to go back to some 300 grainers and correct my alignment. I got a lot of burrs around the cylinder stop slot on two chambers. Once I scraped those off with a sharp knife, I was in business.

But this is easy to test. Just pick a couple of chambers and fire how ever many shots it takes for you to normally see leading. Chances are that you won't see any on some chambers and a lot more on the one or others that are causing your problem. If so, don't feel bad about your gun. This is fairly normal. You simply haven't broken in yet.

I just purchased another Redhawk last week with a 5 1/2" barrel. That makes two. Both of these guns, virtually brand new, had lead in the barrels. You could tell they were new because of the bluing on the contact points in the frame and in the bore. Both barrels were leaded. So I got two new (unused) guns at fairly good discounts because someone rushed the process. :grin:

[Larry Gibson]

Took time during lunch today to check my cylinder throats on my Model 29. I took a an un-sized #429421 and tried slipping it through the throats...'no go'.........What say Ye'?

Murphy


Most revolver throats have a small taper to them. Note the .430 bullets probabably went halfway or more into the throats (from chamber to front) before they stopped.

"What say ye?"; Try this, take 20 unsized bullets and rub some alox/beeswax lube (Javelina, Lee's etc.) into the lube groove. Load them over 8.5 gr of Unique (or if you want a really nice lite load; 5 gr Bullseye) and go shoot them. See if you get any leading. Bet you won't.

There is no super secret high tech explanation to your leading problem. The lube you are using is failing at the low velocity you are looking for. Finding the answer is as simple as the test above.

Larry Gibson

[MikeG]

I load em from 900 - 1300 fps in my S&W 629, and all my leading problems are history since I started using Lee Alox lube. Pour just 10-20 drops over 100 bullets, swish them around and pour them out over wax paper; let dry overnight and your ready to load.

My 45 Autorim loads are from 830-1040 fps with not leading.

I shoot em at near 1600 fps out of my .45 M92 rifle with no leading.

I use Alox on all my cast bullets.

Mike G.