What do I need to do to avoid leading of the barrel?

[andym79]

Hi guys, I am going to start reloading light loads in .30-30 (WIN 94) with a 165grn RNFP bullet and H4198 18grns!

The bullets I will be using have a 16 Brinell Hardness and will be cast with no gas check! So I estimate around 23000 will be the pressure at which they need a gas check. And with 18grns of H4895 pressure should only reach 18000!

What else do I need to consider to avoid leading of the barrel?

[pdawg_shooter]

Paper patch!

[725]

Clean out ALL the old copper. I use janitorial strength ammonia. (10 %) Patch 'till the green goes away and follow up with oil. Any hardware store for the ammonia.

Then make sure of the proper sizing for the boolits.

[gundownunder]

Bullet lube, enough of the right type of lube to last for the bullets entire trip down the barrel, from chamber to muzzle.

[shooting on a shoestring]

Don't be afraid of getting a leaded barrel. If you choose your boolit size to fit your throats, don't try to go fast before you feel your way up there, use a decent lube, you'll be fine. If you do get leading, just brush it out. I've never needed anymore than about 25 strokes of a tight bronze brush to tackle any leading I've ever had. Just shoot and keep an eye on your bore condition ever 4 or 5 shots and you'll get your confidence up.

[canyon-ghost]

Agreed, clean out the copper a few times (clean it more than once with brushes). And, you can start each shooting session with a light coat of oil in the bore.

I'd take it slow and easy working up a good load, start low and work up slowly by each tenth of a grain. When you hit that exact tenth grain where the group gets tiny, you'll know. Then your load will shoot it's most accurate (regardless of velocity and pressure estimates- each gun is a little bit different and the load works better tuned for it. )

[MtGun44]

FIT is king. You should start with a .310 or .311 diameter. For that gun try 311041, which
was specifically designed for .30-30. Start with NRA 50-50 lube. Start with something
moderate in 2400 or Unique. Once you are getting that to work, then you can start pushing
a bit more, experiementing with lubes and all that other fun stuff - but start out 'in the
middle" where the cliffs are far away and success is highly likely.

Bill

[Dirty30]

I have shot boolits without gas checks through my 30-30, don't be afraid to use a little lube, including across the base. I make my own, but Lee liquid alox has always done right by me.

[Markbo]

That's funny... everyone recommends using 'a good lube' but nobody recommended one except Bill! :mrgreen:

[pdawg_shooter]

A good lube...BAC from White Lable.

[Boerrancher]

I just sized and lubed over 100, 150 grain boolits for my 30-30, I use a gas check, but once the gas check is seated I roll them around in a jar with JPW and put a thick coat on them and stand them up on their base to dry for a couple of days. I have run JPW up to 2500 fps with out leading, but that was with a good tight fit and a gas check. I regularly run JPW up to 1600 fps with out gas checks. It is a cheap way to get lots of boolit lube.

Best wishes,

Joe

[Bret4207]

Hi guys, I am going to start reloading light loads in .30-30 (WIN 94) with a 165grn RNFP bullet and H4198 18grns!

The bullets I will be using have a 16 Brinell Hardness and will be cast with no gas check! So I estimate around 23000 will be the pressure at which they need a gas check. And with 18grns of H4895 pressure should only reach 18000!

What else do I need to consider to avoid leading of the barrel?

First thing to do is put the GC on.

[Boerrancher]

Honestly I agree with Brett. Put a gas check on it. First thing to consider is the amount of extra surface area of the base of the bullet that is exposed. Those nice sharp edges of exposed lead that is where the gas check should be are just waiting to be melted off by the hot gasses causing leading. The other thing to consider is accuracy. With out the gas check, what you have is a very bevel based bullet. Bevel based bullets traditionally don't shoot well. I know lots of commercial cast bullets have bevel bases. The reason for this is that they drop easier from molds where time is important for production. I have tried gc boolits with out a gc, and even at low velocities with loads of unique they just didn't shoot well.

Best wishes,

Joe

[jimkim]

I still think your original plan to use 6.5gr of Red Dot with that bullet would work better. I'd actually lower it to 6.0gr since I had such good luck with that charge pushing an Ideal 308241.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=7863142#post7863142

[pls1911]

Others said it first.
GASCHECK!!! hard enough, big enough, lubed enough...
Clean bore.
I also treat my bore with Ed's Red between range sessions.