31 Caliper/soft bullet or ?????

[Willyp]

I need some thing to slug my barrels with and i have nothing on hand!!!! Would anybody here have any thing i could get from them to do this with????? I will pay for the items. My guns are all 30 calipers[ 30-30,308 Win and 30-06].
Thanks.

[sav300]

Give fishing sinkers a try.Take a mt case or a vernier with you.

[44man]

Buy a box of muzzle loader balls a little over bore size.

[TNFrank]

My guns are all 30 caliber[ 30-30,308 Win and 30-06].
Thanks.
Fixed it for ya'.

CALIBER as in 100ths of an inch. Calipers are the things you measure with.:veryconfu
Agree, get a box of .312 lead round balls as would be used in a .31 caliber cap n' ball revolver, be sure to lube them up good so they won't get stuck in the bore then measure them with your calipers after they've been run through the bore.

[Dark Helmet]

As long as you have something near pure lead you can squish it from the end to bring it up to just over groove diameter or roll it between two steel plates to reduce it .

[jonas302]

I just cast a bullet from soft lead if it needs to be bigger smack it with hammer to fatten them up
I have some extra 30 cals made and would sure help put pm me if interested

Fishing sinkers would be the cheapest thing to buy but some places do not allow lead anymore and I never could bring myself to buy a 12.00 box of balls just to use a few..

[Willyp]

Jonas302,
That was my thoughts on buying a box of them. I am sure i would use more than 2 or 3 but i figured some one here had a pistol that cast for that caliper! Guess not!!!
I shall figure a different way?

[nanuk]

if you have lead, and a pot, get yourself an oak 2x4 and drill some different sized holes, and make some different sized slugs to make impact castings of your chambers while you are at it.

[MikeS]

I would get some of that special metal (I think it's called Cerrosafe, or something like that), so you could make a chamber casting of your gun, along with a barrel casting. I mean if it works for making chamber castings, why can't it be used to cast a length of the barrel? Or if you can't make a direct casting of the barrel, you could surely cast some into some form of mould (either a boolit mould of about the right size, or even as posted above, a 2x4 with some holes drilled in it), then right after casting them push them thru the barrel, then wait an hour before measuring the slug, it should be even more accurate than using pure soft lead.

[Bret4207]

Don;t cast the Cerrosafe into your barrel. Trust me.

[btroj]

Bret, that sure sounds like there is a story there. Care to share?

I just use a round ball that is over size. I have even been known to use a slightly small bullet that was upset with a sledge hammer to increase it in diameter.

[beagle]

Find a buckshot 12 guage shell. Cut it open and have it it. Cheapest way unless you cast./beagle

[Bret4207]

Lets just say the Cerrosafe can become an extremely effective plug if it's far enough into the rifling.

[mooman76]

Jonas302,
That was my thoughts on buying a box of them. I am sure i would use more than 2 or 3 but i figured some one here had a pistol that cast for that caliper! Guess not!!!
I shall figure a different way?

Send me your address on a PM and I can send you some .319 roundballs the MLs use. They work great for me.

[troy_mclure]

Just get a 2x4 or 1x1 and drill a few 5/16 holes in it. Fill with lead. This will give you some nice long oversized slugs.

[MikeS]

Don;t cast the Cerrosafe into your barrel. Trust me.

Ok, even if just casting a couple of inches into the rifling? I guess I should have qualified my statement, I never thought of casting the entire length of the barrel! I was thinking more along the lines of casting the chamber, and say 2 - 3" up into the barrel, then plugging the barrel with a tight patch, casting the last 2 -3" by the muzzle. Would that be too much of the barrel to cast with Cerrosafe? I was thinking that doing that, then measuring the resulting casting an hour later would give you not only an exact size chamber casting, but also a good idea of what the bore size is as well. I was thinking too that after making the casting by the muzzle, it could be pushed down the barrel (after first being removed, and given a light coat of oil) to check for any tight or loose spots. Where is my logic flawed? (I'm not saying that I'm right, but rather I'm curious why I'm wrong)

[Bret4207]

Cerrosafe is supposed to shrink a set percentage which is why you can get it out once you out in in. It does, but if you go too far into the rifling, it grabs. I wouldn't go more than 1/2-3/4", but I'm a chicken now because I did a good 4" once and ended up having to heat the barrel enough to melt it out. If you have a really smooth, uniform barrel- maybe longer would be okay. On a standard to rough barrel I'd vote in favor of caution.

Lead alloys give a lot more than Cerrosafe.

[Willyp]

Thanks for all the ideas.
It is too cold here to try them right now. I must do all my casting in a shed,i have no basement!

[popper]

if you have a propane torch and lead, just melt some into a hole in a board. Don't make it very long, just over bore size, lube good and DON"T use a dowel to push it through.