45acp leading the chamber?

[ShrinkMD]

I have been shooting 200 gr lswc Dardas cast bullets in front of 4.8 gr Bullseye, and for some odd reason they have leaded up the chambers of my 625. Even with the Brownells steel chamber brushes there is a little bit smeared at the end of the chambers. On the other hand, in the 1911 it is fine, and the bronze wool over brush technique gets the chamber clean. I haven't tried this yet with this gun. This occurred with 45ar brass and 45acp in clips.

Weird thing is, I've been shooting CB loads in all my sixguns, and this is the only one making a mess of the chambers. Even my 44 mag shooting 19 gr 2400 loads with 240 lswc looks better than this gun.

Any ideas?

[Atakawow]

Could be several factors: undersized boolit? Tight throat? Rough forcing cone? Just some of the things I could think of on top of my head.

[TomBulls]

If you are not casting the bullets yourself, it may just be your bad luck with this batch. You might ask the caster what lube he uses on the bullets and see if he offers any which use a different lubricant.

[ShrinkMD]

The bullets are sized .452 Additionally, this gun has a new cylinder fresh from the factory, since for some weird reason the cases were sticking terribly after a few cylinders. At least that didn't happen when I shot the gun last time.

I guess I'm lucky that it is my only revolver which seems to act up a bit. I also still need to get my 9mm 124lrn loads cycling well in an M&P9c, but that is another project which I have not worked on for some time...

[thebigmac]

Could be the cylinder is "out of time".....

[KYCaster]

I have a similar problem with my 625-8. 4.8 gr. of Bullseye behind a 230 gr. boolit doesn't generate enough pressure to expand the brass to seal the (oversize) chamber. That combined with the amount of soot that Bullseye leaves behind quickly leads to difficulty with extraction and chambering.

I changed to 5.2 gr. of Clays and no more problems. Now I can fire several hundred rounds without any problems.

Jerry

[Bullet Caster]

I'm lookin' for some non-sooty powder for my pistols. I got a lb. of Bullseye and this is sooty powder for .45acp - 9mm & .45 Colt. I heard Unique was sooty also--just ain't tried it yet but do read alot. I was thinkin' of maybe tryin' some Win 231 if I can come by some w/o payin' HazMat charges. Or mejor dicho--if I can come buy some. I heard of a post on here but I can't find 'er right now w/search, of someone going to Chattanooga, TN, and findin' a store next to the Natchez Shooters Supply (which won't sell to TN residents {stupid business}) that was an outlet store for the mail order business they do. Anyone???

That way I could drive to Chattanooga and pick up some Win 231 or whater the membership here suggests.

Oh yeah. I don't understand Clays. I see always some Universal Clays I think is made by Hodgon IICR. I saw some of the other kinda Clays (memory non functional) for shotguns but for pistols??? Just looin' for some powder that won't be so sooty. BC

[Larry Gibson]

at the end of the chambers

Are you meaning the actual "chamber" or the throats of the chambers?

Larry Gibson

[ShrinkMD]

The part past the little internal ring inside the chamber, so it is the throat.

This gun has had problems from the beginning, as it's been back to S&W three times for problems, new cylinder, still drags on one of them in DA.

Who would be the best gunsmith to send it to for measuring the cylinders and throats and getting everything corrected so it's perfect?

[A J]

I have 2 625's and a 25. The 25 had your stuck case problem until a gunsmith honed the chambers smooth.
Don't try to smooth the chambers without a hone - you can't get the same uniformity thru the chamber without a honing tool!
That should take care of the ejection problem.
As far as timing it's either go or no go. Bent moon clips will make you revolver bind. Make sure your moon clips are flat by placing them on a flat surface like a piece of glass. Make corrections with pliers. Chances are that the cartridge head of one of your rounds is dragging on the frame. Try loading your cylinder without the moon clips. They should headspace on the cylinder where you are getting your leading and see if you are getting any binding or leading. Don't forget a pencil to poke out the empty cases. Also try reducing the 4.8 grs of BE to 4.0 and see if your leading problem goes away.

Good Luck! A J

[Larry Gibson]

The part past the little internal ring inside the chamber, so it is the throat.

This gun has had problems from the beginning, as it's been back to S&W three times for problems, new cylinder, still drags on one of them in DA.

Who would be the best gunsmith to send it to for measuring the cylinders and throats and getting everything corrected so it's perfect?

Lower velocity loads with hard cast bullets using hard wax lubes often do this. It's even worse if the bullets are bevel based and I'll bet yours are. If you loaded the .44s down to the same velocity with the same powder they would probably lead up the throats also. The hot powders gas is blowing by the hard bullet that does not obturate to fit the throats and the hard lube is not doing it's job yet so gas cutting is leaving lead deposits.

Many times (not always though) you can tumble lube the commercial bullets in LLA and it will prevent most of such throat leading. I usually just wash the hard wax lube off the commercial bullets and relube with a quality lube such as BAC or Javelina and ten get no leading at all with such loads in my .45 revolvers including the ACP in my M1917 and SAA. The bullet imediately entering the barrel without having the long throat or barrel/cylinder gap in your M1911s prevents this type of leading. However, there can still be some leading in the leade are from the hard wax lube not doing it's job right away in such.

I wouldn't send the revolver off to be "fixed" as it is not the problem.

Larry Gibson

[ShrinkMD]

So should I try stepping these loads up a bit? Lyman gave a max of 6.0gr Bullseye, but I saw other data posted saying 5.4 was max? Still, maybe a little more would help? I have seen many other people suggest 5.0 of Bullseye for 200 and 230 lead bullets.

[Larry Gibson]

5 gr of Bullseye under a 195 - 205 gr cast is my standard .45 ACP load and has been since the mid '70s. Accurate and always made major in IPSC, has killed a lot of jack rabbits and a few coyotes too!

Larry Gibson

[PerversPépère]

Wrong post