whelen fan
03-30-2013, 07:58 PM
Good day.
I am new to this forum and somewhat overwhelmed with all the things one needs to know to do this right! I have cast thousands and thousands of bullets for my 45 acp in my 4 cavity H&G mold and I size them and lube them with soft wax, load them to ~750 fps and go shooting. No leading, no issues, all good!
I recently bought a ruger super black hawk in 44 mag. I got a bucket of hard cast .429 240gr swc that have a hard blue wax and kind of look like a keith bullet except the base has a bevel, not flat base. I loaded up 50 at ~1000fps and went shooting. I also loaded up some "keith" loads at ~1450fps and shot 15 of those.
I got home and there was SO MUCH lead in the barrel. I cleaned it out with chore boy and squeaky clean again. I noticed the bore was a bit rough (my ruger rifle was also this way) but I again loaded 50 at ~1000fps and another 15 "keith" loads. I went to the range again and same thing happened. So I cleaned the barrel really good again, went online and did some reading.
I read that hard cast at slow speed may not obdurate fully and hard wax is no good. I read you should slug your bore and cylinder mouth which I did. My bore measures .4285" and has even pressure pushing the slug down out the forcing cone. My cylinder mouth measures .4315". So I measured some of the hard cast bullets I have and they measure .4285-.4290. I then read that you should fire a box of jacketed bullets to smooth out the bore somewhat and this will help also.
I would also like to get a 3 or 4 cavity keith mold (an original design with a flat base).
I apologize for the long post and questions.
Is my barrel leading because the hard cast bullets I have use hard wax? Have beveled bases? Are barely bigger than my bore? Are not obdurating? Because I have a rough bore?
Where do I go to order a mold like I'm looking for? What diameter should they be cast at taking the info I posted about my slugged measurements into account? What diameter should I size them at?
Should I try firing 50 jacketed bullets, cleaning after each shot to try and "smooth" out the barrel?
Slightly different question. I would also like to purchase a marlin 1894 (pre remlin) in the near future to also shoot 44 mag in the rifle. Would work dandy for black bear over a barrel. Will the Keith SWC work in the lever action? Is there a very good bullet someone would recommend that functions flawlessly in the lever gun and would work for black bear and white tail?
I do have a limited "fun" budget and while I'm sure there are custom mold makers out there that make $200 or more molds those are not in my price range.
I again am sorry for the long post but I thought I know how to cast and shoot lead (again zero problems in my 1911) but apparently I have no clue.
I would appreciate any advice you could provide to me.
Thank you
I am new to this forum and somewhat overwhelmed with all the things one needs to know to do this right! I have cast thousands and thousands of bullets for my 45 acp in my 4 cavity H&G mold and I size them and lube them with soft wax, load them to ~750 fps and go shooting. No leading, no issues, all good!
I recently bought a ruger super black hawk in 44 mag. I got a bucket of hard cast .429 240gr swc that have a hard blue wax and kind of look like a keith bullet except the base has a bevel, not flat base. I loaded up 50 at ~1000fps and went shooting. I also loaded up some "keith" loads at ~1450fps and shot 15 of those.
I got home and there was SO MUCH lead in the barrel. I cleaned it out with chore boy and squeaky clean again. I noticed the bore was a bit rough (my ruger rifle was also this way) but I again loaded 50 at ~1000fps and another 15 "keith" loads. I went to the range again and same thing happened. So I cleaned the barrel really good again, went online and did some reading.
I read that hard cast at slow speed may not obdurate fully and hard wax is no good. I read you should slug your bore and cylinder mouth which I did. My bore measures .4285" and has even pressure pushing the slug down out the forcing cone. My cylinder mouth measures .4315". So I measured some of the hard cast bullets I have and they measure .4285-.4290. I then read that you should fire a box of jacketed bullets to smooth out the bore somewhat and this will help also.
I would also like to get a 3 or 4 cavity keith mold (an original design with a flat base).
I apologize for the long post and questions.
Is my barrel leading because the hard cast bullets I have use hard wax? Have beveled bases? Are barely bigger than my bore? Are not obdurating? Because I have a rough bore?
Where do I go to order a mold like I'm looking for? What diameter should they be cast at taking the info I posted about my slugged measurements into account? What diameter should I size them at?
Should I try firing 50 jacketed bullets, cleaning after each shot to try and "smooth" out the barrel?
Slightly different question. I would also like to purchase a marlin 1894 (pre remlin) in the near future to also shoot 44 mag in the rifle. Would work dandy for black bear over a barrel. Will the Keith SWC work in the lever action? Is there a very good bullet someone would recommend that functions flawlessly in the lever gun and would work for black bear and white tail?
I do have a limited "fun" budget and while I'm sure there are custom mold makers out there that make $200 or more molds those are not in my price range.
I again am sorry for the long post but I thought I know how to cast and shoot lead (again zero problems in my 1911) but apparently I have no clue.
I would appreciate any advice you could provide to me.
Thank you