Newbie Boolit Shooter Questions

[clambo]

Hello Boolit Guys, Im new here but not completely new to casting lead. I used to cast lots and lots of mainly pistol bullets but been out of the game for 20 yrs or so. After reading an entire days worth of Buckshot's/others posts I am ready to build an 1891 Argie in .35 Remington. As you may have guessed I am wanting to optimize it for shooting lead. Here is my simple question. What twist barrel works best for cast boolits? Is there one barrel brand that shines above another for our purposes or is a cheapie as good as say a Shilen? Thanks!

[waksupi]

You will want 1-12, or 1-14. There really aren't any bad barrels on the market that I know of.

Welcome aboard!

[aspangler]

Hello Boolit Guys, Im new here but not completely new to casting lead. I used to cast lots and lots of mainly pistol bullets but been out of the game for 20 yrs or so. After reading an entire days worth of Buckshot's/others posts I am ready to build an 1891 Argie in .35 Remington. As you may have guessed I am wanting to optimize it for shooting lead. Here is my simple question. What twist barrel works best for cast boolits? Is there one barrel brand that shines above another for our purposes or is a cheapie as good as say a Shilen? Thanks!

IF I were going to convert an 1891, It would be to a lower pressure cartridge. The '91 only has two small locking lugs and is nowhere near as strong as even a '93 or a '98.
That said if you are going ahead with this then IMHO the Green mountain barrels are about as good as you can get for a "reasonable" price. A blank will run you about $99 plus shipping.
Good luck with your project.

[Buckshot]

...........While I don't want to disparage aspangler's mentioning of safety considerations, the M91 Mausers in 7.65x53 were actually proofed to higher pressures then the later Small Ring staggered box Mausers. Not that the 1891 would be a good platform for a 300 Win Mag, but they are certainly capable of handling the 35 Rem as factory loaded. Just don't try to turn it into a short 35 Whelen! :-) Keep things in perspective and keep it as the 150 yard brush cartridge it excels at being. In my M94 Brazilian small ring a 200gr cast slug isn't straining anything at 2250 fps, and that betters the 30-30 by a bit at reasonable ranges. The extractor on the 1891 may be a bit more of a pill then the later Mauser extractor, if it needs a bit of moding.

................Buckshot