Plz help...

[AllOutdoors.22]

So I ordered some .359 175gr. Ranch Dog bullets from Carolina Cast Bullets. They were out of gas checks at the time so they sent me 7 bullets to sample. They look amazing...they shot amazing well with 8 and 8.5 grains of Blue Dot. My issue is with only 7 bullets to test I loaded 4 with 8 grs. and 3 with 8.5. After shooting the 8 grs. there was some mild leading. After 8.5 there was a streak for most of the length of the barrel. I measured them with my calipers and the measured .355 & .356. However, this is my may home cast bullets measure also...so I'm starting to wonder if I need to upgrade.

P.S. This is out of my S&W 6" 386. I really want these to work for my deer hunting load. What can I do? Please help!

[boatswainsmate]

Do you know the size's of the throats on your cylinder?

[Piedmont]

If that is a .357 magnum I hope you made a typographical error because it looks like a vast overcharge of Blue Dot.

[MtGun44]

I SURE HOPE YOU MEAN SOME OTHER POWDER, because the max load for Blue Dot under a 170 gr
Speer jbullet is 9.4 grains. Can't be 2400, since the max under the same Speer jbullet is 14.5 gr.
Max with H110 is 15.5 with 170 Sierra. These are the latest online data from the Alliant and Hodgdon
web pages.

http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/powderlist.aspx?type=1&powderid=9&cartridge=28

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol

Hope you just forgot to write here the correct powder, because 18 gr of most appropriate powders
is WAY over the book numbers.

Bill

[AllOutdoors.22]

Yes, you are both right...it was 8 and 8.5gr. I will edit the OP to reflect.

[Animal]

When you say "leading", can you describe how it effected accuracy and describe the means used to remove the lead from your barrel?

I wouldn't be surprised if you did get a leading problem because I've had the same issues myself. Commercial cast tends to drop undersized and is cast extra hard. The lube is also very hard and doesn't always make it down the length of the barrel. This is what I've experienced.

My barrel gets pretty rounchy looking after 50 or so rounds, homecast. But, accuracy doesn't suffer and a dry copper brush/chore boy cleans it out after a few swipes. This is usually a mess of boolit lube and streaks (not chunks) of lead... totally exceptable to most folks, to include me.

As stated above, slug your throats and your barrel groove diameter. If you don't feel comfortable doing this, see if you can drop your bullets into your cylinders to see if they become lodged in the throat. If they fall through, they are undersized and might not perform very well. If they stop at the throats, see if it takes a little extra effort to push them through. The boolits that need some extra help making it through will probably be the keepers. Measure the boolits diameter, and make sure you are opening your cases enough to not swag them down.

Load and try again. If you still feel there are some leading issues, or that accuracy is diminishing, you may want to tumble lube them with Lee Liquid Alox. A good coat will not only act as a lube, but it tends to help seal the bore when undersized boolits are in question.

As far as things go right now, I'd say that Hornaday is my favorite for commercial cast. I've had better luck than with them than any of the handful of commercial that I've tried. But, no two guns have the same personality.

For what it's worth, I don't think you need to worry about gas checks if you want to pursue casting. I've had great results with full power w296 loads in my .44 magnum without any leading.

Come to the dark side when you are ready. We'll help ya out!

[psweigle]

I Use cast boolits in my ruger blackhawk with no leading. 13 grains of h110 with a water quenched 160 grain round nose doesnt leave any mess. I wouldnt worry about leading unless you are getting close to 1500 fps.

[AllOutdoors.22]

Animal, accuracy never seemed to suffer, however, it was only 7 shots. The leading after all 7 shots was streaked from throat to muzzle covering one or more of the rifling. I used shooter's choice and a copper brush to remove...I just dropped one of my home cast bullets (same size as the Carolina bullets) into each cylinder and it became lodged in each one. Also the Carolina bullets are advertised as using there own blend of LLA. Some I'm not sure about that. Maybe I could add more??? Also I think I am going to attempt to slug my barrel tonight with a sinker I found laying around. So just run it through muzzle to throat then measure?

[MtGun44]

"I measured them with my calipers and the measured .355 & .356."

OK, I may be dense, but WHAT did you measure with your calipers? Boolits or throats, or . . . ? Either way,
calipers are not really a good tool for this kind of measurement. Not accurate enough to reliably size
boolits, and very unlikely to produce accurate measurement of throats. You need a .0001 reading
micrometer for the boolits and gauge pins for the throats, although a soft lead slug, measured with
a micrometer, is a good substitute.

Please clarify, happy to help but this medium is limited, needs careful choice of words to communicate
accurately, and these are complex issues which require precise comms.

Bill

[AllOutdoors.22]

MtGun, the bullets measured .355 &. .356 with my calipers as do my home cast bullets...this is why I think they my not be working correctly. I also ran a .360 round ball through the the barrel from muzzle to the throat and it measured the same. Although it was hard to measure.

[Animal]

Animal, accuracy never seemed to suffer, however, it was only 7 shots. (Try a good 100 round session when you can, 7 shots doesn't give much info) The leading after all 7 shots was streaked (streaks are common, not a deal breaker in my book) from throat to muzzle covering one or more of the rifling. I used shooter's choice and a copper brush to remove (If the lead can be removed with simple means, i.e. copper brush, I consider this normal for my purposes. If you feel like you are mining lead...Houston, we have a problem)...I just dropped one of my home cast bullets (same size as the Carolina bullets) into each cylinder and it became lodged in each one.(if .355 is stuck in a .357 chambered revolver throat, something ain't right with the gun, or you need to double check your measurments and micrometer. Or, did you happen across a few that were the right diameter?) Also the Carolina bullets are advertised as using there own blend of LLA. Some I'm not sure about that. Maybe I could add more??? Also I think I am going to attempt to slug my barrel tonight with a sinker I found laying around. So just run it through muzzle to throat then measure? (yes, just be careful. You might want to remove the cylinder just as a preventive measure.)

However, as I stated... 7 rounds is hard to make any judgments from. Before you find yourself thinking too much about something that might not be an issue, I'd recommend that you sit at your loading table and make more ammo. 7 rounds won't tell you a whole lot, so try making around 100. Bring a clip board, pen and a flashlight. Take notes on how the ammo performs. Does it seem to scatter all over the target after 35 rounds? that will be a good indicator that something is wrong. As others stated already, crimp and seat in separate operations. If you don't do this, I'm sure it is possible that boolit shavings could be a part of what is causing the lead streaks. Also, Blue Dot is a slow powder. I haven't loaded it in .357 mag in a long time, but I'm sure the last cast loads I did with it required a heavy crimp.

I am no expert, I'm simply giving you the same guidance that folks gave me when I started shooting cast. I hope this helps.

PS. I don't know that you need LLA if they already have something like it.

[MtGun44]

Recheck the boolit diam with micrometer to verify. If you are actually getting .355 and .356 diam, this
WILL cause leading in many guns with commercial "Too da**ed hard cast" boolits, which almost
all commercial casters are SO PROUD OF.

You want throat diam boolits for accuracy (assuming throats about .001 larger than barrel groove
diameter) and boolits delivered to the barrel that are slightly LARGER than groove diameter.

Finding groove diam and throat diam will give you some info on what diam boolits you need.
I can just about guarantee that .355 and .356 (measurement suspect with calipers!) are NOT
what is best, and likely will cause slight to moderate leading in many guns.

Too small and too hard is a great way to lead a barrel. Also, there is no need whatsoever
for gas checks in pistols.

For example:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=50446&d=1244513448

This is a soft alloy, no GC, near max load and leaves the bore perfectly clean and is fairly accurate.

Bill