Question from Newbie about barrel leading

[chaos]

I am a 44 mag nut. I got a whole stable of Ruger SBH's and a marlin 1894. My young sons have taken to the 44's as well, when I load them down accordingly.

I have not shot cast bullets in a great many moons until recently. The price of things have driven me to it.

My question is concerning leading in my barrels. What's the best way to get this stuff out? I currently have not had any leading at all. I am shooting Oregon trail Lasercasts 240gr Rnfp's at pretty low velocities. I will be experimenting with many different makes, etc and know that I will run into some leading before I'm done.

Someone Mentioned "Chore Boy" scouring pads????? What does this entail?

I looked at a Lewis lead remover on Brownell's but they are out and I cant find anything on the Hoppes model. (44)

Any recommendations of a good performing Economy priced bullet would be greatly appreciated. I try and stick with the 240 grainers as I have taken Countless Hogs and deer with that weight in the past. (14 Hogs in the last 6 months).

Also, I would appreciate any suggestions on some good cast bullets, also in 240 gr for hunting.

how fast can I run a Lead bullet?
Chaos

[454PB]

Welcome to the forum, there is a wealth of knowledge here.

Our member "Bullshop" sells cast boolits.

If you've ever slugged a barrel, that procedure will remove all visible leading. Another method is to fire either a lightly loaded jacketed or gas checked cast boolit.

"Good cast boolits" can be driven to around 1200 fps using a plain base design, and to the limits of the cartridge pressure with a gas checked boolit. I have chronographed .44 magnum loads up to 1600 fps. with a gas checked boolit.

[Lead melter]

chaos,
Ditto what 454 said in welcome. Just keep reading, and I'm sure you'll get addicted to more than 240 grainers.
I believe the "Chore Boy" scouring cap techniques is to untwist a few stands of the copper wire from the pad, wrap it around a bronze caliber specific cleaning brush, the go to town on the scrubbing. I have never done this, but as I understand, the copper scrubs the lead out of the bore.
An alternative method is to get some Birchwood-Casey Metal Polishing cloth, cut a chunk off, then put it atop a wooden dowel rod and beat the cloth covered rod through the bore. The lead will come out in slivers. Sounds tougher than it is, a little trial and error will get you through it.
Good luck, hope this helps.

[shooting on a shoestring]

Let me suggest you first try a good stiff fitting bronze brush. 20 strokes in about 30 seconds will do wonders. You will seldom need another 20.

Best method is as 454PB points out, use boolits that fit your cylinder throats, be sure your throats are larger than the goove diameter, use reasonable velocities and good lube, you won't have any appreaciable leading issues.

I have also effectively used cream of wheat (COW) between the boolit and powder as poor boy gas checks, and those loads tend to scrub out any previous leading. Just remember adding COW will raise your pressures due to crowding the powder and limiting case space. So start with light loads and go easy until you can feel your way. This is also a great technique to hold powder against the primer and make ignition more consistent when you use small charges that can roam around in the big case.

[kooz]

I have had good luck removing lead with a fresh bronze brush. Best plan would be to avoid the leading in the first place. First you should check and make sure your cyl throats are properly sized in relation to the bore, check forcing cone and slug the bore and if things are in order there and you are using the right size bullet, I would just avoid the Laser-Cast bullets, in my opinion they are way to hard and so is the lube they use. My .44s and .45 are all spot on as far as having proper dimensions and some of them will still lead up a little with the Laser cast bullets. If you are not casting your own yet, I would suggest finding a source for softer alloy bullets of a BHN of about 9-11 with some good quality soft lube and give those a go and see if they are any better. A softer alloy bullet will be a little more forgiving if some of your guns dimensions are off a little. I believe that there are some here on this forum that sell bullets so you might put out a request here.

[bpost1958]

I shoot a keith style 240 cast boolit at about 1,000 FPS with no leading issues. Leading really is not much of an issue if you are doing things right. A gas checked boolit can be driven to max pressure in the 44 mag with no leading issues. Welcome to the fun filled world of casting.