Remington Rolling Block 7x57

[Battis]

I bought the 1901 Remington RB last year and I could not get it to shoot well. The bore slugged at .286". I formed cases from 30-06 brass, got a NOE mold, but, no cast bullet that I tried would do anything but keyhole (and I tried several with different powders).
Then, last winter, I got a cleaning rod stuck from the muzzle end. What did I do? I tried to push it out with another rod from the breech end. Well, the two rods met and one jammed under the other, and I mean jammed. I tried everything. Finally I went to a local machine shop and for about $25 they got the rods out.
At that point, I figured the bore was toast so I contacted Bob Hoyt to have it relined in the same 7x57 caliber. He quoted a decent price, but I didn't do it. Then I figured I'd trade or sell it at a local gunshop and be done with it, but...I didn't do it.
For the heck of it I recrowned the muzzle with a carriage bolt and bought some 140 gr Spitzer bullets (.284"). I loaded up some cases today with 38 grs IMR 4064 and bingo - it shot perfectly.
I'm not sure it if was the recrown or the bullets. I'll try cast bullets again to compare.
Glad I kept it...

[marlinman93]

Odd that you could get good accuracy with a .284" bullet in a .286" bore. I'd expect big leading issues within a few shots.

[Texas by God]

He shot jacketed bullets. It probably will lead with .284" cast boolits.

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[Battis]

I'm cleaning the rifle today and what I thought was a fairly clean bore is pretty nasty. It looks like the jacketed bullets loosened up a lot of junk. Maybe that's why it didn't shoot well - it was probably close to being a smoothbore.

[Boz330]

Electronic bore cleaner is the way to go for copper fouling. http://thedolk.com/borecleaner/index.html

Bob

[marlinman93]

If it's lead built up, you should give the lead remover cloth a try. Either Leadaway cloth, or Birchwood Casey's Lead Remover Cloth. I've used both on a very tight patch and it's amazing how much lead they'll pull out.

[Battis]

I actually bought a Birchwood Casey lead removal cloth last week, then found some cheaper ones on Amazon. It is amazing what they take out of a barrel. Plus I'm using Chore Boy copper pads, foam cleaner, Ed's Red, bronze wool and whatever else is around. It's starting to look real good in that barrel.

[marlinman93]

I've had a couple barrels I slated for relines, and then cleaned them with lead remover cloth. They ended up coming so clean that they are great shooting guns now!

[Battis]

I could drive myself crazy with those lead removal cloths. I'll bet they'd show "dirty" on a brand new unfired barrel. Every time I make a pass with a piece of that cloth, the patches come out black.

[marlinman93]

I could drive myself crazy with those lead removal cloths. I'll bet they'd show "dirty" on a brand new unfired barrel. Every time I make a pass with a piece of that cloth, the patches come out black.

No reason to keep wiping with the cloth if it comes out black. If it comes out with lead on it, then it needs more wiping. The black is a chemical reaction from the cloth, and you can wipe until the day you die and never stop getting black patches.