41 magnum woes

[Blammer]

Ok, got this 41 mag contender barrel.

It leaded badly on the first shot.

After a bunch of monkeying around with it, I determined that I could not shoot oversized bullets in it due to the chamber being on minimum dimensions.

.411 was the dia, and all that I could fit in the chamber was .411 bullets.

Luck would have it I met someone local who could help me.

2tite is the gentleman and after meeting him for the first time in person, when he came buy to buy some beeswax I gave him my brl to take and hone the chamber out.

I was very surprised to get an email from him later in the day stating it was finished! He said he'd drop it off on Wed, just 2 day later!

Well he opened up the chamber so I can fit a .412 dia bullet in it.

So after careful loading I put a .412 boolit in it with LLA as the lube, and 16gr of 2400 with the 210gr plain base. Leaded the barrel on the first shot and the primer was FLAT! This is the minimum load for that combo!

so after dutifully scrubbing the barrel free of lead again (I'm getting pretty good at that.) I looked at the barrel and decided a bit of polishing may work.

So I took some 0000 steel wool, and some JB paste and went at it.

Next I found a "plinker" load of 7gr of unique and the 210gr LLA boolit. Shot it one time, no leading! yea, on the right track I suppose. Most other times one shot just leads it really badly.

I'm using ACWW's.

My question is, Why do you suppose that I have really flat primers on a min load of 2400 and a 210gr boolit?

Is the leading due to the plain base and the "max" load I'm experiencing?

Will polishing the barrel help in reducing leading?

[kamikaze1a]

Did you slug your barrel? That 2400 load should be giving you 1500fps so kind of hot for cast. What alloy you using? Long shot but, I once helped a guy who had problems with flattened primers with low loads in a bolt action Remington rfle. As it turned out, he was leaving barrel lube (way too much) in before firing and the case couldn't properly grip the chamber and was slamming into the bolt face. You could even see the ejector recess imprint in the shell base. Swabbed with dry patch before firing, no more flattened primer.

[Blammer]

yes I slugged the barrel .411 x .401.

I ran LOTS of dry patched through the barrel and chamber prior to firing. I'll double check that just to make sure.

[Kraschenbirn]

Dunno what it is about .41 Mag Contender barrels and cast boolits but it was my experience that they don't play well together. At one time, I had a 10" DW 741 that I was shooting (quite successfully!) for IHMSA and got the bright idea to pick up a 10" .41 Mag barrel to shoot is Standing Class.

First time I tried shooting my revolver loads in the TC, the forearm screw sheared after the fourth round...but that was okay 'cause the fingers of my right hand were already 2/3 numb from the recoil, anyway. Flattened primers? You best believe it! Leading? Like it was laid in with a butter knife! Mind you, this load...while something a bit past "warm"...was one I'd been shooting in my DW for two seasons without the slightest hint of a problem.

Cleaned the bore, replaced the forearm screw, and tried some JB factory loads in the Contender. No problem; fairly accurate, nasty muzzle blast but controllable recoil, and not a sign of excessive pressures.

Played around with it for a while...backed off my revolver loading by 10%...tried a couple different alloys...switched powders...all to no avail. Never did come up with a full-power CB load that shot well in that particular Contender barrel. Finally, swapped it for a .357 Max barrel that I wish I still owned. Hope you have better luck with yours.

Bill

[runfiverun]

dj
hopefully your chamber length isn't minimum also causing an extra crimp at the case mouth.
you also didn't mention what brand of primer you are using.
i have had some federal primers flatten pretty good with my
cowboy plinking loads.

[GLynn41]

I had a 10" ,41 also-- different beast from 6 guns with no cyclinder gap they build pressure different---- anyway check case length-you can try wdww-- but leading is often caused by bullets not obituating
( misspelled) being pressured up to fit the bore-- is the bullet a bevel base- try shooting some jacket bullets --or lube the nose of a bullet and take some something a little gritier and shoot a few of them or take some polish media and fill a primed case and fire a few to help polish or use some more 0000 and you JB stuff-- then look at your lube-- it may be failing -you could have tight or loose spots -- try a gas check bullet-
make it smooth-- make things fit right- lube right -- i know you have done some of this--good luck -- hope it works out lets us know:roll:

[Blammer]

I'll double check the brass lenght and the chamber lenght, good idea.

shooting only square based boolits, no bevel based. Waiting on the GC's to arrive so i can try a few of the GC versions.

cci 350, the magnum pistol primers, is what I'm currently using.

[HeavyMetal]

Think runfiverun is on to something with case length versus chamber length!

I also think you might try a different cast boolit, as you may or may not know I'm not a big fan off LLA or tumble lube designs that go with it! At 1500 fps I think the LLA is just not getting it done for you!

so I will suggest you find someone with a 41 mag boolit, says the Lyman 410459? lubed with Carnuba Red!

If he cast's these at around BHN 18 to 20 and sizes .410 I think your 2400 load should work fine after you double ckeck the case length's!

This is the path I'd take if I had a 41 mag barrel for my contender.

[crowbeaner]

If you're shooting the magnum primers with 2400 it could be part of the problem. Pressures with 2400 get hinky when you use them. Carefully slug the bore. You may have a tighter bore than you think. Check the chamber length against a drawing and measure carefully. It could be shorter than usual. You may have to get some cerrosafe and make a casting for an accurate measure. It's not hard. Try some WW 296; it was made for magnums and has a lower pressure curve and might shoot closer to the factory loads.