45 Colt black powder boolits

[bigted]

So noticed that my LEE 45 cal hollow base minie boolits weighing in at 300ish grains and measure in a generous .454 inch.

Now my Ruger 45 Colt takes .452 diameter so I ran 20 or so through my Lyman .452 sizer filled with SPG lube and loaded them in a variety of 45 Colt cases ... over 5.5 grains of Bullseye powder ... and sparked with Rem 2 1/2 primers.

Got to wondering now before taking them out shooting ... how the hollow base is going to act with the cylinder jump in my revolver.

I was shooting a very similar load in my Japchester 92 when the barrel bulged rite under the rear dovetail with no apparent pressure signs ... so beings it were used to me ... figured that it had had some abuse that I wasnt aware of in its past ... but ... these same boolits were being used when that happened ... sooo ... thought I would bring it up here and find out if others have loaded these and their experiences with them before shooting them in my Ruger revolver.

Thanks for the reply's and suggestions.

[Outpost75]

Sounds to me like the HB skirt blew out and was left in the barrel to become an obstruction when the next shot was fired. I have seen this happen with too-hot loads firing HBWC 148-grain .38 Special wadcutters in .357 revolvers.

[bigted]

May have been. They were unique powder loads so maybe a little warm. Kinda wary of my 5.5 grain Bullseye loads ... in hind sight, may just pull em.

Just got a older 5.5 inch Redhawk and do not want to bulge another barrel.

[greenjoytj]

Sounds like the bullet the OP used was a designed for muzzle loaders.
Maybe it has 2 deep scraping groove on the side of the bullet over the deep hollow base.
That type of bullet design is known to blow the solid head off the skirt leaving the skirt in the barrel.
Also the bullets skirt can be blown open like the tail of a badminton shuttle cock when the bullet exits the muzzle if the powder charge exceeds the strength of the lead skirt.

[bigted]

I am thinking this is exactly how my little 92 got its bulged barrel. I have pulled the boolits as I have plenty of different boolits to choose from.

This is my second favorite calibre ... of recent times my 38 WCF has crowded in as a possible first. Really like the early 40 cal.

Thanks for the reply's. Prolly saved me another heartache.

[44WCFKID]

Bigted, I bulged a barrel in my japchester '66, about 3/4 of the way down shooting black powder and .428 solid bullets with no apparent reason for the bulge. That was in February '20 form a gun I purchased new, it had about 200 rounds through it. I wish I knew what caused it 'cause now I'm scared!

[bigted]

Bigted, I bulged a barrel in my japchester '66, about 3/4 of the way down shooting black powder and .428 solid bullets with no apparent reason for the bulge. That was in February '20 form a gun I purchased new, it had about 200 rounds through it. I wish I knew what caused it 'cause now I'm scared!

I hear ya. When mine bulged.... it happened rite under the rear sight on a 24 inch Japchester 92 in 45 Colt.

Had been shooting it with a few loads and pretty certain that it was my Lee 45 cal minie bullets. Shot and felt somthing hit my arm ... puzzeled I lay the rifle down and looked in the bed of my pickup to find what had hit my arm ... there lay the rear buckhorn. Spent a few minutes inspecting the sight to determine why it came off the rifle.

Next I began looking at the dovetail and saw rite off the bubble in the dovetail slot. Three small cracks in the metal along with the bulge. I also puzzled for months trying to make sense of this weird accomplishment.

Did not make complete sense till I pulled the barrel and could clearly see from the breech. The bulge was clear to me inside and out. The why didnt hit me till I asked here

[sharps4590]

Hmm, how 'bout dem apples. A fella learns something new every day if he pays attention.

[Good Cheer]

Yeah, hollow bases need to be very soft metal and not stressed any more than necessary.
When the British used extra thick skirts with a paper wrapper in their battle rifles that was a wise move.

[bigted]

I pulled them. Not going to chance shooting them over anything other then 65 grains or so of Ol E 2F blackpowder ... muzzle loaded in my 48 twist 45 cal rifle. That is their designed use anyway.

Time on my hands is not really my friend.