When was the last time you had to remove lead from a barrel?

[Cosmic_Charlie]

For me it has been several years. And i have put some good stiff loads down range too. I recently shot some Lee 405 grain boolits over 32 grains of 5744, these should have been over 1,400 fps and they felt like that too. And the barrel of my Henry 45-70 single shot is gleaming clean. Makes me happy!

[nhyrum]

All the cast I shoot is either checked or powder coated, so I don't think I've ever had to clean lead, but I've only been shooting cast for 3 or so years

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[Winger Ed.]

If I shoot about a hundred lubed flat base in .45ACP or .38DEWC at a time, I'll have just a little in the corners of the grooves.
But it's no big deal, and comes out with a few strokes of a nylon bore brush.

I shoot Hornady gas checks in the rifles, and if there is any Leading, I haven't noticed it when cleaning them.

[cwtebay]

I purchased a Winchester 94 a few years ago that was never shot with anything but lead. I knew the fella that owned it for 30 years - he didn't own another rifle that I knew of but killed everything from squirrels to elk with it. It's an Eastern carbine from 1909 in 30 WCF. Came with his supply of brass and lead and mould and everything.
The action was oiled and as smooth as glass as soon as I got it.
It took me the better part of 30 hours of scrubbing and soaking and looking to get that bore free of the lead build up. I honestly believed I had spent my money on a completely shot out bore - could not have been more wrong. It is sharp and shiny! Shoots beautifully!;!
I actually kinda regret doing that now, that rifle had a story to tell about the life of the man that had owned it - I feel like I took part of that away.



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[zymguy]

And the barrel of my Henry 45-70 single shot is gleaming clean.


I don't think I've ever had to clean lead,


I'll have just a little in the corners of the grooves.
But it's no big deal, and comes out with a few strokes of a nylon bore brush.




It took me the better part of 30 hours of scrubbing and soaking and looking to get that bore free of the lead build up. It is sharp and shiny! Shoots beautifully!;!


How are you making these calls ? patches coming clean, puting a flashlight in one end and your eye in the other, borescope ?

[tazman]

Two years ago, about this time of year, I was shooting my S&W 22A-1 and the groups just suddenly got huge, so I knew something was wrong.
I looked down the barrel and it was easy to see the reason. A large smear of lead on one side of the barrel deposited there by a Thunderbolt bullet.

I got lucky though. I was able to use the cleaning kit I always take to the range with me to clean it out. Fortunately, the lead wasn't tightly stuck to the barrel. A little oil and some scrubbing with a brush and it came right out pretty much in a chunk. I was able to finish my practice without even going home first.

[Winger Ed.]

How are you making these calls ? patches coming clean, puting a flashlight in one end and your eye in the other, borescope ?

My auto pistol barrels are so short, you can hold them up to a bright light and look through them as you clean them.
(For cleaning, I do take the barrel out of the slide)

I do wet patch, wet brush, etc. then dry patch and look.
If I see a bit of Lead in the grooves, a wet brush a few more times usually gets it.

For rifle barrels, I have a 'AA' battery bore light--flash light with the little bent piece of fiber optic/plexi-glass on the end.
It isn't anywhere near as good as a borescope, but it works OK for that.

[nhyrum]

How are you making these calls ? patches coming clean, puting a flashlight in one end and your eye in the other, borescope ?I just use a flashlight every once in a while. I know my gas checks won't lead and can help remove leading, so for my revolver, I stopped checking. I've got a 300 blackout ar that I shoot 230 cast in that's powder coated, and if anything it's the gas system and BCG will probably need attention before lead in the barrel

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[44Blam]

A while back I bought a keg of H335 and decided to ladder up some 45-70 rounds. I was consistently getting about 50 fps per grain as I was going up from a starting load around 1800 fps.

My LAST (what I thought was BELOW max) set of 5 rounds jumped about 200 fps up to about 2150! The first one was like OH WOW and the POI was exactly where it should be. The second was 8" off and I couldn't tell where the third round went...

Then I spent about 3 days with a wad of choreboy working all that lead out of my barrel...

[Winger Ed.]

I spent about 3 days with a wad of choreboy working all that lead out of my barrel...

Another thing I do to keep from having 'issues'.
My pistols run along about 8-900 fps with cast, the .30cal rifles about 16-1700 or so, and the .45-70 around 13-1400-ish.

Accuracy is good, they're pleasant to shoot, and even though our range goes out to 500 yards-
the older I get, the less and less often I want to walk past the 100 yard frames.

[imashooter2]

-
the older i get, the less and less often i want to walk past the 100 yard frames.

AMEN!

It has been some time since I had to clean lead. Years.

[sigep1764]

I get some flakes on the face of the forcing cone of a Colt Official Police when I shoot it. Some antimony wash on pistol barrels. The pistol barrels don't build past a certain point and does not affect accuracy. Ive ran as much as 800 rounds through a Glock 26 in one range trip and accuracy was as good from the start to the end. I leaded up a Ruger P95 barrel when I was beginning my cast venture. That barrel never stopped leading even with a polish and 358 sized boolits. It went on down the line. Too bad, it was a soft shooting pistol.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

How are you making these calls ? patches coming clean, puting a flashlight in one end and your eye in the other, borescope ?

Pretty easy to see down a .45 cal. barrel. I have a bore light that i sometimes use on smaller ones.

[Winger Ed.]

I actually kinda regret doing that now, that rifle had a story to tell about the life of the man that had owned it - I feel like I took part of that away.

Nahh,,, You've added to its story by giving it a good home, and a new lease on life.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

A while back I bought a keg of H335 and decided to ladder up some 45-70 rounds. I was consistently getting about 50 fps per grain as I was going up from a starting load around 1800 fps.

My LAST (what I thought was BELOW max) set of 5 rounds jumped about 200 fps up to about 2150! The first one was like OH WOW and the POI was exactly where it should be. The second was 8" off and I couldn't tell where the third round went...

Then I spent about 3 days with a wad of choreboy working all that lead out of my barrel...

Sounds like the load was too much for your alloy. Think my 5744 load was wheel weights plus some tin. If i am staying close to 1000 fps i use 20/1 alloy. I seldom shoot hot cast loads though. When i do it is usually in .44 mag with H110 or 296.

[ukrifleman]

I tumble lube with LLA and have never had a leading problem across 16 calibres.
ukrifleman

[cwtebay]

How are you making these calls ? patches coming clean, puting a flashlight in one end and your eye in the other, borescope ?Yes to all of that at one time or another.

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[ioon44]

It haven't cleaned any lead out of my barrels since I started using Hi- Tek coating and that was like 5 years ago. I shoot IDPA & USPAS matches so I put a lot of rounds down range every month.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

When was the last time you had to remove lead from a barrel?

3 times in the last two weeks.
AND...
every other time I have taken my 625-8 to the range.

[Harter66]

I haven't had any significant leading in several years .
I get a lot of antimony wash but a wrapped brush and 3-4 passes gets them pretty clean when needed . I don't worry much about the wash , ,for the most part it's about 99% scuff 1% deposit . Most of the barrels remain eyeball shiny with some grey haze . I have a pistol that leads the corners of the lands but as a rule it cleans up easy too after some very aggressive cleaning early in our relationship , it had a lot of copper fouling and the lead just bonded like a lost puppy to a little boy with a pocket full of jerky .

[waksupi]

It's been so many years, I don't remember!

[megasupermagnum]

Well I'm sure if you put a bore scope down, you would see some lead, so technically every time. If you mean when was the last time I had to break out the chore boy, it's been about a year. I like to purposefully run to the limit to see just how soft of an alloy I can get away with.

[bangerjim]

Not since I started doing PC on everything. That was back in late 2013!

PC is great. And no sticky boolits in the summer or grease smoke from the lube. And I can cast much softer boolits.

[onelight]

Last week .
I have a Bersa 22lr that leads like crazy with some ammo .
I forgot Winchester was one of the brands it hates :(

[reedap1]

Like others, not since I started powder coating. Even with PC I barely have to clean the barrels of my auto pistols and revolvers though sometimes I see some accuracy degradation with rifles after about 100 rounds or so. I'm getting real close to the point of NEVER cleaning my auto pistols until they stop working...and when that happens it will be a result of powder fouling though I avoid even that by using very clean-burning powders like American Select in my pistols.

[Old Caster]

I started shooting lead for Bullseye in 1965 for the Army and we used quite soft lead because we used range pickup and a lot of 22 shooting was done there. We never cleaned from our guns because it wasn't a problem. After I got out of the Army all of the friends I met shooting Bullseye were using Star hollowpoint swaged bullets that had something like Alox on them but they were not a bit sticky. They were pure lead and no one had a problem. Once about 10 years ago my friends and I were trying to get a revolver to shoot 158 grain SWC bullets to shoot accurately so we could compete in the distinguished revolver matches which required a SWC and we probably shot about 20 different manufacturers bullets to try to get them accurate and maybe 5 inches or so at 50 yards were as good as we could get and I thought it might be leading. I would shoot 5 rounds and clean the barrel out and get a bit of lead that I would drop onto a black piece of paper so I could tell how much difference between bullets. Harder bullets were definitely worse but I quickly learned that if I shot 50 rounds and then cleaned instead of 5 rounds, it wasn't any worse apparently because when the bullet went down the bore it cleaned out what was in there the last shot and left new. When I got down to a BHN of less than around 9 leading went way down and the only way to get them was to cast them myself. Even commercial swaged at that time were around 10-11. The biggest problem with soft bullets is that they are harder to cast well. We finally settled on a Lyman 358277 and a RCBS 150 SWC. I had a little bit better results with the RCBS but it was a two cavity mold and the Lyman was a 4 so timed and rapid got the Lyman and 50 yard slow fire got the RCBS. All the shooting was done from my Ransom Rest and the best we got was 2 inches for 5 shots and it was out of a S&W model 14 and a Python. I had to shoot the S&W because the Python didn't fit me right. The one thing we learned for sure that for us to clean lead out of our barrels doing this was a waste of time but bear in mind we were shooting around 720 FPS. I have shot my Anaconda maybe 500 times and use the same 7-9 BHN for it and it goes over a thousand with a 255 grain Saeco and it does not lead either. It is very accurate also especially compared to my Ruger SBH.

[murf205]

3 times in the last two weeks.
AND...
every other time I have taken my 625-8 to the range.

Do you think the EDM rifling in that 625-8 is the culprit? I have a 625-3 that doesn't lead a bit. I am not sure when S&W went to EDM but I have heard a lot of cast shooters complain about it.

I just looked at my 625-3 and the rifling looks like the sharp flat top, square cut type. Also I might have been using the wrong term to describe the rifling process. I have heard it refered to as the Electro Discharge Machining process but it is also called Electronic Chemical Machining, thus ECM moniker.

[todd9.3x57]

i have shot(with each) cast boolits around 1500-2500 times with my 30-40 krag and my 444 marlin. my bores are "clean" and its been about 7 years.

i have tumbled a boolit in my son's 7.65x53 argie(91 mauser). i sized the boolit at .313" but it needed and extra .002"(.315").

i have a ruger sbh that i clean every time i shoot, but i don't clean the inside of barrel until the accuracy falls off.

[higgins]

Just a couple of weeks ago, after I got a borescope. I thought there was some lead in a .357 (shooting 38 spl. cast loads) and a .45 Colt, but I never imagined how much. It's nice being able to monitor buildup and see how different bullet diameters and lubes affect leading.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Except for wiping off exterior surfaces and perhaps revolver cyclinders, i seldom clean the bores on my cast shooters. The barrels look shiny clean and are well seasoned with lube apparently. On the revolvers the round count is well into the hundreds and accuracy is good as ever.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Do you think the EDM rifling in that 625-8 is the culprit? I have a 625-3 that doesn't lead a bit. I am not sure when S&W went to EDM but I have heard a lot of cast shooters complain about it.

I just looked at my 625-3 and the rifling looks like the sharp flat top, square cut type. Also I might have been using the wrong term to describe the rifling process. I have heard it refered to as the Electro Discharge Machining process but it is also called Electronic Chemical Machining, thus ECM moniker.

My 625-8 has the 6 groove ECM barrel. I don't think that's the cause of my minor lead fouling, but I suppose it could be? PC coated boolits lead foul the barrel also. I always get a kick out of all the PC fanboys pretending PC is the fix all.
I've read as many positive reports about these ECM barreled guns, as I have negative reports, hence my reason to think it's not the rifling, but some other mechanical irregularity, like maybe a "difficult to see burr" at the begining of the rifling, that's where my lead fouling is located, but I don't "see" any burr. Also, I've shot over two thousand rounds through it (bought it new), cleaned it many times with brass jag, tight cotton patch, and chore boy, so I would think a burr would wear down by now. So maybe it's something else. I hate to mess with it, because it's a very accurate revolver.

I've had two other older 625 revolvers, both with the older style "cut" rifling. I didn't have lead fouling issues with either of those.


http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2010/05/rifling-manufacturing-electro-chemical.html


Sunday, May 23, 2010
Rifling: Manufacturing: Electro Chemical Machining
In our last post, we talked about a modern manufacturing process called Electric Discharge Machining (EDM). In this post, we will talk about another process that also uses electricity, named Electro Chemical Machining (ECM).

This method is also a very precise method, but it is much more suitable for mass production. Like the EDM process, the ECM process can also be used on hard materials that cannot be machined by other more mechanical processes. Unlike the EDM process, no sparks are generated between the cathode and anode. The best way to understand ECM is to think of it as reverse-electroplating (i.e.) instead of adding material, we remove it.

Since 1993, Smith & Wesson has been using ECM to manufacture most of their revolver barrels. They use machines manufactured by Surftran to do their work. The barrels are hardened and annealed before the rifling process. The hardened barrels are then placed in the ECM machine and held stationary. The electrode is a plastic cylinder with metal strips circling around the exterior. The metal strips are a reverse image of the desired rifling and are inset into the plastic cylinder. This way, only the plastic part of the cylinder touches the barrel and not the metal strips. The electrode is placed inside the barrel and the whole is immersed into an electrolytic solution of sodium nitrate which is constantly circulating under pressure. The electrode is moved down the barrel and rotated at the desired rate of rifling twist. As current flows from the cathode (the electrode) to the anode (the barrel), the material is removed from the anode to duplicate the grooves in the shape of the electrode. Because the metal parts of the electrode never actually touch the barrel (only the plastic core does) and because the flowing electrolyte removes any material from the barrel before it has a chance to accumulate on the metal strips, the electrode usually lasts a very long time and needs no cleaning or maintenance. In fact, the electrode is replaced only when the plastic core which contacts the barrel to provide proper centering and spacing of the metal strips, wears out.

The advantages of this are that the process is extremely precise and can be used to machine hard materials like hard steel alloys, titanium alloys etc. Similar to the EDM process, it also produces no heat or stress on the barrel during the rifling process and also produces an excellent finish. Unlike the EDM process though, it is much faster to machine parts using this technique. A typical rifling job for a 357 magnum revolver barrel can be done in about one minute using this process, making it ideal for mass production. The tool can also be repeatedly used as there is very little tool wear.

The disadvantages are that these machines have high tooling cost and also use large amounts of electricity.

[murf205]

The reason I wondered is that my 629 is an ECM gun and it leaded a bit, not bad but I was having to keep an eye out for it. I got it with .4285-.429 cylinder throats and a .429 groove diameter. It has been opened to .431 and the leading has been lessened quite a bit since going to .431 boolits, some PC'ed and some not. Doesn't seem to matter. It is about as accurate as an old geezer can shoot.

[Hanzy4200]

It's been a couple years. Single I now size properly, and powder coat most calibers, leading is all but done with. In my first few years, I was scrubbing lead a LOT.

[jsizemore]

I tip the barrel over and shovel WW's or ingots into 5 gallon buckets. I have had to put a rope or strap around the top of the barrel and tie the other end to my truck to get it tipped.

[Martin Luber]

Hard linotype 45,acp with normal bullseye loads leaded badly ( smears, chunks, and streaks) whereas softer boolets did not. I guess it was gas overspray and lack of sealing the bore.

If soft swaged are leading it's frequently due to being swaged into a too small case.

[rbuck351]

About 25 years ago. I had just started the Corretional Officer academy and we were shooting some very soft lead bullets. Possibly pure lead and not mild loads. We each fired a couple of hundred rounds with 2 to 3 people per gun. At the end of the day we returned to the class room and cleaned the guns. All were horribly clogged with lead and we used scouring pad strands wrapped around cleaning jags and removed chunks and strips of lead. I have never had anything even remotely like that on any of my guns.

[rintinglen]

I bought a S&W Model 69 44 mag that leaded horribly. The throats were horribly undersized-- ~.4275 IIRC-- while the bore was EDM rifled. I never did get it to quit leading, even after Dougguy did his magic on the cylinder throats. S&W did nothing in response to my letter so I sold it and haven't bought a new Smith since.

[Mytmousemalibu]

Well, just put a little lead in the bore of my new to me, S&W 52-1. Not my own .38 wadcutters though, some factory loaded ones that leaded everything I've tried them in. Some type of dry lube on them that doesn't work worth a hoot. My own cast WC's with Ben's Red is the answer.

[Mal Paso]

I used to own a Lewis Lead Remover back in the bad old days before I had good fit. I was in on the first NOE 429421 group buy and replaced my undersize Lyman 429421. As I recall I gained almost 100 fps with that tighter fit. The S&W 629 had .428 throats which I opened to .431" with a Manson reamer about the same time. Now I run a bronze bristle followed by a dry patch which picks up the carbon.

Lewis beats Chore Boy but it's better not to go there.

[LaPoint]

I haven't had to clean lead from the bore of any of my guns for many years. About two years ago a friend's son told me that he thought the barrel of his S&W 4506 was ruined as he couldn't see any rifling in it and it was all chewed up. I looked at it and recognized that it was just severely leaded. I first made a couple of passes with a bore brush wrapped in copper chore boy strands the a few minutes with a Lewis Lead Remover and it was spotless. He was amazed.

[Texas by God]

The only one that I recall was using Lee 124 TLTC 9mm as cast LLA in a Ruger P89. I literally cleaned slivers of lead from the barrel after 50 shots. As factory FMJ ammo was about $5/50 at the time, I just fed that gun that. I’ve not had a leading problem with LLA or PC in any other combo of gun/ bullet.

[farmbif]

I cleaned a couple barrels today after playing with new bore scope camera. no lead in any but the 357 wheelgun had come copper colored streaks on edge of rifling from a few rounds of jacketed bullets that easily cleaned up with some #9 hoppes and a few strokes of brass brush. I always oversize cast at .002-.003 or more
and have had 0 leading in many many years, I better knock on some wood

[Midohhntr]

Last year about this time...before I started PC'ing no lead in barrels since. And I've driven some loads fast, some .357's out of the Marlin cowboy over 1700 fps.

[lar45]

I haven't had to scrub lead in over 20 years :)

[ChristopherO]

When purchased new the Remington / Marlin 1895 CB had a gummy bore, before ever firing a shot from it. Among a full slicking up the action, dressing sharp edges, giving it a trigger job I also gave it a thorough scrubbing of the barrel. It was as if the lands were full of machining gunk, filthy. Then I used a tight patch with Clover Compound and much elbow grease to take off the rough edges that could be felt through the Dewy rod. A full lead lapping may have been called for, but I did not take it that far.

I've only shot my cast boolits from that rifle, many in fact. After shooting I'll take a gun cleaning oil with tight patches and push out a small amount of lead, which breaks free without much force at all. The extremely hard boolits are worse than the preferred softer cast slugs, but both will leave light lead particles. I've fired a few shots or up to 50 rounds at a session and the cleaning is basically the same. I can live with this as there isn't any scrubbing involved.

Once, on a rifled 12 gauge barrel and soft foster slugs....... Just Don't Do It!

[Forrest r]

Some would call it leading, others antimonial wash.
https://i.imgur.com/st4tMS0.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/kFuSQZL.jpg?1

I'm of the antimonial wash camp, both sides of the lands have bright silver streaking starting on them. Typically, leading starts to buildup on the drive side (1 side) of the lands when leading occurs.

Several years ago, I was plinking with a k22 5-screw made in 1947. You would think it would of been broke in/slicked up by then. Didn't take long to miss the broad side of the barn at 10 paces. Never made it thru 1 box of ammo, ended punching these strips of lead out of the bbl with a jag and tight patch.
https://i.imgur.com/qtXlUrw.jpg

I've cleaned a lot of lead out of the bbl's over the decades and fully expect to in the future. Nothing more than part of the testing process to me.

[megasupermagnum]

I've only been casting bullets for a few years, but in that time I have never had trouble with lead. I've purposefully shot pure lead bullets at high pressure, just to see what happens. Lead is easy to get out of a barrel. Even the worst of it comes out pretty quickly with a little chore boy. I can't recall ever spending more than 15 minutes on a barrel before.

By comparison, I have had MASSIVE problems with copper. I had a 6mm remington that would copper foul to no limit. Eventually accuracy would go out the window, and it would be time for a deep clean. It would take me days to clean that rifle. Even super strong ammonia cleaners like 7.62 sweets would only do so much at a time. It was almost like copper and powder fouling would layer on each other. Nothing will get copper out except cleaner. Maybe lapping compound would do it, but you would ruin a barrel quickly doing that. The saving grace of that rifle was I could go about 200 rounds before I needed to do this.

Today I am pulling my hair out on dads rifle. I was asked to make a good load for him for this years pronghorn hunting. What I found is that the rifle shoots adequately, not great, for about 10-15 rounds, and that's it. It is a Remington 770 from Remington's worst years. I couldn't see any steel in the bore at all, it was nothing but copper. I've been cleaning this rifle for about 2 weeks now, and only made marginal improvement. 7.62 sweets wasn't quite getting there, and I only had limited time to deal with it, and you do not want to let that stuff sit. I've gone to Hoppe's benchrest copper cleaner, which is more mild, but it won't pit your barrel either. Twice a day for 2 weeks I've been running a few patches through, bright blue, then following with some bore brush scrubbing, then another wet patch and letting it soak. It is now at the point where the lands still look like copper, but the grooves look acceptable. Today I ran a few with 7.62 sweets through, but not a ton of improvement. I finally got sick of this nonsense, and made a lapping plug. This bore is rougher than rough, I'm not sure it can be saved. I worked at it for a while with 320 grit compound, but running a patch through still feels really bad. At this point I'm probably just going to let it buck. I'll do the best I can with a load, clean it, and it's dad's problem.

Those are not isolated incidences. At the same time I also did a yearly deep clean of my Henry 308 Winchester, although I was able to get the copper out of that in only a couple hours. I was using Hoppe's benchrest copper cleaner. I did it twice, and cleaned other guns inbetween. The bore on that is silky smooth, but copper is copper. I probably could have got it out really fast with 7.62 sweets, but again, you have to be very careful with such a strong chemical like that. That same rifle with cast bullets I can have clean as a whistle with nothing but a couple wet patches of standard Hoppe's #9, and a couple dry patches.

Compared to copper, lead fouling is not even on the radar.

[ChuckJaxFL]

Years ago, I had a SWD M11/9. I preferred shooting the Lage slow fire upper, but shot the stock upper occasionally. I actually cast for that thing. I shot the RCBS 9mm 147 sized to 356. It was actually pretty accurate in the Lage upper, with an Eotech.

The stock upper... not so much. And it leaded exactly the way you'd think a full-auto sub gun with a big ol' barrel shooting undersized bullets would lead.

[Texas by God]

The last time I used some commercial .44 SWC bullets with blue lube. They shot great at first then didnt...
Luckily my 44-40 is easily cleaned from the breech, because it was leaded a bit. Never a problem with LLA or PC in that rifle.

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[Thin Man]

About a year ago our shop took in several firearms from an estate. One in particular was a single shot bolt action .410 with the dirtiest bore I have ever seen. I'm talking about record setting layers of lead in the bore from vintage shotshells that did not have wad cups to separate the lead from the bore. My job was to scrub the bore until all of that lead was gone. It took me a few days and some muscle power but I got the job completely finished. As for the satisfaction factor the bore showed no rust or damage, guess the lead helped protect it from all other elements.

[Mal Paso]

This year I bought a used 44Mag Colt Revolver with .429" throats over a .430" groove. It looked like there were tooling marks in the bore. These barrels are EDM machined with bores like mirrors and the "tooling marks" was lead soldered to the bore textured with a cleaning brush. I lapped the throats .431" with a brass lap and Diamond Paste. I didn't want to buy a Lewis Lead Remover for a single use and the brass brush wasn't cutting it. I bought some pure copper Chore Boy (those pads have gotten really small) and wrapped 3 threads around my bore brush and was soon seeing that mirror surface bore. I am hoping the bore will season like my old 629 which was zero maintenance.

The 629 needs the top strap welded where 100,000 rounds have gas cut the strap from one side to the other. Barrel setback would be pointless unless I find the right cylinder for it. It still shoots well and has semi-mental value.

[405grain]

A S&W 629's a great pistol. I've owned one since the mid 80's. I used to get barrel leading in it, and my super blackhawk anytime I shot loads much above 900 fps. This was with plain based semi-wadcutters sized to .430". Using different lubes made no difference. Of all my firearms, only the 44 mags gave me a leading problem. Then when powder coating came along all trace of leading has disappeared. I can shoot either plain based or gas checked bullets at up to magnum velocities and with PC there's no leading at all.

[Mal Paso]

A S&W 629's a great pistol. I've owned one since the mid 80's. I used to get barrel leading in it, and my super blackhawk anytime I shot loads much above 900 fps. This was with plain based semi-wadcutters sized to .430". Using different lubes made no difference. Of all my firearms, only the 44 mags gave me a leading problem. Then when powder coating came along all trace of leading has disappeared. I can shoot either plain based or gas checked bullets at up to magnum velocities and with PC there's no leading at all.

My 629 had leading problems when I first got it. For a while S&W was machining tight throats to improve jacketed bullet performance. Mine were .428" with two that took the .4275 pilot. I bought a Manson Reamer with the pilot set and reamed mine .4313". I had my hands on a brand new 629 3 years ago and the new ones, the throats are over .430". I brought a .430" pin and it was lose in the throats. I've been up to 1,600 fps from a 6" Half Lug 629 with a warm batch of 2400 and a plane base 250g Keith with Elmer's load. Slight leading, drop to 1,500 fps and it goes away.