Slugging a barrel

[long_arm]

I want to slug a .44 revolver barrel. Where do I get the slugs??
Thanks

[Dusty Bannister]

Egg sinkers from the sporting goods store.

[Hannibal]

Not all sinkers are pure lead these days so you'll have to judge by the weight. Some sinkers are alloys and are harder which will make slugging the bore considerably more difficult. The pure lead sinkers will weigh considerably more for the same diameter and number of sinkers in the package.

[oley55]

for a little clarification, the egg sinkers are preferred because the hole down the middle gives the lead a place to flow into under compression and will have less spring back. Also the oval shape allows the the barrel to shave off some of the outer edge of the slug/sinker when hammered into the bore.

OP, you didn't mention it, but each revolver chamber needs to be slugged or pin gauged as well. Knowing your barrel dimensions means little without being able to compare against the chambers. Ideally the barrel grove diameter should be very slightly smaller than the cylinder chambers. Also, ALL chambers need to be measured. Not all chambers are identical.

[Mk42gunner]

I have always used pure lead muzzle loading round balls, since I dabble with BP I have always had suitable sizes onhand so never had to resort to using sinkers.

Anything from .437" (not common) on up should work. The larger diameter ball you start with, the wider the band you have to measure will be.

Good Luck,

Robert

[TXCOONDOG]

Agree'd. Check each cylinder to ensure they are as large or larger than bore diameter. I was having leading issues because some of the cylinders were smaller than the barrel diameter....in short, my casts were getting swaged (.002" undersized) when being fired.

[long_arm]

Gents,
Yep, I've used pin gauges on the cylinder and have cast appropriately sized bullets .. still having some accuracy issues, hence wanting to see what's up with the barrel.

[Dusty Bannister]

Just to clarify, the bore diameter of a barrel is the original hole drilled through. The groove diameter is the maximum diameter after the rifling is cut. You need a cast bullet larger than the groove diameter.

[44Blam]

This is an interesting way of doing it...
Part 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuNoo4m6jso
Part 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPHypjU5alQ

[gc45]

Bought some at Walmart yesterday; they have both lead and non-lead egg sinkers. For the 44 I think you need a 1/4 oz sinker.

[long_arm]

Thank you all!

[billmc2]

I recently did this with help from oley55. I was doing it on rifles though, 1 308 Win and 2 30-30s. I had some soft lead available (when shopping for sinkers at Walmart I was surprised to find most were no longer lead). I melted the lead in the pot and poured it into some 32 S&W Long cases that I had. Once it cooled, I used an impact bullet puller (Hornady) to extract the lead from the cases. I picked up some aluminum rod at Lowe's. After using a heavy mallet (3 lb) to get the slugs into the barrels, the aluminum rod finished pushing the slugs through.

[SoonerEd]

I use fired, cleaned cases of the correct diameter and melt lead in them. Then use an inertia hammer to knock the slug out. It will be slightly tapered to get it started in the muzzle. If it's a little small hit it with a hamer, or a vise is better. Run a patch of oil down the barrel before slugging.

[long_arm]

Will give this a go today. Appreciate the advice

[Stopsign32v]

45cal muzzle loading balls.

I found it tricky to measure due to the lands. Took me about 5 or so tries to make sure I was accurate. But the 45 cal balls give you a large area to measure.