Cast bullets and rusty barrels.

[Joe C]

Picked up a 92 Winchester in 25-20 a couple weeks ago. The rifle has a pretty
nasty looking barrel on it .
Rusted and pitted pretty bad, can't see any rifling at the muzzle..... (have to go back about 3/8 inch into the bore to see rifling.
Really rough feeling while pushing a patch through it .

I have been shooting it with jacketed bullets , and it doesn't shoot quite as bad as i thought it might ........ getting 3-4" groups with it at 100 yds.

I didn't buy it as a cast bullet gun , but i was wondering how bad an idea it would be to try cast bullets in it .
(For as much as i am likely to shoot this rifle , i don't mind using jacketed bullets in it) .

Is a rough barrel, like this rifle has, going to lead really badly and be a nightmare to clean????????

I was planning on firelapping it , just waiting for the lap bullets , but even though that might smooth it out some , it will still have the pits in the bore.

Any body have any experience with leal bullets in a bad barrel.????????

thanks

Joe

[Wills Point Pete]

Well, yeah it will lead. Will it be a nightmare to clean? Shouldn't be that big a deal, spray it full of that foaming gunk, let it sit, patch it out. If it's still all grungy after a couple of passes, run a few patches of Kroil through, let it sit overnight and patch it out. Then use a bronze brush with Kroil. Put the 92 in the cleaning cradle upside down, with the action open so the rust, and cleaning goo drops out of the chamber, put an old rag underneath to catch it all.

Between the Kroil and the Wipe Out there just isn't any reason to sweat over cleaning a bore anymore. Let the chemicals do the work. Put them in, wait a few hours, patch 'em out.Most of us don't have a Sergeant peepin' down our barrels anymore so we don't have to hurry.

[Bret4207]

Get it really clean and then check that muzzle again. If the rifling is just worn, as in from a cleaning rod, then have the muzzle counter bored. IOW- a correctly sized piloted drill or reamer is run into the muzzle far enough to re-establish a proper muzzle. That retains the original barrel length and appearance and will probably tighten those groups if there is any hope for the barrel at all. Then try cast, go as fat as the chamber will take within reason- .258+, maybe even .260+. That may require using unsized boolits and a GC mould may work best. That will require some home brew work to get the GC on straight. Some presses will allow you to do that by placing a flat steel piece on the shellholder and ram and using it like an arbor press.

Start with the cleaning and muzzle work. The rest will follow. If the barrel just isn;t savable I suggest having it relined. The 25WCF is too good to pass up.

[jonk]

I'm told paper patching should help polish it.

[mooman76]

Give it a try and see. The odds are it probably won't shoot good but I have heard of people getting surprizingly good results sometimes out of old worn and pitted barrels. You just never know what's in the mind of a gun until you shoot it.

[anachronism]

Clean it completely, then try fire-lapping it to smooth the rough edges, then try cast in it.

[454PB]

I had the same situation with the same rifle and caliber. I was using jacketed bullets and getting decent accuracy, but came across some commercial hand cast 86 gr. gas checked boolits. I was amazed to find that these actually shot better than jacketed, and there was no leading.

Give it a try!

[codgerville@zianet.com]

I had a "92 rifle in 44-40 in about the same condition. A thorough cleaning and it shot very well. Give 'er a try.