45-70 Leading

[1Shirt]

Saw the worst case of leading in a rifle that I have ever seen today. Was at the range with an old friend who was shooting one of the H&R long bbl 45-70's. He started by shooting a bunch with 405 Ohas pbs that I had cast for him over l3 gr. of Trail Boss, and was doing 1" or so at 50 yds with it. Blts sized to .459-.460, lubed with Lars Red Canuba. Had just a faint trace of leading after maybe 12-15 rds. when I ran a patch down the tube. Then he switched to some commercial cast 405's, dia unknown to me, and mfg. unknown to me, but they must have been in the .457-.458 bracket. He started complaining that this shots were going all over the place. He was using I believe 322 in these loads, and had probably shot a 5-7" spread. I ran a dry patch down the bbl with some difficulty, and had lead streaks that you could pick off the patch from each of the grooves. Repeated patches produced repeated lead streaks, and finally use a few soaked with bore cleaner (didn't have any Ed's Red or Kroil with me), and kept getting more lead. Don't know how many patches I ran, but it was appreciable, as he did not have a bore bruse etc. He had not slugged the bore, so don't know what he really needs size wise, but may be as high as .461. He had 6 left with the commercial, and fired three or four of them with a fairly clean bbl just to get the empties into about 2" at 50 yds, and then the other two opened some. It will be a 45 cal brush and steel wool for his bore tonight. I just thought I had seen leading with an old Mosin, but this H&R was worse. Guess it is a case of there is always something better or worse to learn about and see.
1Shirt!:coffeecom:holysheep

[mpmarty]

Yup! Right On. Years ago when I first got my Marlin 1895 I cast a bunch of 405gr boolits for it in an RCBS mold and being ignorant used a 457 sizer die in my Lyman 45 and lubed with 50/50 Alox/Beeswax sold under the name of Javelina. It wouldn't hit a barn from inside with the doors closed. The leading was a disaster and I quit shooting that rifle for nearly fifteen years. Too much work to clean it afterwords. In 2008 or thereabout I decided to bring the old girl out and give her another chance. I talked to a fellow far wiser than me and we slugged the barrel and found it to come out at .459 I now use Ranch Dog 350 gr boolits tumble lubed and sized or not sized in a Star .460 without applying any lube in the Star at all. Bore stays shiny clean and groups are quite respectable with 44gr of RL7 and or 25gr of 2400. Both my marlin and I are quite happy now.:bigsmyl2:

[fredj338]

It will be a 45 cal brush and steel wool for his bore tonight. I just thought I had seen leading with an old Mosin, but this H&R was worse. Guess it is a case of there is always something better or worse to learn about and see.
1Shirt!:coffeecom:holysheep
I wouldn't use steel wool, just me. Try CHoreBoy copper wool, most grocery stores sell it. Works great wrapped around an old bore brush.

[Bret4207]

No offense Fred, but we use 4/0 steel wool to polish you barrels to final finish after bluing. Just how much damage do you think it'll do? The Chore Boy I've seen is much coarser and often made of steel in the off brands. I picked up the 4/0 steel wool from the Scheutzen boys, do you think they'd risk a fine barrel?

[x101airborne]

i too use steel wool 4/0 in my mauser barrels and sometimes in my pistol barrels, but only when necessary. I do not think it hurts the barrel in any way. From the sound of it, he has plenty of lead to protect the steel!

[44man]

You would need an automatic rubbing machine to make 0000 steel wool do much of anything to steel but it also does a nice job of polishing lead in the bore too.
I would not use it on stainless, I heard any particles left will promote rust. And yes, stainless guns can rust.