New guy with another question about slugging bore.

[jaysouth]

To avoid the work(something I excel at is avoiding work) of ramming a piece of soft lead down my barrel, I loaded up soft lead bullets over a pinch of Bullseye and fired them into a box of Depends left behind by a dear departed relative.

The slugs were recovered one at a time and tagged. Then I measured them with my new digital micrometer. The slugs from an FN mauser 30-06, A handi 30-30 and an EABCO
97d all miked under .308.

I guess I am going to have to get off my duff and find some soft lead to pound down the bores of my rifles. All three shoot well with cast bullets sized .309 and .311 depending on hardness.

Sure am glad I am retired. I wouldn't have time to pursue this casting business if I had a real job.

[wrench]

I think that at the very least you've got to win some kind of award for originality.

[dromia]

Unless the boolits were agood 2 thou over bore size to start with you were never realy going to get decent results that way.

BP round balls like those Hornady sell make good slugs for checking bore diameter.

[41 mag fan]

Lead sinkers work good to.

For my 45-70's I use a 50cal buffalo bullet. Pure soft lead and easy to pound down the barrel

[detox]

Try to cast an oversize bullet using pure lead. Most moulds are a couple thousands oversize. You will have to get the lead pretty hot 800-850 degrees for complete fill of mould. Then use that lead boolit to slug barrel. I use a wooden dowel about the same size as bore and rubber mallet. Oil your barrel before slugging.

[Bullwolf]

Always lube the barrel before you slug it.

If you can't find a fishing sinker or a round ball the correct size, you can often get away with casting a boolit from soft stick on wheel weights.

Hard lead alloys tend to spring back some, and can give you incorrect measurements, so try to slug using pure lead whenever possible. Measure the slug with a micrometer, and not calipers to get a more accurate measurement.

If your potential slug is a little too small, you can smack it with a hammer to bump it up in size, or you can squeeze it in a vice for the same effect.

You can even fill up a piece of empty cartridge brass with molten lead, and then use a kinetic puller on it after it cools, to obtain a slug.

It's a real pain in the rear to remove a broken or splintered wooden dowel from a barrel. I have done it once, and I hope to never do it again. I like to slug my barrels now using a section of 1/4 inch brass rod purchased from the local hardware store.

I wrap tape around the rod so the metal never comes into contact with the bore or the crown.

A solid piece of aluminum rod will also work just fine. I have a smaller diameter rod that I use (don't remember the exact size) for little calibers, like .22


- Bullwolf

[Wayne Smith]

DO NOT use a WOODEN rod!! There is a stickie around here somewhere about getting a broken dowel out of a barrel.

[44man]

Brass will not harm a bore if wiped clean first. Don't let aluminum touch, it loads with grit and dust too easy. Aluminum and wood cleaning rods have worn out a million barrels. Never slug with wood.
I refuse to use an aluminum rod and jointed rods are worse. All of mine are hard steel and every rod has a muzzle protector or a chamber protector.