No More Slugging Barrels for Me :-)

[Old Caster]

How close to bore size you make your bullets depends on the hardness of the lead. Once I bought some Dardas 45 200 grain bullets to shoot them and others from my ransom rest through my Les Baer to find the most accurate bullet available commercially. I accidentally bought a hundred of them sized .451. I thought no big deal and I will just use them to settle the ransom rest before testing what I figured would be the best. While shooting 10 rounds I came up with a group around two inches at 50 yards. I and my friends were amazed and said I should buy some .452's and some .453 so I did and when testing them, the .452's were worse with the 453's being even worse around 7 or 8 inches. This amazed me because my best groups with cast bullets were sized at .452 however the BHN on the Dardas measured around 17 and my cast measured 9. I assume the hard bullets did not like being swaged down but the soft ones did not mind. I also tried some of my soft bullets sized at .451 and they shot around 4 inches. Don't know for sure the reasons for all this but is something to think about and try if you don't have good results in what you are doing. All kinds of reasons for we don't know what.

[358429]

I doubt I will ever slug another barrel.

But I am curious....if a .308 barrel slugs at .308, do you size to .309, .310, or something else? Why?

Second question, what variation have you guys have you seen in modern .308 barrels?

I think you can see where I am going with this. BTW, used a rifle barrel in the questions above as it matters even less for most pistol loads.

Just wondering if anyone shooting .38/.357 has ever had poor performance with a cast bullet sized .359? Or a 9mm sized .357?

I size my 9x19 bullets .358.

356 struck the target sideways and leaded the rifling.

If my bullets fit the brass and then the barrel throat when assembled, turning gun powder into noise is rewarded with accuracy.

I do not like Winchester pistol brass casings for cast bullets, it is thick and I suspect it swages the bullet smaller.

If it does not fit well, time to get the chore boy strands and brass brush ready, things could get messy.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[44Blam]

Clearly, you were not paying attention in Spring 2020...

[oley55]

Clearly, you were not paying attention in Spring 2020...

which of the 18 'you' are you referring to?

[mdi]

For me, that would be a lot more trouble than driving a slug doen the barrel. I have slugged nearly all my guns, no big deal and it only needs to be done one time (I normall drive 3 or 4 slugs to get more than one measurement). Lead balls, soft cast bullets, home made "slugging slugs" all work and are easy to come by, and I keep a box of various caliber slugs in my shop. A brass rod, some lube, a mallet and in a few minutes I have some slugs to measure...

[imashooter2]

Sounds like you plan to make a very simple process expensive, complex and time consuming. Have fun with that. I'll stick with a rod and round ball.

[waksupi]

My method is to fire a full power load. Then find a bullet diameter that slides into the fired case with a little resistance. This will be the size that fits my throats the best. I size about 1/3-1/2 of the neck to hold them in place. You need to fit to the throat, not the bore.

[dverna]

My method is to fire a full power load. Then find a bullet diameter that slides into the fired case with a little resistance. This will be the size that fits my throats the best. I size about 1/3-1/2 of the neck to hold them in place. You need to fit to the throat, not the bore.

That is something I have never heard of....but it makes sense. I will remember that if I ever decide to try cast in the rifles again.

[44Blam]

which of the 18 'you' are you referring to?

The ones shooting toilet paper...

[GregLaROCHE]

I’ve wondered if someone had a large swimming pool, if you couldn’t shoot into the water and recover the slug.

[44Blam]

I’ve wondered if someone had a large swimming pool, if you couldn’t shoot into the water and recover the slug.

People do recover slugs in gel or water bottles... I have a friend of mine a box of 500 grain 45-70s - I've joked that he should shoot them through water bottles and attempt to catch one. I told him 17 1 gallon bottles...

[imashooter2]

I’ve wondered if someone had a large swimming pool, if you couldn’t shoot into the water and recover the slug.

I may or may not have laid on the diving board and fired straight sown into a 10 foot deep pool to get some expanded .357 magnum JHPs. It may or may not have been a foolish thing to do in the squalid suburbs. But if someone were so inclined it would work great.

[blackthorn]

What is wrong with using a roll of toilet paper? When done, you can still use the paper for its intended purpose---just be careful where you place your finger(s)!!!

[jim147]

If i shot in our pool it would be a race to see if the wife or daughter shot me first.

[fredj338]

I honestly dont bother slugging bores. I have far too many diff guns to consider special sized bullets. I size 0.001" or sometimes 0.002" over jacketed & it has been fine for decades. IF I were looking to a specific rifle for accuracy loads, I might bother buy more likely to just try diff sized bullets for groups.

[DonHowe]

Just something I came up with today in order to find barrel size without the hassle of slugging the barrel.

In short, make up a round with the bare minimum charge required for the bullet to clear the barrel when fired. Unfortunately, you'll probably have to clear a squib or two when you go too low. Once you get that "just barely" load, go get a roll of toilet paper and shoot into that. As long as your charge is low enough, the bullet will stop somewhere in the roll. All you have to do is search through the plies until you find your perfectly intact bullet.

Am I missing something that would cause the recovered bullet to not be just as good as a slug done in the usual way?

By the time you ready to get I our bullet clear of the barrel the "hassle of slugging" is over and K am measuring slugs.

[RydForLyf]

Sand may work too. I'd be concerned about any damage the abrasiveness of the sand would do. TP is very clean and soft.

[RydForLyf]

Very true if you can get the squib out without deforming the bullet.

[RydForLyf]

Yes, and I've done that before. What I didn't like about that method is having to come up with the lead ball. This method doesn't require sourcing lead balls in each caliber, just shoot a couple of the bullets you've already got for that gun. No special slugs needed.

[RydForLyf]

Thanks for that. This is the type of potential flaw that I was looking for.