SBH Leading

[HWooldridge]

What powder(s) and load(s)? Does a light Bullseye charge lead the same as a hotter load with 2400? I would venture a guess that there is some velocity range below which the leading stops - but maybe not?

[Bazoo]

I sure would like to know myself. I ran into something similar with a ruger gp100. I had the slightest frame choke. I fire lapped it, and didn’t have but only the very slightest choke when I quit. I recut the forcing cone. The only thing that didn’t lead was a full bore load I stumbled upon using a plain based bullet. I never figured it out and finally sold it when things were tight.

[243winxb]

Used nearly all. 429421, 429244, lee 310, lee 200, commercial bullets.

Same w lube. 50/50, C red, mix of c red and 50/50, liquid alox. Just powder coating now.

Sell it.

[Larry Gibson]

Might consider fire lapping.

[racepres]

Watching with interest, as not long ago I had some commercial cast, bevel base, 240s that leaded. Cured by changing boolit!!! Seriously, my SBH likes a bit softer alloy..
To use those Commercial cast (I had quite a Few), I relubed with softer lube, as I ran thru a .431, sizer. Some, help...dropped to a Quicker powder, (7.0 gr Red Dot) and a homebrewed Wax Wad, under the Boolit.. got 900+ fps (4-5/8 bbl) and pretty darn clean..

One other thing I "learned" .. Original leading was getting old...as you say, within 6 rounds... I went to 8.6 gr Unique with enough Cream of Wheat (seriously) to take up half of the space left.. then seated the (relubed) boolit.. Darn things are fairly Stout, and Shoot the Lead Out....
Worked for me... But, never brave enough to Chrono them.. !!!!
May be some help...and as a Plus... The Bore on my SBH is very Shiney... polished even!!!

BTW, I was going to Firelap... but, I only had problems with that one Boolit..

[mattd]

I've fire lapped 18 or 24 rounds. With 400 grit Clover. Hard to remember I've worked with this thing for so long.

Maybe I need to use a finer grit and do a few more since it appears to get a bit tighter towards the cylinder.

[Maven]

mattd, I follow Doug Guy's recommendations, but barring that let me ask whether it's feasible for you to damp swab the bore with your favorite bore solvent* and a tight flannel patch after every 5 - 12 shots? Btw, I have a Ruger SBH with a 10.5" bbl. and get leading at the forcing cone, but it's easily removed and doesn't seem to affect accuracy.

*WD-40 will work here quite well.

[Bazoo]

Is it possible your measurements are incorrect? Not implying you’re an ignoramus, but that, we all make mistakes.

[DougGuy]

I've fire lapped 18 or 24 rounds. With 400 grit Clover. Hard to remember I've worked with this thing for so long.

Maybe I need to use a finer grit and do a few more since it appears to get a bit tighter towards the cylinder.

I got a bottle of J&B Bore Cleaner that had been sitting on a shelf for ages, poured off the oil leaving the paste which I packed in the lube groove of LSWC boolits, I firelapped 50 rounds with full power loads, it made a hell of a mess of the gun, but the bore was absolutely night and day difference in looks, and performance.

Another thing about firelapping that is very cool, the compound is less effective in every inch of bore so if you got lucky and stayed on top of it, you'd wind up with a tapered bore which is like the holy grail of pistol barrels for shooting cast boolits. It keeps getting smaller and the seal in the bore is maintained even better. Groups will respond in like kind.

[jaguarxk120]

I have read that "Firelapping" is the gunsmith's friend!!
The guy that posted, said firelapping generated more income than
shot out barrels. Guys will fire lap till they have a smooth bore
barrel.
By the way 400 grit compound is for lapping in engine valves,
if I was fire lapping 2000 grit would be a start. Remember this barrel
does not have reamer marks or drilling gouges in it.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I have several revolvers, three of them bought used, that shot cast loads nicely right off the bat. After carefully sizing the boolits to a close push through fit to the throats and using a softer alloy and medium loads I got great results. I came to the conclusion that it is bad to let the cylinder throats "size" the boolits down, almost like that softens them as they make the jump to the forcing cone, and thus, more prone to leading. There are some revolvers that simply will not shoot cast well. I have four .35 cal. wheelers and they all like softer .357" boolits.

[wilecoyote]

I got a bottle of J&B Bore Cleaner that had been sitting on a shelf for ages, poured off the oil leaving the paste which I packed in the lube groove of LSWC boolits, I firelapped 50 rounds with full power loads, it made a hell of a mess of the gun, but the bore was absolutely night and day difference in looks, and performance.
Another thing about firelapping that is very cool, the compound is less effective in every inch of bore so if you got lucky and stayed on top of it, you'd wind up with a tapered bore which is like the holy grail of pistol barrels for shooting cast boolits. It keeps getting smaller and the seal in the bore is maintained even better. Groups will respond in like kind.

I don't have the bottle you're talking about, but two kind of JB cleaning paste at hand:
J-B Bore Bright, and the more aggressive J-B Bore Cleaning Compound.
just in case, if so, which of the two would be more appropriate, if applicable, to do this firelapping ?

[243winxb]

LBT Bore Lap Kit https://lbtmolds.com/Products/tabid/5806/Default.aspx

[44MAG#1]

Have you thought about trading the gun for another one?
Maybe you would be better off.
Some people love a challenge though.
Gives them a purpose.

[jaguarxk120]

The upside is, you can send the gun back to Ruger and have a new barrel installed.

What barrel length do you have?