Slugging a bore

[Gundogblue]

Hi All,
I’ve never slugged a bore before but I know the process. What I’m not sure about is how much over bore diameter should the slug be? I want to slug the bore of my 1894 Marlin in .44 magnum. I do have some Hornady pure lead round balls for my muzzle loader in .454 diameter. Would those work or should I try to find a smaller diameter lead slug? Any help will be greatly appriciated.
Paul

[Tall]

That will be too large. You want to start with a round ball closer to .430" for a 44 caliber rifle.

[mehavey]

Get a 44 (430) pure lead ball.
Tap/'light smack' with a hammer* to slightly flatten it just a bit....
Lay it on the muzzle (after lubing both ball & bore) ...
Tap/hammer* it into the bore/producing a slight shaved-ring all round.

Once actually in the bore, it will go down fairly easily with a large-caliber rod.


* wood/hide/plastic

[Hannibal]

Get a 44 (430) pure lead ball.
Tap/'light smack' with a hammer to slightly flatten it just a bit....
Lay it on the muzzle (after lubing both ball & bore) ...
Tap/hammer it into the bore/producing a a slight shaved ring all round.

Once actually in the bore, it will go down fairly easily with a large-caliber rod.

Assuming the bore doesn't have unexpected constrictions.

I'd definitely recommend at least a brass rod or my personal preference is a steel rod with 1" wide wraps of masking tape 1" apart along the full length of the rod. And it needs to be a fairly close fit or the lead will upset and obturate enough to stick everything together and then you have a mess to deal with.

Do NOT attempt to slug a bore with a wooden dowel. Anything goes wrong and the dowel will splinter, you'll drive the splinters together with the hammer and then you really have a serious problem.

It's easy if things are good. If things aren't good then things can easily go awry. Based on my personal observations.

Obviously anyone reading this is free to ignore my suggestions. It's your firearm. Do whatever you deem best.

[hoodat]

Get a 44 (430) pure lead ball.
Tap/'light smack' with a hammer to slightly flatten it just a bit....
Lay it on the muzzle (after lubing both ball & bore) ...
Tap/hammer it into the bore/producing a a slight shaved ring all round.

Once actually in the bore, it will go down fairly easily with a large-caliber rod.

For God sake use a plastic hammer when doing the above. jd

[charlie b]

I like to 'slug' the throat as well. Just tap it in from the rear far enough so it fully engages the rifling, then tap it back out. I prefer to fit the bullets just over the groove dia at the throat.

[Kentucky146]

Eh I did a .303 Brit .451 Round ball YES I did have to trim it up a bit before use, lube was a little 10w 30 rubbed a little on the ball, hammer was ball pin, ABOVE ALL soft lead SOFT LEAD should be used and the britt handled it well good .308. OVER ALL Hammer, cleaning rods stiff enough and SOFT LEAD size should be sized over caliber checking now do not try a .50 round ball in a .32 dont be that guy. The slug does need to be oversized not to extremes you are trying to rifle the slug to measure the lans and grooves, BUT HEY whadda I know, I did not stay in a holiday inn express

[SoonerEd]

The process I use is to take an unsized, fired 44 case and melt soft lead in the case about half full. Clean the inside of the case well prior to melting the lead. Knock it out with an inertia bullet puller. Forms a nice tapered slug to drive through the bore. If it needs to be slightly larger give it a whack with a hammer or squash it a tiny bit in a vice. Put a very light coat of oil in the barrel prior to driving the slug through. Don't use the case for loading as you annealed the case head when melting the lead.

[castmiester]

The only way a wooden dowel can splinter is if you use lead too hard. Use fishing weights, they are pure lead or pretty close. I drill a hole in wood with a drill bit that’s close and melt weights in a pouring ladle. Make it extra long so you can chuck it in your drill, then turn it with a medium file until you are uniform as possible the length of the slug.

[GregLaROCHE]

I’ve used a steel bar wrapped with duck tape. Sometimes you need to tap pretty hard.

[MrWolf]

The process I use is to take an unsized, fired 44 case and melt soft lead in the case about half full. Clean the inside of the case well prior to melting the lead. Knock it out with an inertia bullet puller. Forms a nice tapered slug to drive through the bore. If it needs to be slightly larger give it a whack with a hammer or squash it a tiny bit in a vice. Put a very light coat of oil in the barrel prior to driving the slug through. Don't use the case for loading as you annealed the case head when melting the lead.

That is what I do too.

[Gundogblue]

I want to thank all you guys for the info. I just got done slugging the bore, I used a fired 44 mag case and melted a couple rnd balls in it, it made a pretty nice slug. Now I know my bore is 0.4305.
Thanks Again,
Paul

[paul edward]

I want to thank all you guys for the info. I just got done slugging the bore, I used a fired 44 mag case and melted a couple rnd balls in it, it made a pretty nice slug. Now I know my bore is 0.4305. Thanks Again, Paul

Does your Marlin have the microgroove rifling?

[castmiester]

I want to thank all you guys for the info. I just got done slugging the bore, I used a fired 44 mag case and melted a couple rnd balls in it, it made a pretty nice slug. Now I know my bore is 0.4305.
Thanks Again,
Paul

Just found out about doing it in a fired case. Wood isn’t consistent enough. Too much work to make it even. Glad it worked out for you. I thought about using a inertia bullet puller to get the lead out of the case.