Pitted Surplus Bore and Cast

[Mr_Flintstone]

I have a 6.5 Carcano Carbine that I would like to shoot cast bullets in due to its age and the lack of proper .268" jacketed bullets. The problem is that the bore is kind of rough. Looking through it with just an eyeball and a light, it looks pretty good, but when I use a bore scope, it looks pretty nasty. I slugged the bore at just over .268" and the cast bullets I have are .269". When I loaded some up with a light load, they leaded the bore pretty bad. It has strong rifling, but there are some pits and rough spots that the lead latches onto.

What options do I have? Should I shoot it until the lead fills in the pits, or should I stick to .264" jacketed bullets? I have cleaned it thoroughly, and even run some JB Bore paste through it, but the problem still persists.

[Adam Helmer]

Keep at it! I finally found great Cast Boolits for all my military arms. How HARD are your boolits and are they gas checked? What lube do you use? How fast are you sending the boolits downrange?

You will eventually find the "sweet spot."

Be well.

Adam

[Mr_Flintstone]

I haven't invested in any 6.5 casting equipment yet, and I have been testing a 156 gr Hunters Supply .266" bullet that I ordered unsized because it drops at .269". I have some in plain cast and coated (without gas checks). The hardness of both is 22. I've been trying to keep my velocity around 1000 -1200 fps.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Might consider fire-polishing, filling in with lead does NOT work. More lead just sticks to the lead already there. A really good bullet lube helps a little, something like White Label's Carnauba Red, even on the coated bullets. Bore scopes do make even good shooting rifle barrels look pretty bad. Ignoring the look through the bore scope and working on bullet fit, proper lube and other loading technique's usually provides a useful solution. After your barrel looks really clean through a bore scope, consider a very thin coat of Liquid Alox in the bore before you start shooting. After the Liquid Alox dries run a patch through before you start shooting. Remember, Alox started as a rustproof coating in the automotive world and might keep the roughness and pits from tearing up your boolits. Adding gas checks should also help.

[Adam Helmer]

Mr. Flintstone,

I cast all my boolits from OLD wheelweights with a dash of Tin and drop all from the mould into a bucket of water. My bullets are Hard, gas checked and Alox lubed. I get no leading and great accuracy.

I hope this helps.

Be well.

Adam

[Leadmad]

No experience with the 6.5 Carcano at all but my Mosin has a very rough bore and worn rifling, it would shoot jacketed nowhere near accurately, it slugged at 311 and I now shoot 314 sized Powder coated cast out of it and get no leading at all but a very dirty barrel at the end of the day which could also be the powder I'm using contributing, it does shoot a 4 to 5 " inch group at 100 metres tho so I'm happy to ring gongs with it ,perhaps increase your .269 cast with powder coat to approx. .270 / .271 and it may shoot well without leading

Good luck and cheers

[Hannibal]

You might try powder coating. Doesn't cost a lot to get started and might be just the ticket for something like this.

Depending upon the severity of the pitting, that is.

[Mr_Flintstone]

Thanks guys. You’ve all given me something to think about.

[Gtek]

There is always paper patching!

[Mr_Flintstone]

There is always paper patching!

I thought about that, but I’m a little too ham handed to properly patch a .257 or so bullet.

[Rapier]

With a cast bullet shooter and a rough bore the best solution I have found is fire lapping with very hard cast, lubed with valve grinding compound only. You start with a fairly course grit and work up to 800-1,200. In 5 shot increments at very low velocity, about 600 fps is max. Shoot five, clean, examine, etc. When done to your satisfaction, cast and size to the new actual groove diameter. I have changed chattered .308 barrels to .314 with excellent results by fire lapping.

[Larry Gibson]

I agree with fire lapping. I have done it to several milsurps with badly pitted barrels and it always improved accuracy with cast bullets

After fire lapping I us bullets of at last .001" over groove, GC them and lube with a softer lube (NRA 50/50 or 2500+). This has worked very well in a couple 6.5 Japs, several M98 8x57s, and MNs of Type 53 and M91s. Should work fine in the Carcano.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Reference to valve GRINDING compound for fire lapping always bothers me. Fire lapping 'kits' from NECO and Wheeler/Midwayusa start with a 220 grit. Wheeler goes to 320 and 600, NECO starts at 220, then 400, 800 and 1200 grit. You should review process before just putting valve GRINDING compound on bullets and firing away. After 5 to 10 bullets with 220 grit you may start just wearing out your barrel. I do not believe much is gained with the 800-1200 grit, maybe a little with the 600 but their is a great deal written about fire polishing, from YOU WILL RUIN YOUR BARREL to EVERY BARREL NEEDS IT. With a bore scope you can monitor progress, particularly the throat, where fire polishing has the most effect. Best to read a lot before firing away with grit on your bullets, and yes I have fire-polished barrels with barrel improvements, less fouling and better accuracy but sometimes no change.

[Thin Man]

Mr_Flintstone, PM coming your way.