Well, I finally got around to testing the boolits I started casting a couple weeks ago (my first run at this) out of my Marlin 1895. Result was disaster...I've been trying to remove the leading for the last 6 hours and there's still a decent bit left (probably down enough that shooting some jacketed stuff will clear the rest). Leading was heavy throughout the bore and some on the throat area. With all the internet talk of Choreboy pads making easy work of lead, I must say I wonder what sort of twisted definition of "easy" is being used.
Regardless of the cleaning process, however, I'd like to get down to solving the problem. I did a lot of reading about what does and does not cause leading, and what steps to take to prevent it. As such, I decided NOT to quench my Rotometals Hardball alloy (started with a premixed alloy to remove one variable, BHN 16). I left the boolits unsized as they dropped from the mold at .461", a size that every thread about the 1895 recommends. I used Lee Liquid Alox lube in what I thought to be plentiful quantity compared to the videos on the subject I found on Youtube. These were run at ~1525 fps with 33 grains of Accurate 5744, as this was an even amount for the only usable Lee dipper I had (.5cc used 5x per cartridge gets annoying and my set hasn't come in yet). I do not have a chronograph, so that fps and my guess at pressure of ~25k psi is via interpolation of load data.
I must have missed something, somewhere. 1525fps is probably on the hot side, but practically all of the commercial boolits are advertised as being good for up to 1600fps with the same BHN. Perhaps my alloy is not actually that hard (I have no tester)? Should I quench them for higher hardness (estimated around 28 from reports I have found)? Perhaps I did not use enough lube? There was no "lube star" at the muzzle, but nor was there a lead one - the lead was perfectly content to just clog my barrel to the point of shooting 20ft groups at 100yards. I literally had a couple shots hit the dirt well below the target stand, and I've NEVER been off the paper with this gun before.
Any help is appreciated. I've read some of the sticky guides here but nothing seems to stand out as an obvious answer, so I figured I would ask before stumbling myself into another weekend long cleaning job. Thanks!