A late production Roller in 7mm I have acquired recently needs now to be shot. I guess it is a late one, "Remington Arms, pat date 1901", Frank DeHaas says that is late production smokeless steel. The action is tight and crisp, the face of the breechblock is square with the breechface. Firing pin fits the hole in the breechblock. Main pins are tight in the action. It appears to be ready. Unfortunately, it was shot with corrosive priming, neglected, and the bore is dark, with some light pitting. Bad enough I suspect cast bullets will be a heartbreaker.
I made a crude chamber cast and the neck is slightly oversize, and of course the shoulder is a few thou longer than SAAMI specs. To address this, I reformed to 7x57, annealed GI .30-06 brass to headspace correctly and a little extra neck thickness will help the generous chamber.
So, finally to my questions:
Is there any reason I can't/shouldn't concoct a load of slow burning 4831 shoving 175 gr jacketed round noses to original velocity, circa 1900's, to match the sights? I think Guru John Taylor mentioned the action is capable of 50,000...which seems way over what would be needed for 175's at 2,100 fps.
Is there a GC bullet style, lube, alloy that might just work in a rough bore...something that could be pushed to 2,100 ish?
Is there any point to firelapping? I did thirty or so strokes with some 400 Clover compound...with noticeable improvement in appearance, and a much smoother 'push' with a tight dry patch. Thanks flintlocke.