slugging a barrel

[carbluesnake]

How would you suggest slugging an old win. 94 32/40. I thought about filing all the driving bands off a cast bullet and pushing it through. What would you push it through with? Got any suggestions?

[Chuck 100 yd]

I usually use soft round balls to slug a barrel. Small egg fishing sinkers work fine to.
If you have cast bullets made for that rifle,filing off the grease grooves would render it too small to use.
I sometimes just do a bore cast with Cerosafe at the muzzle and one at the breech end. That will tell you a lot but the feel of pushing a slug all the way through the bore may reveal tight or loose spots and is my favorite way to do it.

[earlmck]

And for a different strategy -- I like to load a bullet I know is over the bore size with a few grains of something such as red dot or green dot and shoot into a bundle of rags. Occasionally I have to pound the bullet on through but usually it poops through and stops gently in the rags. Probably about 2.5 grains of green dot in a 32/40 case.

[BrentD]

why file off the bands? What would engage. In fact, you might want to whack the bullets a few times before you put it in the bore first so that it fully engages teh grooves.

Roundballs do work well, as do other slugs. Oil your barrel a bit first.

Depending on what you want to learn you might want to slug the muzzle and then bump the slug back out the muzzle. Repeat the same procedure at at the throat, and then drive one slug all the way through. Each slug will tell you a different story

[Hillbillygunsmith]

When you slug a barrel, it is best to use a pure lead slug such as the egg shaped fishing sinker, or pure lead round ball used in a muzzle loader. If you use a cast bullet that has been alloyed with tin, antimony, it has a tendency to spring back after going though the barrel and can give you a false reading of 1-2 thousand. Do not use calipers to measure the slug. Use a mike is best for getting a accurate reading on the goove dia.

[BrentD]

Hillbilly, I have to disagree with that entirely. I routinely slug guns with lead-tin alloy 30:1 or harder.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

Here's how I like to slug a bore. I like to use a slug of soft lead that is at least 1 1/2 times long than the bore dia that's being slugged. This extra length assures that the slug doesn't wobble or try to turn in the bore as it's hammered through. This can be verified with short slugs. Measurements will vary depending on where you measure it. The longer slug yields more consistent results. Make sure the bore is clean lead free and lightly oiled, as in an oiled patch pushed through it.
You can drive the slug in from the muzzle if you use a leather or rubber mallet so as not to damage the crown. I like to drive it all the way through to feel any high spots or bulges. I like to use a brass or hardwood dowel that is close to bore size. A rod that is too small can deform the soft lead. Next if it's a levergun I use two wooden dowels just smaller than the bore and cut to the cartridge OAL. These are inserted into the chamber end and the action closed. Next the slug is re inserted in the muzzle end and driven to the wood dowel then bumped up so it's now tight. Now, open the action, remove the dowels and gently tap the slug on out. This will give you a really true picture of the bore just in front of the chamber or farther out depending on how many dowels are used.
To measure I like to use a zero-ed Starret micrometer. Most dial calipers aren’t accurate enough.

[Hillbillygunsmith]

BrentD you are intitled to disagree. I first heard of it on the cast boolit site several times and those guys are always slugging their bores and cylinder throats for cast bullet shooting.
After reading about it several times I decided to check it out for myself. I used one of my molds that that will drop a .434 bullet. Pre heated the mold and cast several bullets with clip on wheel weights and several using pure lead from sheeting taken from a x-ray room.
sluggged my Ruger 44 special bore with the pure lead and got a reading of .4295 with the starrett mike. Using the wheel weight bullet, reading was .431 which seemed to confirm what I read. I did that several times and same reading for alloyed bullet and pure lead bullet.
I will continue to use pure lead as I do feel it is more accurate, plus it is easier to drive though the bore due to it's softer material.

[Tycer]

why file off the bands? What would engage. In fact, you might want to whack the bullets a few times before you put it in the bore first so that it fully engages teh grooves.

Roundballs do work well, as do other slugs. Oil your barrel a bit first.

Depending on what you want to learn you might want to slug the muzzle and then bump the slug back out the muzzle. Repeat the same procedure at at the throat, and then drive one slug all the way through. Each slug will tell you a different story

This.
And I'll add to do an upset long slug into a mostly full case to see what the throat looks like.

[Pete44ru]

.

Whatever type slug used, as the others have posted, to get a true reading the slug must be upset/expanded to a tight fit (oil the bore first) by supporting one end while smacking the other end of the slug with a rod that just fits inside the bbl, to compress/expand it B 4 driving it through the bore & measuring.



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[madman4570]

http://carteach0.blogspot.com/2007/10/s ... ay_07.html

At your own risk of course!

[CowboyTutt]

This is a great kit that I purchased from Midway years ago. It allows you to do it Steve's way as he described above. Money well spent.

http://www.meisterbullets.com/slugyourb ... etails.asp

-Tutt