Slugging Barrels........The Easy Way!

[Sixgun]

Howdy Guys,
Yea, yea, we all heard how to slug barrels. For the last close to 40 years I have been pounding greased up soft lead round balls down barrels, them miking them. Sometimes I just was not happy with the results, so I did it again.

Then, while reading the last "Handloader" magazine, someone (can't remember the author) said how Dave Scoville taught him a trick.

I did it today with 100% perfect results. I cannot believe my stupid half Italian brain has let me be a tart all these years by doing things the hard way. stupido, stupido, stupido............(Italian for "stupid")

Anyway, thats all you need to do is shoot a lead bullet into a folded up towel or other pile of clothes. The trick??? Load one grain of Bullseye behind the bullet

With the 25-20 and 32-20, I used .75 of a grain. With the 44-40 and like sized cartridges, I used 1.2 grains. I have not tried a rifle sized bullet yet (30-30...45-70) but when I do I will start with 1.2 grains and if I stick a bullet, I'll add .2 at a time.

I wanted a perfect reading so I used my standard hard cast bullets which have a Saeco reading of 8-9. (about equal to 15 brinnel or Lyman #2 alloy).

One thing you have to keep in mind and that is you have to use common sense and make sure the bullet you are shooting is at least a thou. over. How do you do that? I don't know, go ask someone. You want everything for free??? Ha! Anyway (again) I used an unsized bullet that I was pretty much sure it was bigger than the groove diameter. In my Model 53 Winchester in 25-20 I was pretty sure the bore diameter was no more than .258 and my unsized bullets ran .259 so thats what I used. In an original 1873, previous tests showed a .430 groove diameter so I used an unsized bullet that was .431.

Most bullets come out of their moulds a thou. or so over. If you can't get a bullet that you think is big enough, use some creativity and "bump" one up in a vise.

Anyway, (#3) put the gun straight down and yank the trigger. I used one thick towel folded over until it was about 6" square. Each time the bullet only went about a third of the way in. They come out perfect. The gun will make about no sound at all. With a revolver, it might be a bit loud.------------Sixgun

Testing the 1873


(left to right) 200 gr. 44-40---------240 Lyman .429421-note fins on bottom)-------70 gr. Lyman for 25-20

[J Miller]

Hey, now that looks like fun. I gotta do that. But, I don't got no Bullseye.
I wonder if 1.0gr Win 231 would work?

Joe

[jhrosier]

I'm trying to figure out how many firearm safety rules this violates, but I ran out of fingers to count on.

Jack

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

My question is, when firing a bullet into a towel like this, are you getting any distortion so that the results are not accurate? Have you tried this method and then measured a bullet slugged through the same barrel the normal way? Any discrepancy in size?

Personally, I think I will keep slugging bullets the old fashioned way. Usually only takes me about five minutes.

[cowboykell]

+1 Driftwood...if it ain't broke don't fix it.

[Rusty]

And when the missus finds out what you're doing with her towels?


Kind of reminds me of the guy that told me how he polished his brass...

A one gallon plastic mayo jar 1/2 full of media and add brass. Put the whole thing in the clothes dryer for an hour. Ummm the third time he tried it the jar came open.

I always thought crime labs and such fired theirs into a water tank.

[Ben_Rumson]

I used the same a few years ago with a .515"x450gr bullet on my 50-70 with a 36 in barrel It's a five groove barrel so for me to get absolute bore fit info the bloop method gave me a visual result.. That's a lot of barrel to drive a bullet through.. a lot of inches to find trouble in....Like Sixgun & others, it took me a couple of tries to get a bullet to not stick in the barrel.. But to barely bloop out...Would you believe 2.5 gr will do the trick... Observation of the bullet was cool.. It made its way about 10 feet then dented the damp soil and rolled down into the Ivy of my yard... I finally found it!!...When inspecting the bullet I good info!...I could see how straight the bullet entered the rifling... How much/little it finned... Amount of blow by if any......I now find out others have used this method...glad somebody came out of the closet!... lol

[wavetrain75]

1 grain will get it all the way out without getting stuck?

[Marvin S]

Well the weather is poor here today and I have my new to me 38 WCF so I go and load up an as cast SAECO 401 which measures .403. I put a bit of Wonder lube on the bullet and a patch greased with the same stuff down the bore. The squib was loaded with a large rifle primer and 1.2 gr of unique. I then fired it into a pillow I use for case filler material with a rag over it. The bullet stuck just a few inches down the bore. So out comes the Treso range rod (these are a heavy stainless steel rod made for muzzle loaders) and a brass jag to push the bullet out. A few bumps with my palm and out it came. With so many folks saying slug the throat I suppose one could just do it this way with just a primer and no powder. Any way it measured exactly the same as the muzzle at .401.

This seems a lot better than pounding on things with a hammer.

[Sixgun]

'Ya see??? Some guys get it--some guys don't. It works great. In fact, I'll go as far as saying it works better because with this method, you can use hard cast and the other way of using soft lead, you will get a bit of "springback".

I'd like to see what gun safety rules it violates---none---as long as you keep focus. Well, I would not do it if I lived in an apartment.-----------Sixgun

[cowboykell]

I have a few old rifles that are over bored but have tight chambers. In the old days of black powder and soft lead the bullet would bump up. An over-sized hard cast bullet would never chamber so back to the round ball method. After determining the groove diameter, I use the correct size bullet but have to neck turn my cases in order for the cartridge to chamber. So "we get it"....it won't aways work but the muzzleloader ball always will.

[southfork]

Sixgun: What's that tang sight on your '73? I'd like to put some tang sight on my '73 44 WCF, but am not up to speed on what's available and what works best.

[Sixgun]

I have a few old rifles that are over bored but have tight chambers. In the old days of black powder and soft lead the bullet would bump up. An over-sized hard cast bullet would never chamber so back to the round ball method. After determining the groove diameter, I use the correct size bullet but have to neck turn my cases in order for the cartridge to chamber. So "we get it"....it won't aways work but the muzzleloader ball always will.

Cowboy,
Yep, I'll agree with 'ya on those exceptions. I too have a High Wall 40-82 and several 1894's that will not allow a bigger-than-groove-diameter bullet to enter the chamber. I guess it could be breach seated but the aggravation would not be worth it.

Southfork,
The tang sight is an original Marbles with a "special base". It allows the sight to ride up over the bump of the stock to give you a longer sight radius. For everyday shooting, just about any quality tang sight will work on your gun. I suggest an original Lyman/Marbles or a new Marbles. The new Lymans are just a step above junk.-----------------Sixgun

Here's a better pic of the special base Marbles thats mounted on a '95 in 35 W.C.F. (upper left)

[J Miller]

Sixgun,

I can see where this method of slugging would tell more than grove diameter on revolvers.
If you ever recover fired bullets you'll sometimes find some that are all but flat on one side. This happens when the cylinder is out of alignment with the barrel. I've had a couple 'el cheapo .22s like that before I learned better.

I've got a gun that I suspect has an out of alignment barrel, I'm gonna try it when I can feel up to it.

joe