Marlin 1895 GS and a barrel full of lead

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Shak3s1977

Shak3s1977

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Well a little while back I posted that I made my first 45-70 reloads with Accurate 5744 (23.4gr) and some 405gr Hitek coated lead bullets. While they shot pretty good and had nice light recoil, after 40 rounds I had a barrel full of lead fom the beginning, all the way to the muzzle. Supposedly they were 13 brinell.

Well I'm used to lead in the barrel( dang 357 Vaquero) so I got out my brush and some Chore Boy and cleaned it out. I've also read that it's roughly 1440 x brinell=psi needed for bullet obturation.

Is it possible I didn't have enough pressure to obturate the bullet? I don't have or know where to get a chunk of soft lead to slug my barrel. Anyone knows where I can go to get one, please let me know. If the bullet fit wasn't perfect, should the hitek coating prevented the leading?

With my Ruger 357 and lead bullets, I upped the charge, which raised the pressure and my leading problems went away. With any 38/357 coated bullet, I never had any leading problems no matter the pressure.
 
I have never slugged a barrel. Where can I get soft lead to do it? What size? Can most gunsmiths do it? Haven't a clue, because I haven't done it, nor do I know of anyone that has done it.
 
I've never had a HyTek coated bullet lead up a barrel and have pushed some pretty hard or at least hard in my opinion. I've gone around 1500 fps in a 8 3/8" .357. Where did you get your bullets? I'm sure slugging the barrel will help. Check out the Missouri Bullet and Rim Rock Sites. I can't remember who, but someone does offer a slugging kit that you can slug your barrel and send them the lead and they will make recommendations. I think that Midway USA had barrel slugging kits available now as well.
 
Eddietruett I got these from Brazosprecision. I've had good luck with Missouri Bullet company before with my 38/357 bullets. I'm going to look around and see if I can find a barrel kit. I should probably know for sure what the bore is on it anway, but I figured with a coated bullet I would be ok anyway.
 
Well the barrel kit I found on Midway was $37.99. I also found some Hornady round balls for muzzleloading for alot cheaper. If I read right, these Hornady balls are pure lead and I can pound one thru the barrel and then measure it? Plus I'd probably have enough to last me my lifetime lol.
 
ya those ball are perfect, you have to be careful on what you use to tap the lead through with. not to damage the bore. oil the bore first. you may have to flatten the ball some to make it bigger to get a good fit. some bores like 30cal to 8mm you can use a 1/2 long peace of crayon the large crayon will fit a 45 cal bore. you could always do a chamber cast to.
 
23grns +/- AA5744 should be giving you right around 1300fps, that is very similar to what I load for my 1885 and I don't have leading problems... this using commercial cast (LaserCast) bullets. Besides slugging the bore, you might just go up one size on the bullet and see if that helps, or try a different brand. Many commercial bullets are .459" but I have seen some sized at .458"... that might make a difference.
 
I use Cerrosafe to find the bore size. It can also be used to to make a cast of the chamber. Midway carries it and they have a video on how to use it.
 
243winxb, well I shot the first 10 and they seemed pretty good. Then my 14 year old son and my daughter's boyfriend took turns shooting it after me. The group's were wider but I figured it was just due to them never firing a 45-70. Didn't think about leading causing the groups to open.
 
I'm using uncoated 405gr bullets from the MBC @1300/1400fps with AA5744 in my Trapdoor without any leading. I can't see a Hi-Tek coated bullet "full the barrel with lead". It just doesn't sound right, something is off there...
 
ArchAngelCD said:
@Shak3s1977
I just went to the Brazos Precision site and I don't see any coated bullets on the site. What am I mizsing?
Click to expand...
The very first picture in the slideshow shows a coated bullet and they have them as an option when you click on the particular bullet you are interested in.

Unless the coating was improperly applied, I also don't see how you could possibly fill a barrel with lead from a coated bullet. I've heard some people report leading with coated bullets but never that much.
 
@ArchAngelCD like Havok said, you click the bullet you want and then can select the hi tek option. Here are some pictures of the bullets. They measure at .459 so that would seem good for a lead bullet. The coating looks nice and even.

I've shot lots of 158gr coated bullets that my neighbor did with Harbor Freight powder coat and a plastic tub. I've also shot Double Alpha coated bullets and Missouri Bullet Company's coated bullets in 158gr and never had any problems with leading. I've always been under the impression that powder coated bullets ( whether homemade or Hitek) don't lead barrels and I've never seen any leading with powder coated bullets. That's why I find this so weird.

Gun only has 80 rounds thru it.
20 Winchester 300gr Super X
20 Remington 405gr Core Lokt
Then I took those cases and started reloading so I loaded 40 405gr lead bullets.
 

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Shak3s1977 said:
@ArchAngelCD like Havok said, you click the bullet you want and then can select the hi tek option. Here are some pictures of the bullets. They measure at .459 so that would seem good for a lead bullet. The coating looks nice and even.

I've shot lots of 158gr coated bullets that my neighbor did with Harbor Freight powder coat and a plastic tub. I've also shot Double Alpha coated bullets and Missouri Bullet Company's coated bullets in 158gr and never had any problems with leading. I've always been under the impression that powder coated bullets ( whether homemade or Hitek) don't lead barrels and I've never seen any leading with powder coated bullets. That's why I find this so weird.

Gun only has 80 rounds thru it.
20 Winchester 300gr Super X
20 Remington 405gr Core Lokt
Then I took those cases and started reloading so I loaded 40 405gr lead bullets.
Click to expand...
Based on that statement, I would be inclined to lean towards improper coating. It should be noted though that 13 Brinell is extremely soft. Perhaps that contributed to your situation also.

When you loaded these coated bullets was there any chance you shaved the bullets at all?
 
It's possible that I shaved them, though I've loaded alot of lead bullets before, so I wouldn't think so.

To me 13 brinell would seem good for a trap door type load? I buy the 12 brinell from Missouri Bulet Company for my 357 magnum and push them pretty fast.

Going to get back out this weekend to try some more.
 
I don't have much experience with coated bullets. Have you contacted the bullet maker? And have you tried any harder bullets, with or without coating? I see that MBC only offers coated bullets in 18 BHN. I'm thinking the 13 BHN might be too soft. 1,500-1,600 fps is pushing soft lead fast.
 
Seems odd that you would have so much leading. I shoot Missouri Bullet Co Hi Tek coated 405 gn bullets in my Trapdoor at 1250 to 1300 FPS and have no leading at all. Is it possible your bore has rust pitting or other damage? You might have it checked out with a good bore scope.
 
You have a lot of great advise. Your 1895GS should have the deeper Ballard rifling that is better for cast boolits. So I'm not sure why you have bad leading. I have 2 30-30s and a .444 with Microgroove rifling that shoots WW boolits fine up to 1800 or so fps.
 
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