Thanks for the tip. Just bought 100 pieces.
This.
I’ll take a pic today.
I’ve read that I should slug the bore before ordering cast bullets or a bullet mold so as to avoid undersized bullets and leading. Not sure how to do that.
I have used a fish egg sinker slight larger than internal diameter of the barrel. Just tap it gently into the barrel with a brass hammer than use brass rods until it comes out the chamber. Many people use wood dowels but that could cause problems if the dowel splits, it could get stuck. You could also use lead balls for bp firearms.
It's not absolutely required to slug the bore, if you feel the need just get a soft (pure lead) ball slightly larger than the bore and drive it down the barrel .measure the resulting slug , add .001" and that's the ideal size. It's not ultra important , especially these days because powder coated or hi-tek coated bullets virtually eliminate leading anyway.
I'm worried about tapping it through from the muzzle end, but that's the only way to do it. My father loaded some lead bullets for it. I could pull one of those and squeeze it in a vice to make it a little fatter (read that on another thread here) and tap it down, but I'm sure my father does not remember the alloy hardness of the bullet. He told me he loaded the rounds with DuPont 3031, but when I told him the charge weights on Hodgdon's website, he said there was no way he used that much powder. I know he fired some of them, but I don't think I should fire any more since he thinks the charge he used is below book minimum.
Thanks, clearly it needs a good cleaning, but I could use some info on the right way to clean it.
So that's really good condition? Looks pretty rough to me, but I've never handled old rifles. It's been in that plywood box for a minimum of 55 years, seeing the light of day only a handful of times during that period. Probably been in that box for a lot longer than that, but its been in my father's possession for just over 55 years.
