Lead Fouling

[AlBur]

Used the bronze brush & elbow grease method & have successfully removed the fouling.
Will try some of the alternatives next time. Thanks for the advice.

In reply to Tac. cast lead balls / bullets. melted, cleaned & cast from some very old Lead recovered from a bay window roof.
My ROA has a nitro cylinder so I use 4 grains Unique behind 0.457 ball or the Lee ROA bullet.

Al.

[tacfoley]

Used the bronze brush & elbow grease method & have successfully removed the fouling.
Will try some of the alternatives next time. Thanks for the advice.

In reply to Tac. cast lead balls / bullets. melted, cleaned & cast from some very old Lead recovered from a bay window roof.
My ROA has a nitro cylinder so I use 4 grains Unique behind 0.457 ball or the Lee ROA bullet.

Al.

Try using 3.5gr instead and you might just find that the leading magically goes away.

tac

[AlBur]

Will do. Thanks. Much appreciated



Al

[Turnup]

It might also be helpful to try some lube? Either the traditional method, or try coating the balls with Alox - as it was explained to me this helps reduce leading because the Alox on the base will vaporise, and prevent the lead from sticking to the barrel (more normally used in pistol cal cartridges but I don't see why it would be any different in a nitro stoked muzzle loader) - certainly helps in my Marlin .357. A very little goes a loooong way.

[AlBur]

I roll them around in the Lee lube. Gives them a nice thin even coating of lube.


Reflecting on Tac's advice, which suggests I could be pushing the "missile" too hard using 4 grains of Unique (max working load is 4.3 stamped on the cylinder). This could also explain the "lead spitting" from the side of the cylinder. I had been thinking that the cylinder timing was a touch off. As the cylinder is an after market "drop in" I do not suppose the revolver was given a thorough checking out after the cylinder was installed.

Al.

[tacfoley]

I roll them around in the Lee lube. Gives them a nice thin even coating of lube.


Reflecting on Tac's advice, which suggests I could be pushing the "missile" too hard using 4 grains of Unique (max working load is 4.3 stamped on the cylinder). This could also explain the "lead spitting" from the side of the cylinder. I had been thinking that the cylinder timing was a touch off. As the cylinder is an after market "drop in" I do not suppose the revolver was given a thorough checking out after the cylinder was installed.

Al.

In the Ruger factory the cylinders are line-bored using a 'barrel'-form gauge/guide that aligns each and every chamber to within 2.5 ten-thousandths of an inch. I'm not going to say that the after market cylinder is not made
as well as this, after all, it costs a great deal of money. However, I reserve my 'jugement individuelle' to suggest that I would be very much surprised to see that it goes near matching the precision of the original piece.

tac

[AlBur]

Hi
Did actually trace the RFD who imported the nitro cylinders from USA (Bob Dunkley) hoping to recover the original BP cylinder for the revolver. He sold many nitro cylinders over the time he imported them. Unfortunately he subsequently sold off all of the accumulated BP cylinders.

Al.