Super Blackhawk & cast lead?

Matt N.

Matt N.

New member
Over the years I have made multiple attempts at shooting lead bullets in my Super Blackhawk but have had leading issues. I have tried several different brands of cast lead bullets but typically have to slow them down to .44 special velocities to reduce the leading to tolerable levels. Does anyone have any successful experience in shooting commercially cast lead bullets in a Ruger Super Blackhawk at .44 magnum velocities? If so what bullet was it, and what was the load?

Thanks.
Matt
 
Heck no. Even my hard cast bullets would lead at anywhere near .44 Mag speeds. Store bought ones were even worse. About the only luck that I ever had with cast .44 bullets was when they were a gas check design. When I was casting I had a fair supply of linotype and would mix that in with the wheel weights that I got from the Goodyear dealer. If I made them pretty darn hard I could get away with leading for a few shots but gave up trying to load anything much past 1000 fps after a while. Since 90% of my shooting was plinking I just loaded cast for those and saved my jacketed bullets for magnum loads.
 
Originally Posted By: Matt N.Over the years I have made multiple attempts at shooting lead bullets in my Super Blackhawk but have had leading issues. I have tried several different brands of cast lead bullets but typically have to slow them down to .44 special velocities to reduce the leading to tolerable levels. Does anyone have any successful experience in shooting commercially cast lead bullets in a Ruger Super Blackhawk at .44 magnum velocities? If so what bullet was it, and what was the load?

Thanks.
Matt
No they all lead badly.
My 90-5-5 bullets are better than the commercial ones but still lead a lot.

Jack
 
Have you ever tried measuring your barrel or slugging your barrel?? And then matching the cast lead bullets to the bore of your revolver??

IMO most leading issues with revolver cartridges are due to improperly sized bullets. I have shot pure WW up to 1800 fps in revolvers with no leading, As long as the bullets were sized to the barrel, and a proper lube was used.

Try slugging your barrel and shoot the proper sized bullet.

Also it is a NO-NO to shoot cast bullets and jacketed bullets at the same time in a revolver. The barrel must be completely cleaned. And I mean 100% of all copper must be removed from the barrel before you can shoot cast bullets in the revolver.

Cast bullets will work great if you take the time and get properly sized bullets, and don't mix jacketed bullets. Tom.
 
I agree with slugging the barrel but I would slug the cylinders first then slug the barrel it won't do much good to match the bore diameter if the cylinder is to tight (smaller than bore diameter) it is better to be a thou over bore size quite a few older Rugers had this problem although they were mostly 45 colts I haven't seen it to much in 44 magnums
 
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I currently do not have time to cast my own bullets and was hoping to find some way to purchase some Keith style hard cast bullets and accurately use those. I have tried this before to no avail. Did I not find the right brand that provided the right hardness? Or is there more to than that?

I was careful to clean well between switching between copper and lead bullets.

Thanks.
Matt
 
Originally Posted By: Rich44I agree with slugging the barrel but I would slug the cylinders first then slug the barrel it won't do much good to match the bore diameter if the cylinder is to tight (smaller than bore diameter) it is better to be a thou over bore size quite a few older Rugers had this problem although they were mostly 45 colts I haven't seen it to much in 44 magnums
+1
Bullet dia needs to be 1-2 thou over bore dia after passing thru cylinder throat.
Definately more to it then just buying a random bullet dia and expecting not to get leading,
All six cylinder chambers need to be slugged and then the barrel.
Hypothetical numbers would be something like smallest cylinder throat being .431 with a bore dia of .430 and useing a bullet dia of .432.
Bullet hardness is second to getting the right dia, Most often bullets are to hard.
If your really interested in makeing this work there is tons of reading over at Cast Boolits.
 
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Originally Posted By: ForresterHas anybody tried Cast Performance Bullets? I was wondering how good these are for lead fouling.
They use LBT designed bullets which I really like. The problem I have is no individual bullet dia selection. As example 44cal they offer .430 great if your gun slugs smaller. I shoot two 44 cal guns one a Ruger SRH slugs .432 and a Marlin which slugs .434 if I tried to shoot .430 bullets I would have leading.
 
I like the Bear Tooth bullets better also LBT design but much better selection and can be had from. 429 to 432.5 in most of their. 44 cal bullets. I have only shot a handfull to be honest but they shot well for me. I cast my own using LBT molds and my alloy with a gas check!
 


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