O'Jim
Do you neck size or full lenght?
Gary

Gary,

With Starline brass, I have to FL size 'em all. I use a 0.456 expander with a 0.458 bullet. And I anneal'd them when they are new, but they may need it again. I have loaded this bunch about 4 times. After the Quigley, I may shop for a different brand of brass. Is there any that doesn't need to be anneal'd?

Jim

Remington.

(06-05-2012, 09:51 PM)Don McDowell Wrote: Remington.

X2 on Remmy for the .45-70.
All brass will need case mouth annealing if you reload it much.
After 4 reloads, I sure yours should be annealed again.
Gary

Jim,

When you get back from the "Q" you might want to dabble into "slip fit" bullet loading. No annealing, no resizing.

Think of it. Two die loading; dump powder, compress in one die, add wad & bullet, then Lyman Taper Crimp die.

The results may surprise you.

Hi

I've just put together a 38-55 Ron Smith gain twist barrel on a Ballard action for off hand and bench shooting with black powder and breech seating. However after a couple of shots i start to get leading. I'm shooting a 2 diameter bullet 1:30 tin lead 0.378 on the base band 0.370 on the forward bands with 5 x 50 thou grease grooves. Does anyone know what my problem is.

Cheers sluggun pilgrim

pilgrim,
i too have a smith gaintwist in 40 cal, stainless steel.
it shows the potential for brilliance, but the quest continues for absolute reliability.
i tried it as a way to get a fast twist for long bullets at long range.
i have 2 greaser moulds with reduced diameter bands up front, and find that the bore riding noses, unlubricated, bump up into the rifling.
this offers potential for leading, and blowtubing helps by leaving a lubricated barrel.
to comment on your individual problem would require knowledge of the design and dimensions of your freebore if any, and your bore and groove dimensions, as well as bullet design.
my stainless barrel is very good at not leading, unlike a chrome moly barrel i have.
it would have to be a bullet fit, or lube issue if it is really bad.
my rifle is responding to bore diameter pp bullets. perhaps this could be worth trying in your 38.
16:1 alloy works well, but only if things fit.
with no experience of breach seating, i cannot comment on an alloy to suit that.
if you have access to snowbanks, recovered bullets might show blowpast.
i have come to the conclusion that bore riding noses can be frought with danger, and unless you need them, they are better avoided.
if they bump up into the rifling of a straight twist, they follow that twist to the muzzle the same as the grease grooves. in a gaintwist, the bumped up nose is trying to spin faster than the last grease groove, and might have enough grip to override the rifling engraved in the grease grooves.
keep safe,
bruce.

With respect to the leading and breech seating... I am no expert but have a few rifles that I shoot breech seated grease grooved bullets in. I wipe between shots and have found that if I follow the wiping with a dry patch then I'll get leading within 5 or 6 shots. Enough to create a flyer that is really obvious. If I do not use a dry patch then the problem goes away. The smaller calibers really seem to be sensitive to bore condition. Way more than my .45's.

I have one rifle that likes me to dry the bore when breech seating but that one uses paper patched bullets. :-)

Chris.

Thanks Geo., for the tip!

I may dabble into some PP this year also !


Jim

Jim if you get real serious about trying some patched , let me know I have a handful of a couple different bullets I can send you to try.