Lead ?

[SgtDog0311]

His bullet impressions seem to show no freebore. Rather an abrupt 90 degree jump to the rifling.

Soon as I get back from the range tomorrow I'll post a picture of the chamber cast. It's a Cody Ballard in 38-55 'for Black Powder'.

When I described it to Steve Garbe in an email he said it would have a 1.5 degree leade and no throat"... by which I took him to mean a tapered transition from freebore to groove diameter. Chamber cast reflects exactly that. I can't say its a 90 degree but if you tap an overized bullet into the leads there is a line around the circumference adjacent to the leade's shallow end that looks like it is cut with an exacto knife. In otherwords, right at the start of the groove diameter and start of the leade.

I assumed that maybe "for Black Powder" chambers got away without cutting a taper and that was due maybe to the bump up of BP and the potential for using less than groove size bullets.

Seems a 90 degree shoulder vs a taper would still create potential for creating lead rings or a number of other issues. But coupling what Steve Garbe said, with what I'm looking at by way of chamber cast, and an otherwise super Badger barrel/chamber, it does not look to me like there have been any changes made since it left the Ballard Rifle and Cartridge Company. Does not even look like it's been shot much at all if any... well at least once, enough to lead it good. But that all came out like it had nothing to stick to - two patches!

Currently shooting a groove size bullet and getting away with it but I told Steve I was surprised and asked him if that was a common thing with a "Black Powder" chamber.

John