Leading In The Barrel

[Ohio Joe]

Yesterday morning at the Range I was testing some new targets from 25 yards (with my Retirement Flintlock Rifle I made a few years back and my load was (47 grains 3fg - .018 Spit Patch Pillow Ticking - .440 Ball & 4fg Prime)...

Anyway, I was getting good accuracy from the above load, and the patches were looking good... So, not being one to settle for just two out of 3 shots shots in the 1 inch bullseye - I decided to up my game with the same charge but this time using a tighter .440 ball and a .020 spit patch...

Well, my shots starting wondering off my mark (which I found really strange at this point since the previous "loads" shots were so good)? So,,, I gathered up the spent patches and low and behold I had traces of "blow by" gas holes - which I found really strange???

Not being one to give up - I decided to load my favorite .45 caliber load in this GMB .45 Caliber Rifle, (a load that seems to work great in all my .45 Green Mountain Barreled Rifles - which is; 47 grains 3fg - .020 spit pillow ticking patch with a .445 ball... Again, my shots were wondering into areas they shouldn't,,, so I checked the spent patches and they were also showing "blow by" gas signs... So,,, I went back to my .440 ball with the .018 pillow ticking patch, and no blow by...

Long story short; Got back to the workshop and started cleaning the barrel and about 8 inches ahead of the breech plug I could feel a rough spot... Crap  I had some leading - but it didn't come from the loads I used this yesterday morning - I believe it came from my "test loads - when I was testing .433 balls with different patch thickness (last year and the year before)... Obviously when cleaning this rifle bore after using these .433 balls my jagged cleaning patches never picked this up from my feel of the rod, and the look of the cleaning patches.

Anyway, the leading is out - and I should be good to go with my tighter patch and ball combinations in this Rifle - just like my other .45 GMB Rifles...

This is the first time I can ever recall having a "leading" issue, and I've been doing this for a very long time (40+ years) - but there's always a first for everything.

NOTE TO SELF; Don't test anymore .433 balls - just use them in the Pedersoli Kentucky Pistols.

Side Note; The rifle bore is now back in good shape with the "de-leading" 

 

[Bigsmoke]

Joe,
That is kinda hard to understand.
It seems to me that just by the nature of the word itself, "leading" happens when lead comes into contact with the barrel, combined with the effect of the hot gasses caused by the burning of the powder charge.  With the patch "gasket", how's that going to occur?  I don't think it can.  You been shooting any minies, maxis or sabot loads?
Thinking back to my big bore rifles, I never noticed any leading even when shooting a 4 bore with 400 grains of Fg powder.  Granted, I developed a practice of loading powder, then a cushion wad, then the patched round ball.  With that combination, the patches I recovered looked good enough to use over again.  And no leading.
Just not sure how that occurred in your rifle.

John (Bigsmoke)

[Ohio Joe]

Joe,
That is kinda hard to understand.
It seems to me that just by the nature of the word itself, "leading" happens when lead comes into contact with the barrel, combined with the effect of the hot gasses caused by the burning of the powder charge.  With the patch "gasket", how's that going to occur?  I don't think it can.  You been shooting any minies, maxis or sabot loads?
Thinking back to my big bore rifles, I never noticed any leading even when shooting a 4 bore with 400 grains of Fg powder.  Granted, I developed a practice of loading powder, then a cushion wad, then the patched round ball.  With that combination, the patches I recovered looked good enough to use over again.  And no leading.
Just not sure how that occurred in your rifle.

John (Bigsmoke)

I agree John, but that's all I can trace it to when I was testing those .433 patched balls in this .45 flintlock? I know some of the patches were blowing until I found a lubed that held the patch in tack.

Only time I ever shot a conical was in my TC .54 Hawken and I did not like it one bit. It was a punishing load with no better effect on deer size game then a soundly patched .530 ball... 

[Hanshi]

FWIW, the blown patches may have been torn by the muzzle crown when you used the short starter.  Might not have anything to do with it but it can and does happen with unaltered crowns.  Have you smoothed the crowns entry into the muzzle?  Other than that you are probably right about the leading.

[Ohio Joe]

FWIW, the blown patches may have been torn by the muzzle crown when you used the short starter.  Might not have anything to do with it but it can and does happen with unaltered crowns.  Have you smoothed the crowns entry into the muzzle?  Other than that you are probably right about the leading.

Good point Hanshi, and yes I did check the crown, it appears to be ok...

You know, I got to thinking that I believe it was this rifle I was loading with a patch & ball combination into the muzzle with the short starter - and the center of the patch under the ball gave out and I had a cloth donut setting on the muzzle when I took the short starter away.

Well, there wasn't much I could do except ram the ball home on top the powder and fire it out.

Soooo,,,, I'm thinking I may have picked up some leading from that possibly? Seems like the only thing that makes any sense??? I believe I made a post about that and (IIRC), Bigsmoke I believe said that happened to him once?

Now the leading was so very very minimal that I found, and it cleaned out without a problem, so my guess is now that this must be where it had come from? And I don't think I shot this flintlock since then - until the other day.

HA!!! Found that post. It was this rifle!!!

Now I ain't 'a going to make this a habit of shooting "naked" balls out of my flintlock rifle, but I was surprised that a couple inches to the right of center X from 25 yards, well,,, that weren't too bad...

http://tradmla.org/tmaf/index.php?topic=25757.0

[Ohio Joe]

I did make a Range run this morning to check and make sure that I did get all the lead out, and it appears that I did.

Rifle loaded very smooth and there was no sign of any blown or stressed patches from the ones I recovered. So, this flintlock is good to go for some serious Range work in a few weeks.

My wife and I are getting the grandkids this Friday (for a few weeks), so's we got lots of family fun plans. I won't be around much to check in - so if you don't hear from me, don't worry.   

[Bigsmoke]

Joe,
Glad to hear that you finally did "get the lead out!"   
Now you will have a better chance of keeping up with the grandkids.

John (Bigsmoke)

[BEAVERMAN]

  you and the kids go have some PHUN! enjoy the time before it slips by brother!

[Ohio Joe]

Joe,
Glad to hear that you finally did "get the lead out!"   
Now you will have a better chance of keeping up with the grandkids.

John (Bigsmoke)

 

I can only hope!!! 

[Ohio Joe]

you and the kids go have some PHUN! enjoy the time before it slips by brother!

I think they're going to have me and grandma at the fishing hole quite a bit... 

[BEAVERMAN]

you and the kids go have some PHUN! enjoy the time before it slips by brother!

I think they're going to have me and grandma at the fishing hole quite a bit...