I have learned from 3 of These Stock 1:48 Twist Barrels that they are EXTREMELY Capable, and then Some. I do NOT believe for 1 Second that i have 3 Fluke Barrels, I whole heartedly believe that all of these Old TC Barrels Will Shoot Just like this, you simply have to Feed them Correctly, And do your Part of Course.
I will say that I believe 1 of the
MOST IMPORTANT Parts to getting the Most out of these 1:48 Twist Barrels is
PURE LEAD, And i mean a KNOWN Source of “Certified
PURE LEAD”
. If the Lead has ANY Hardness in it, I believe Accuracy will Suffer with these 1:48s, My GM LRH Fast Twist Bullet Barrels on the other Hand will Shoot any of the Well known/Used Alloys Well, I have Even Shot Wheel Weight Hard Lead in my LRH Barrels with GREAT LUCK, But that WON’T Happen in these 1:48 Twists!!
Back when i first Started in ML, I tried HARD LEAD Paper Patched, 9 to 9.5 BHN in my Stock 1:48 Twist Barrels,
TOTAL DISASTER!! I couldn’t have Hit a Volkswagon Bus 2 Times in a Row, unless it was an Accident, That’s NO JOKE! I simply didn’t understand? I felt like Lead was Lead, And a Muzzleloader Should Shoot Any Form of Lead Equally well? I was Wrong,
VERY WRONG! I Don’t remember trying Hard Lead Grease Groove Bullets back then? I believe it was Only Paper Patch? And that was back when i was HARSH Sizing Bullets (Sizing an Oversize Bullet with the Paper Patch on it) I found Paper Patches Scattered all the Way up to my Targets, and Even Behind my Targets From Sticking, And Riding the Bullets. Process of Learning
Keys “That i feel”
to success with Stock 1:48 Twist Barrels
First and Foremost is YOUR ability to Anchor in and Shoot Well. Simply put, Your Rifle Can
NOT do it By itself, You need to Learn how to Drive it!
#1 Excerpt from “Breaking In a Barrel” by Lee Shaver:
Several years ago, I developed a process for breaking-in barrels for lead bullet use
that eliminated the afternoon of shooting and cleaning with jacketed bullet. It
began because I would occasionally have to get bad leading out of a barrel for a
customer, and when you charge what a gunsmith must charge to stay in business
you don’t want to spend an afternoon scrubbing the lead out of a customer’s gun.
And I’m sure the customer would rather not pay for said services.
What I learned was that when scrubbing lead out of a barrel, I could run a tight oily
patch through a few times and then take the patch off the jag. I would then unroll a
little 0000 steel wool and cut a piece the size of the patch. Place that over the
patch and then run it all through together. (The proper fit is when you have to
bump the rod a few times with the palm of your hand to get it started in the bore.)
When you shove that steel wool over a patch through the bore of a badly leaded
barrel, it may sound like paper tearing as the lead is ripped out of the barrel in a
pass or two. I can clean the lead out of the worst barrel in about ten or fifteen
minutes that way, and an average leaded barrel will be clean in a few strokes.
After using this technique for a while, I began to notice that the rifles that I was de-
leading that way seemed to lead less afterwards, which got me to thinking. We use
fine steel wool on the outside of old guns all the time to do some cleaning or spot
rust removal, and it does not damage the surface of the steel. It just scrubs it.
Which lead me to consider the fact that we are trying to break in a barrel by
smoothing the surface without cutting, and it seems to me that process would go
much quicker if we used something on the inside of the bore that was closer to the
hardness of the barrel instead of lead or copper. So I started trying the steel wool
and oiled patch technique on new barrels before shooting them. I use it about as
tight as I can get in the bore and wear out a steel wool pad or two in about 15
minutes, then I go and shoot the rifle.
How well does it work you might ask? On a few occasions, I have built a new rifle
and taken it to a match without ever having fired the rifle. All have performed
flawlessly in their first match and several times I won the match or set a record
with them. On one occasion, I set a new 300 yard range record with the first 13
shots out of a barrel. This method has become a service we offer to our customers
here in the shop and I have shared the technique many times with others.
So the next time you get ready to shoot that new rifle, just remember it is important
to break in a barrel properly, but if the operation you are doing to the barrel cuts –
it is not breaking it in. It may be making the barrel smoother, but to break the
barrel in you need to polish the bore by burnishing not cutting either by shooting it
or scrubbing it.
Lee Shaver
#2 Pure Lead Bullet, and i mean KNOWN PURE LEAD, High Quality Cast with SHARP Bullet Bases, That All Weigh the Same, I shoot for a 1/2 Grain, 1 Grain MAX
#3 A Good Proven Quality Bullet Lube, I have found Thinner is Better
#4 An 1/8” Wool Felt Over Powder Wad, Either Correct Bore size, or Next Size up (Oversize, 54 in 50 Etc.)
#5 Quality BlackPowder, Precisely Weighed
Follow those Steps, And i have NO DOUBT your 1:48 Twist Barrel Will COME ALIVE.
They are a Swaged Bullet with a Cupped/Hollow Base (I would NOT use a Regular Flat Type Over Powder Wad With these Bullets Due to their Cupped/Hollow Bases, i would use a 1/2 of a 100% Cotton Ball, Or NO WAD at all) Hornady does a Good Job in Packaging these Bullets, They are in a Hard Plastic Box, Individually Protected so they can not get Damaged. I am not Crazy about the Lube they use, The times i have Shot them, i have used my Own Lube on them
