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I have an 1892 src with the serial number 215702. With cast bullets I have been unable to get decent, repeatable accuracy with this rifle . I tried a few jacketed bullets and got a lot better results. I’m wondering if it’s safe for the barrel to use these bullets? Had the barrel steel improved by the time this rifle was made? Thanks, Kyle
Cant see any issue shooting jacketed bullets through it. What caliber?
1892takedown @sbcglobal.net ......NRA Endowment Life Member.....WACA Member
"God is great.....beer is good.....and people are crazy"... Billy Currington
Have you slugged the barrel? Cast bullets need to be 0.001″ larger than the groove diameter.
November 7, 2015
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All cast bullets are not created equal and bore condition matters. With a decent bore and cast bullets of BHN of about 11 or softer decent (or even excellent) groups are attainable if said bullets are sized as Chuck suggests. Many commercial cast bullets are too hard and often too small to obturate to fit a rifle’s bore.
Two questions: How’s the bore and have you considered casting bullets? If you don’t currently cast but intend to shoot practically obsolete cartridges casting is something you may want to consider. If the bore is rough and many of the lands are MIA all is not lost, sometimes the right bullet and powder can make a sewer pipe bore shoot passably.
We lost an authority on this very subject earlier this year, his name was John Kort. Around here he was known as w30wcf. He had a few posts here that could be very helpful to you, John forgot more about the 44 WCF and similar cartridges than most will ever know. If you can’t find them I’ll try to provide some links.
But yes, sometimes jacketed bullets work fine in old rifles with marginal to good bores, or so I’m told. 😉
Mike
The best cast bullets I’ve shot were made in the original Winchester molds and not sized. Mike is correct that when you have a marginal bore, jacketed bullets shoot better.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
November 7, 2015
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Some day I’ll be lucky enough to get some original Winchester moulds, Bob. For now I’ll have to make do with Accurate Moulds. Tom will make them in any reasonable diameter for your intended alloy and will even custom design a mould if one of his designs doesn’t work for you. But yes, I’d love to shoot some bullets I cast in a Winchester mould someday. It’s my belief that these bullets were not normally sized back in the day.
Mike
Thanks for all the replies and information . I have slugged the barrel and tried cast bullets both .001 and .002 over. They are hard cast bullets and no I don’t cast my own. I have read some posts by John Kort and am fully aware of his expertise. I think he wrote a piece on reloading the 25-20 on another site that was outstanding. Again, thanks for your ideas.
I couldn’t see that you responded to the question regarding the condition of your bore?
Also, it is possible the while cast bullets you are shooting are sized correctly, might they be too hard?
And finally, were it mine, I would experiment with some jacketed bullets. I would not be concerned about the barrel steel aspect. I’m not saying I would run thousands and thousands of jacketed bullets through it, but I wouldn’t worry about a smaller number.
The bore has good rifling but a fair amount of pitting. I may be expecting too much in the way of accuracy. This is a 5 1/2 lb. rifle and with a 44 caliber bore and there is not a lot of steel on that barrel. I have shot some jacketed bullets and accuracy improved. I am going to find some softer lead bullets and see how that works. Our rifle range won’t open until April so I’ve got some time. Thanks for your interest
If I can remember, most of the 215 GR. lead bullets I used to cast were .427 with a gas check and H110 powder. Extremely accurate in my late M92 round bbl. rifle. Killed several deer with those loads and they never got back up, once shot. I still have a box of those 215 Gr. slugs that my former BIL cast and sized for me. I have a 1927 vintage M92 carbine, but have never tried my old load through it. I did shoot some factory ammo, but was not impressed as they are loaded to pistol specs. I also have 3 rifles in 44-40, and may load some of my old loads up and put them on a target at 100 yards. The bores on all 4 guns are perfect. BTW, some of these bores slug to .430, but I have never slugged a bore and my H110 loads work great. Big Larry
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