Fairly New To Modern Revolvers

O

One Lung Wonder

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I've been shooting for over 30 years and all my big bore stuff has been autos. A couple years back I bought a cap n ball Uberti 1860 Army and fell in love with it. That thing can shoot, too. Last year I broke down and bought one of those Ruger Redhawk 45ACP/45LC revolvers. I ordered up a mess of those moon clips with it but never used 'em, really. I started rolling my own 45 Colts and for now I am enjoying getting to know this grand old cartridge. (If you haven't shot and reloaded for 45 Colt - you are missing out!). I love the gun and would give my left nut for a set of Wolff gun springs for it. (Who do I have to blow to get some of those by the way? Sheesh - none of the suppliers seem to have them...).

My question is this: how many rounds can a guy expect to go with a modern smokeless revolver before fouling ties up the gun? I am getting around 50~100 rounds burning IMR4227 and it burns so dirty I will never use it again. But even so...that seems to be excessive to me. I would think a revolver should be able to do 200 or more at least, shouldn't it? My loads are on the tame side with cheapo cast lead cowboy bullets. What kind of cleaning intervals are you guys getting?

Your two cents is greatly appreciated - see ya on the range!
 
A buddy of mine uses Winchester 231 in almost all his handgun cartridges - unless he's going for higher pressure loads, then he'll use something slower.
231 burns quite fast, so you won't be using much of a powder charge with your 250 gr bullets - 6 or 7 grains - and that will keep your pressures under 15,000
The bonus is, it's one of the cleanest powders around - very little residue.
 
My loads are on the tame side with cheapo cast lead cowboy bullets

That is part of the reason for premature fouling. Combine that with the wrong powder for cast bullet loads
and the are very dirty burning.
 
The type of powder and the type of cast bullets you use will determine the amount of rounds you can shoot before you have to clean, nothing else.

Also Wolf Springs ship to Canada so just order from then direct.

Graydog
 
I clean my revolvers after every shooting session and would think a lot of folks do as well.

I would be all over Unique using 8gr to 8.5 gr under a 250 gr bullet works for me. This would likely be heavier than most Cowboy Action loads. I have not used it, but lots use Trail Boss in the 45 Colt.

4227 is a slow powder and I am not surprised it is sooty if you are using it in light loads.

Take Care

Bob
 
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One Lung Wonder said:
I've been shooting for over 30 years and all my big bore stuff has been autos. A couple years back I bought a cap n ball Uberti 1860 Army and fell in love with it. That thing can shoot, too. Last year I broke down and bought one of those Ruger Redhawk 45ACP/45LC revolvers. I ordered up a mess of those moon clips with it but never used 'em, really. I started rolling my own 45 Colts and for now I am enjoying getting to know this grand old cartridge. (If you haven't shot and reloaded for 45 Colt - you are missing out!). I love the gun and would give my left nut for a set of Wolff gun springs for it. (Who do I have to blow to get some of those by the way? Sheesh - none of the suppliers seem to have them...).

My question is this: how many rounds can a guy expect to go with a modern smokeless revolver before fouling ties up the gun? I am getting around 50~100 rounds burning IMR4227 and it burns so dirty I will never use it again. But even so...that seems to be excessive to me. I would think a revolver should be able to do 200 or more at least, shouldn't it? My loads are on the tame side with cheapo cast lead cowboy bullets. What kind of cleaning intervals are you guys getting?

Your two cents is greatly appreciated - see ya on the range!
Click to expand...

I've shot 545 rounds of .44mag in the same session using 16 different combinations of bullets and powders with only a quick swipe with a boresnake about halfway through and had no problems at all with the 29-10.
With the 629, I shoot 150-200 rounds regularly using that nasty dirty IMR4227 and usually another 100+ using H110 and then spend about 15 minutes doing an operational clean. Going by how much build up on mine after a long session, to answer your question, I'd say it would take far more than that. The only operational thing I've ever noticed was the ejector would get sticky and the cylinder wouldn't spin as free on the 29-10, with the stainless version, even that doesn't happen.
 
Hey One Lung, I have a Redhawk that is very sensitive to getting any powder residue under the extractor star. This will cause a lot of drag in a hurry, sometimes to the point I can't close the cylinder. Seems to help if I give it a quick wipe there with a kleenex or Q-tip. Also keeping this area free of oil seems to help stop flakes from sticking.
 
bexan said:
Hey One Lung, I have a Redhawk that is very sensitive to getting any powder residue under the extractor star. This will cause a lot of drag in a hurry, sometimes to the point I can't close the cylinder. Seems to help if I give it a quick wipe there with a kleenex or Q-tip. Also keeping this area free of oil seems to help stop flakes from sticking.
Click to expand...

Yup! I was beginning to suspect that myself! Mine would foul so bad that nothing short of road rage would close the cylinder up and I thought maybe there was a blown tolerance there or a burr somewhere... and when you're burning crap like 4227 in your pistol (it was all I could get at the time...) the problem is even worse! I went and saw Tanner or one of the guys at Prophet River and bought a few jugs of Scandihoovian VV and hopefully a cleaner fuel will help...

One of the guys said Wolff now ships to Canada? I will have to check it out - about a month ago I tried to place an order and they told me they wouldn't ship to Canada...
 
Yes we stock a large selection of Wolff Products all the time and will be happy to special order in anything we do not have currently.
We have spring kits in stock for the Ruger Redhawk revolvers

Many are listed on our web site here http://www.rustywood.ca/shop/firearms-parts/

FYI - I just got back from a cowboy action shoot in Washington state where I took first place overall. Shot 250 rounds of 38 SPL in each revolver over two days and they will go twice that easily with Bullseye powder and cast lead bullets without cleaning. I have gone 1000 rounds in each revolver without a cleaning. It really depends on your loads and type of lead alloy & lube used in the bullets.
 
A couple years back I bought a cap n ball Uberti 1860 Army and fell in love with it.
Click to expand...

You weren't kidding when you said you're new to MODERN revolvers where you.... :d

I gotta say though that you're right. My two 1860's shoot as tight a group as I can manage with any of my "modern" cartridge guns. Ones a Uberti and the other is a Navy Arms which I believe became Uberti? Or was the import name for Uberti products?

Hey One Lung, if you want to run lighter loads go with powders known for less sooty results when used with lower pressure. Options like Bullseye and Titegroup I've personally used and found that they burn about as clean as we can expect in lower pressure loads. There are likely other fast pistol powders that would also be suitable when used in loads which have small amounts in big cases. I've just not used them myself. Both Bullseye and Titegroup are highly insensitive to positioning of the small amount of powder in the big case.

My cowboy action cartridge guns and hand ejector S&W's easily let me run up over 300 rounds before I find the chambers starting to be so sooty that I need to scrub 'em out.
 
clean after each shoot, and use lead cloth for any build out. it works magic.

One Lung Wonder said:
I've been shooting for over 30 years and all my big bore stuff has been autos. A couple years back I bought a cap n ball Uberti 1860 Army and fell in love with it. That thing can shoot, too. Last year I broke down and bought one of those Ruger Redhawk 45ACP/45LC revolvers. I ordered up a mess of those moon clips with it but never used 'em, really. I started rolling my own 45 Colts and for now I am enjoying getting to know this grand old cartridge. (If you haven't shot and reloaded for 45 Colt - you are missing out!). I love the gun and would give my left nut for a set of Wolff gun springs for it. (Who do I have to blow to get some of those by the way? Sheesh - none of the suppliers seem to have them...).

My question is this: how many rounds can a guy expect to go with a modern smokeless revolver before fouling ties up the gun? I am getting around 50~100 rounds burning IMR4227 and it burns so dirty I will never use it again. But even so...that seems to be excessive to me. I would think a revolver should be able to do 200 or more at least, shouldn't it? My loads are on the tame side with cheapo cast lead cowboy bullets. What kind of cleaning intervals are you guys getting?

Your two cents is greatly appreciated - see ya on the range!
Click to expand...
 
With good bullets of the right alloy and brinnel hardness to match the power factor being shot there's really no reason why there should be any leading. Leading isn't standard. If we get leading it's time to find another source for bullets that work better for our individual needs.
 
One of the things that seems to cause smoke with smokeless powders is when the case has a high volume like 45 LC and a low volume of powder. I don't reload the 45LC but do reload 38spl and 45ACP which can have the same problem but to a lesser extent. I find using Trailboss helps as it is a very bulky powder. Also if they are cowboy loads, as in very light, there may not be enough powder to fully expand and seal the brass to the chamber. Lots of the cowboy guys I shoot with describe this problem and their brass comes out very dirty. This leads to more powder being blown back into the chambers etc and makes the gun much dirtier. If you want light loads you kind of have to live with it.
 
My cowboy shooting buddy tried some Trailboss. It does all it is advertised to do. But due to the volume needed it ends up being more expensive by about 3 times as much as something like Titegroup.

That same buddy also found that his brass was VERY sooty with ANY powder. And that seems to be a common thing with .45Colt. Seems that the specs for the chamber and brass result in more clearance then modern cartridges. A hold over from the black powder origins? But it does mean that weak loads don't hold the brass expanded out in contact with the chamber for very long and the result is a lot of outside staining.
 
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