slugging a barrel
- Thread starter slug1977
- Start date
There's a good description, including pics, on 7.62x54r.net. Go down near the bottom of the page to "bore slugging tutorial". Good stuff.
Ditto for surplusrifle.com, you can go there and do a search for bore slugging.
Basically, it goes like this:
-You take a .25in wooden dowel rod (if you are slugging a .30 cal rifle)and cut it into 4 or 5 inch sections.
-Grease and lube the barrel like crazy.
-Take an appropriate sized fishing sinker, lead, of course.
-Tap it in from the muzzle and work your way down, using a rubber mallet to tap in the dowel sections, one at a time, until the slug comes out of the chamber end.
-Measure the marks the grooves and lands left on the lead slug with a vernier caliper, the biggest measurement is basically your bore diameter.
This works great with 2, 4, and 6 grooved rifles (or any even number), but 5 grooved rifles are a bit trickier to measure.
Basically, it goes like this:
-You take a .25in wooden dowel rod (if you are slugging a .30 cal rifle)and cut it into 4 or 5 inch sections.
-Grease and lube the barrel like crazy.
-Take an appropriate sized fishing sinker, lead, of course.
-Tap it in from the muzzle and work your way down, using a rubber mallet to tap in the dowel sections, one at a time, until the slug comes out of the chamber end.
-Measure the marks the grooves and lands left on the lead slug with a vernier caliper, the biggest measurement is basically your bore diameter.
This works great with 2, 4, and 6 grooved rifles (or any even number), but 5 grooved rifles are a bit trickier to measure.
Hammer a cast bullet(.30 cal for a .303 or other .30 calibre rifle. The right size of pure lead fishing sinker will do) through the barrel, preferably from the chamber end(the muzzle will do if you can't easily get at the chamber. A lever action or semi-auto for example. They usually don't need slugging though.), using a brass rod and a plastic mallet. Then measure the bullet/sinker with a micrometer. No grease or lube is required.
- Location
- Manitoulin Island
Does a .308 bullet deform enough to tighten up to groove size in a .303? When I did my .9mm I used a .357" bullet to be sure.
"...Does a .308 bullet deform enough..." It's a cast .30 cal bullet. Not jacketed. .303's need it because the barrels can measure between .311" and .315" and still be considered to be ok. (Larger than .315", the barrel is shot out.) Using a .311" or .312" bullet in a .315" barrel will give poor accuracy.
You shouldn't need to slug a 9mm.
You shouldn't need to slug a 9mm.
You slug the barrel and measure to determine what size bullet to use, as cast bullets can be sized to diff. sizes for best accuracy....just one note, the slug should be pure lead which is softer then most bullets. A fishing sinker, with the hole in the middle seems to work best.
"...what does "slugging" do?..." Lets you know the exact barrel diameter across the lands. Mostly just needed for Lee-Enfields. With their varying barrel dimensions, it tells you what bullet diameter to use. Most factory hunting ammo uses a .312" bullet. If your barrel measures .314" or .315", accuracy will suffer.
