Here's a real head scratcher

[Firefly]

I have tried rolling my shop bought lead cast and lubed bullets in Lee liquid Alix and allowing it to dry. I have not noticed any smells or lead deposits in my Henry BBB .44 mag. I also used to use the same lube on my as cast Lee 405 gn hollow points for my Marlin 45/70 no sign of smells or leading there either

[clovishound]

I've done the liquid Alox before. Did not have great results. In all honesty, I was still new to casting. Had issues with the tumble lube mold bullets tumbling. Had issues with the Alox building up in the dies, as well as leading issues. Don't remember how the smoke compared to conventional wax lubes.

[Flinch]

For .38 special wadcutters, I use Winchester 231 and Unique. I use the same powders for .45 ACP 185g lead SWC bullets. Faster gunpowders would cause leading issues in my 1911, L Frame and K Frame.

For 9mm 147g lead target loads, I use WSF for my 1911's.

[clovishound]

Actually, 231 is fairly far up the burn rate list. Unique is in the middle.

Again, I have had good luck with Trail Boss and lead. It was made for bare lead.

[MJ151]

I've shot about 10k hy-tek coat bullets. I will get a bit of leading after 300 round or so (one range session) on the forcing cone. For lite loads I run 8.5gr of unique. I get no barrel leading but then I have opened the cylinders to .4525" and fire lapped the barrel. A really easy trick to clean the lead is wrap your bore brush in part of a copper chore boy. I use only chore boy because some off brands are stainless coated in copper. Even if you have a badly loaded bore this will chew right through. To hit the forcing cone I push the brush through and then pull back and spin it. Easy work.

[clovishound]

For the forcing cone, I have found that a .30 caliber tornado brush works well. I push it through the barrel, and when the end pokes through, I push the end gently down towards 6:00 with my finger and give it a couple strokes. I repeat at 9:00, then 12:00 and 3:00. Run a patch through and then examine with a bore light to make sure there aren't any stubborn hangers on. Since it's a little smaller than the bore, and a tornado brush, I don't have any issue with backing the brush up while part is still in the barrel.

I suspect that I have tight cylinders in both revolvers. I can't seem to find a decent gunsmith in the area that can address the issue.

[MJ151]

Clovis. Look up Fermin Garza (2dogs) over on single-action forum and he can take care of the throats for you for a reasonable price. You only need to send the cylinders so it's easy to do. Between opening the throats and fire lapping if you have thread choke you'll be in great shape. It seems like work and it is a bit but the results are well worth it.

[Flinch]

Actually, 231 is fairly far up the burn rate list. Unique is in the middle.

Again, I have had good luck with Trail Boss and lead. It was made for bare lead.

I've loaded tens of thousands of rounds with Winchester 231. Winchester 231 works well with .38 Special 158g RNFP and 148g HBWC projectiles and I have not had any issues with excess leading. I have not had the same luck with Trail Boss, but I do use it for rifle calibers.

My PPC load is 3.2g Winchester 231 with a Remington 148g HBWC and a Winchester Small Pistol Primer. The brass is crimped enough to allow the cartridge to easily enter the cylinder from a Comp III speedloader on my revolvers. The load will easily shoot 6 shot sub 2" groups at 50 yards (off the bench of course) when fired out of my L-Frame and K-Frame. I have managed to shoot 720/720 with a high X count with my revolvers on several occasions with the load. The load groups reasonably well when fired out of my EMF Hartford Model 1892 .38 Special/.357 Magnum lever action.

I use a lot of Trail Boss when loading target loads for 30-06 and 8mm Mauser. Lead loads will group well at 50 meters and FMJ loads will group even better. Trail Boss is my fall back powder for light 45-70 loads that I shoot out of my 1888 Trapdoor. Trail Boss is very good powder in my opinion.

[clovishound]

I load coated 148 grain wadcutters with 2.1 grains of Trailboss. That is not a typo, 2.1 grains. Very accurate and extremely soft recoil.

I also use TB in .45 ACP under a 200 grain commercial cast SWC. Also very accurate and mild recoil. Very minimal leading.

I have tried the TB with 30-06. It is very accurate in my old Mauser, this rifle is very inaccurate with normal power loads. Not so accurate with my Weatherby, that ironically does well with full power loads.

[Flinch]

Thanks for the Trail Boss recipe Clovishound. Are you using a DEWC or HBWC projectile?

2.1g of Trail Boss does not sound like too light of a charge to me in a .38 Special cartridge if it groups well. One of my M24/47 Mausers has a rough bore and I load Trail Boss with a lead bullet way below the recommended charge weight minimum at 6.2g.