Slugged my .357 mag. BBB barrel

[shootinthecinders]

Just out of curiosity I slugged my Henry BBB .357 mag/.38 spl barrel and measured with digital calipers. I had consistent readings of .3565” and .357”; so realistically, .357”. I wasn’t surprised. Anyone else here slug their Henry barrels? Please share your results if you have.

[BigAl52]

Ive slugged some of mine. Recently I slugged the Sidegate in 38-55 it slugged at .376. Most of the pistol calibers I have Im not shooting lead in them anymore so I haven't bothered to slug them. Im shooting the Zero bullets from Roze Dist.

[shootinthecinders]

Thanks BigAl52. I was DuckDuckGoing for some other information when I came across a poster’s comment about the tight bore of his Henry .357. I believe it was .355”; so decided to check mine out.

[Cofisher]

Ignorant here. How do you 'slug' a barrel?

[Mistered]

Ignorant here. How do you 'slug' a barrel?

Essentially pounding an slightly oversized lead 'slug' into a barrel to 'swage' an impression of the bore and lands to measure the bore diameter.

[Cofisher]

Thanks. I have only shot jacketed or semi jacketed so far. Will explore the possibilities further.

[shootinthecinders]

Ignorant here. How do you 'slug' a barrel?

If you’re interested, I’ll PM you the method I used. It’s short and simple.

[BigAl52]

CoFisher
If you know some roundball BP shooters steal a 395 roundball. There soft lead and I use some wood dowels to pound it thru the bore. Measure with calipers and you will know the diameter. I cut the dowel into shorter pieces. Works good for me. But if you aren't going to shoot any lead bullets knowing the groove dia. is just for your own knowledge because slugging the bore isn't necessary for copper jacketed bullets.

[shootinthecinders]

That’s basically the same thing I did. I have a good resource from the SASS Wire Forum but wasn’t sure if the TOS prohibited linking to another forum as some forums do. I’ll post the link and if it’s against forum policy, the mods can remove it. The post is the fifth one down by Driftwood Johnson. I modified it a bit as I just used a lead slug from a factory cartridge, some lubricant on the slug, and placed an empty .357 case over the end of the wood dowel.
https://forums.sassnet.com/index.php?/t ... -question/

[Cofisher]

Yeah, thanks Al. The water is getting too deep for me. Cinderman, thanks for the input, but not my gig.