Henry Rifle Forums

Hi all
I wonder if any one can give me some help. Shooting very old 94 (1922) tonight and accuracy was great, five in a one inch bull at 50 yds which for me is amazing. Rest of my night not that good but pretty close.
The strange thing is that although the rifle is extremely accurate, no pressure issues, easy extraction etc i noticed that there was what appears to be lead smears around the outside of the case necks after firing. I chambered a round without firing and ejected the bullet, no marks so no shaving. Like i said, everything else seems great albeit the lever feels a bit tight and that mat be down to gunk inside. This rifle has been greased and stored for a good old time. Got as much out as i could without stripping but there is probably more inside that i cant get to .
Any ideas why this lead is on outside of case necks? None on the shoulder and no other visible marks on the cases, i am using a .309 173 gn bullet by the way

Are you flaring your case mouths before setting your cast lead bullets.
It could be what your seeing is a little bit of lead that was shaved off your bullets during seating. It will soften/melt and be deposited on case rim as the bullet leaves the case.

Can you post a pic of one of the cases?

Using M die so no shaving at all. It is odd, it is stiff to close the lever too but I think that is likey crud in the action , the bullet goes into the rifle easily enough and ejects cleanly , as I say no issue with the primers or other marks. I will try and take a pic and post it, not sure how to do that on this site but I will take a look.
Thanks both for the replies

the bullet goes into the rifle easily enough and ejects cleanly

I suspect you mean the 'round' goes into the chamber easily and extracts cleanly. Try this - open the action, push the cartridge lift down so it stays and insert a round by hand and push it into the chamber with your finger. If there is any hesitation or resistance then you may have to perform a more aggressive cleaning of the chamber. Using the lever to chamber a round may not reveal any hesitation due to the ram pressure of the action. If you do have any dragging or grittiness you might try this again but this time with the round covered with black magic marker ink to see where the resistance might be. My 1899 Mod 94 was found to have had a round in the chamber for over 50 years (it had turned green) but a good cleaning of the chamber and throat revealed it to be smooth with no rust or pitting so give this a try first. Bottom line is a 30-30 round should be able to to be inserted and removed by hand with little hesitation.

Hi mister ED,
Did that and did a comparison with my carbine. In the carbine the bullet just dropped in all the way. On the long barrell it dropped to within a quarter of an inch of the base and stopped. I pushed gently and it went the rest ofnthe way with an audible click. I have had a brush in there with bore tech and then chore bore a few times, repeated a few more times like this and patches come out clean. Still the same, all cases FL resized.
It is definitely lead on the case necks, checked it today under a scope , I am wondering if this is to do with the bullet or OAL. I am using the lyman 173 gn cast bullet with a gas check sized to .309 . Not seen this before but to me it must be something to do with the bullet not sealing properly? I want3d to send you a pic but cant figure out how to load one

Do you know the hardness of the bullets you are using?

Yes, around 22 bhn

Are you physically scraping the case necks with a knife and proving to yourself it IS lead?

I been loading cast bullets for over 50 yrs . I have Lyman M-die for all my cast bullet shoots and if SETUP correctly you can start a your cast bullets by hand without flaring the brass .

Hi Mistered
Yes, it is lead, scraped at it to be sure. Just checked the seating depth using a bullet in a fired case and had a measurement of 2.604”. The OAL of the round with the lyman bullet is 2.525”, a .079 difference, seems a little excessive , could this be related?

I would post a pic but no idea how to do that

Twotone wrote:I would post a pic but no idea how to do that

Choose the "Full Editor & Preview" option at the bottom of the reply window for your post. You'll find an "Attachments" button, which will let you upload a file. Once it's uploaded, you can give it a caption and select to place it "inline". I look forward to seeing your first image on the site.

Thanks CT shooter for the help. Thats a case as it comes out leaded from the 94

After looking at your case this is HARDLY an issue - you ARE getting a little lead 'splatter' but this is not unusual with lead bullets and being 173 grain they are a little long and your OAL length might be a bit on the long side also. Try some lighter bullets (150- 165 gr) and seat properly. Otherwise no issue.

Thanks mistered
Good to know. Have not seen this before on my other rifles so I was worried about it. Regarding case length I was just working to a load in the Lyman book, bullet choice here in cast bullets is 173 gn or no bullets! I can buy some jacketed bullets but the choice is still very limited and they are really expensive for plinking around. I guess the only way is to cast my own but dont fancy doing that yet.
Again many thanks buddy, by the way it is shooting great accuracy wise and the action is freeing up, it has sat in a cabinet completely greased up since the early sixties so I guess it will take a bit of shooting and cleaning to loosen up.