Slugging Barrels
Size does matter.
Size does matter.
When actually slugging a barrel, step one, (above) is to
place an oversize pure lead round ball on the gun’s
muzzle. Step two (below) is to tap the round ball flush
with the gun’s muzzle using a rubber or wooden mallet.
place an oversize pure lead round ball on the gun’s
muzzle. Step two (below) is to tap the round ball flush
with the gun’s muzzle using a rubber or wooden mallet.
How do you actually slug a gun’s barrel? It seems so elementary I’ve never written about the mechanics of the process. Then the other day a reader wrote and said he’d inserted a tight fitting wooden dowel into his barrel and then poured molten lead down on it, figuring he could then push the resulting “slug” back out. He said instead the lead “locked” the dowel in and getting both lead and dowel out of the barrel was extremely difficult.
Slugging a barrel is so easy it can be done in a couple of minutes if the proper items are on hand. Conversely, slugging can ruin a good barrel if improper tools are used or if someone goes at it like they’re driving a golf ball.
What It Means
First here’s a brief explanation of just what “slugging a barrel” is, and why do it at all. Slugging a barrel simply means pushing a lead “slug” into a barrel and then removing it in order to measure it with a micrometer or caliper so the barrel’s interior dimensions are known. Why do this at all? Mostly it is necessary for the cast bullet shooter, so he can match his bullets as-cast size, or sizing diameter, to his gun’s barrel.
Why is this important? With smokeless powder loads, I would rather have a cast bullet be .003" over barrel groove diameter than even .0005" under it. In my experience, undersize bullets either shoot poorly or just tumble altogether. If black powder is the propellant, then a soft cast bullet even several thousandths undersize will be “slugged up” by the powder’s explosive force and fit the barrel. That might net the shooter acceptable accuracy, but usually not of the high level a proper fitting bullet would give. And in regards to jacketed bullet shooting, I say if you are shooting them in a firearm of reasonably modern manufacture then don’t waste your brain cells on the topic of barrel slugging. It’s a moot point.
Slugging a barrel is so easy it can be done in a couple of minutes if the proper items are on hand. Conversely, slugging can ruin a good barrel if improper tools are used or if someone goes at it like they’re driving a golf ball.
What It Means
First here’s a brief explanation of just what “slugging a barrel” is, and why do it at all. Slugging a barrel simply means pushing a lead “slug” into a barrel and then removing it in order to measure it with a micrometer or caliper so the barrel’s interior dimensions are known. Why do this at all? Mostly it is necessary for the cast bullet shooter, so he can match his bullets as-cast size, or sizing diameter, to his gun’s barrel.
Why is this important? With smokeless powder loads, I would rather have a cast bullet be .003" over barrel groove diameter than even .0005" under it. In my experience, undersize bullets either shoot poorly or just tumble altogether. If black powder is the propellant, then a soft cast bullet even several thousandths undersize will be “slugged up” by the powder’s explosive force and fit the barrel. That might net the shooter acceptable accuracy, but usually not of the high level a proper fitting bullet would give. And in regards to jacketed bullet shooting, I say if you are shooting them in a firearm of reasonably modern manufacture then don’t waste your brain cells on the topic of barrel slugging. It’s a moot point.
There's More Montana Musings
in the February Issue...
• Don’t Bother
• The Roundball
• Don’t Be Obsessive
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