Prefect cast bullet barrel?

[gunther66]

What barrel configuration do you cast bullet shooters prefer? What is the desired rifleing depth and land width?Most of the handi barrels seem to have very shallow rifleing and very narrow grooves,which would not seem to conductive to cast bullet accuracy. Your thoughts,please. G66

[trotterlg]

From all the reports I have back from the 32-20's and the 32H&R Mag and 327 Federal, the WW2 British 303 barrels seem to do really well.  They have very wide and deep lands, the lands are as wide as the grooves are, they are 5 groove LH twist, about 1 in 10 I think.  Larry

[quickdtoo]

A lot of H&R barrels are Microgroove and will work fine with cast bullets providing the bullets used fit the groove diameter of the bore properly, generally that's the biggest bullet that can be chambered,  one that will fit finger tight in a fired case as a general rule.

Tim

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/fryxell/microgrove-barrels.htm

There has been a great deal of concern over the years about whether or not Microgroove rifling would shoot cast bullets well. One group of folks says that Microgroove rifles can't hit a barn from the inside with cast bullets, one group says that Microgroove barrels shoot cast just fine just so long as velocities are kept below 1600 fps, and one groups says that Microgroove barrels shoot cast just fine at full throttle. The key to success with cast bullets in a Marlin with Microgroove rifling is to keep in mind that these barrels tend to have oversized groove diameters, and that the grooves/lands are shallow. Therefore, in order to get proper engraving (and minimize "slippage" of the cast bullet as it enters the shallow rifling), it is necessary that the bullet completely fill up the groove diameter of the barrel, and engage the maximum amount of the driving surface of the lands. Since Microgroove barrels are commonly oversized, this means that the cast bullet must also be oversized to effectively "fill up" the grooves. Other factors that also contribute to good accuracy with cast bullet in Microgroove barrels are the use of a GC bullet (which helps to provide a better grip and seal), and making sure that bullet are cast hard enough for the application (generally a BHN of 12 or more). It is also worth remembering that throats in modern rifles are almost always cut larger than groove diameter of the barrel (to insure that ammunition can chamber easily), and that best cast bullet accuracy is obtained by fitting the bullet to the throat, hence reinforcing the need for oversized cast bullets in Microgroove barrels (for example, the throats on my .30-30s run almost .311", so I size cast bullets to .310" for these guns).

[gcrank1]

By most (or is it all) accounts here the BC barrels in 38-55 and 45-70 are fine cast bullet shooters. I know my 38-55 TM is. Now that I have a 45-70 Ultra Hunter I will be finding out how they do, and I will be using as large a cast bullet as fits the fully fire-formed case neck. Anything less is just spittin' in the wind, from my past experience.
Members of The Cast Bullet Assoc. have shot lead in Micro-Groove barrels successfully, so it can be done.

[michstew]

This is just what I was looking for!!  Thankyou.   michstew