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Hi, John:
I used 4 grains of Red Dot in a .30-06 and 3 grains in a .303. Red Dot and Bullseye are alike enough for this application. The case capacity of the .444 is about like the .303, but the bore's bigger, so Mike's 3.5 grains should be good.
I used unresized cases and the bullets were loose in them. Chambering them was a bit tricky and I had one slide back into a .30-06 case. I got it back in place, but there was powder stuck to the lapping compound and that one stuck in the barrel. I assume some of the powder didn't light. After that I used a 1" square of 1/4" thick polyester on the powder and didn't stick another bullet.
You should clean the barrel after 20 shots and slug it. If it looks good, break it in with jacketed bullets and see how it shoots before you lap any more. The first rule of lapping is "Don't fix it if it ain't broke." I may have goofed with the `06, because it was copper fouling badly after 20 lapping shots. I gave it another 20, and it was still fouling a bit after that. Marshall thought I should give it another 20, but I reasoned that it usually takes a 100 shots to really break in a barrel, and I'd only shot 40 jacketed rounds, I'd go to 100 before I did any more lapping. It only took another 20.
Bye
Jack
I used 4 grains of Red Dot in a .30-06 and 3 grains in a .303. Red Dot and Bullseye are alike enough for this application. The case capacity of the .444 is about like the .303, but the bore's bigger, so Mike's 3.5 grains should be good.
I used unresized cases and the bullets were loose in them. Chambering them was a bit tricky and I had one slide back into a .30-06 case. I got it back in place, but there was powder stuck to the lapping compound and that one stuck in the barrel. I assume some of the powder didn't light. After that I used a 1" square of 1/4" thick polyester on the powder and didn't stick another bullet.
You should clean the barrel after 20 shots and slug it. If it looks good, break it in with jacketed bullets and see how it shoots before you lap any more. The first rule of lapping is "Don't fix it if it ain't broke." I may have goofed with the `06, because it was copper fouling badly after 20 lapping shots. I gave it another 20, and it was still fouling a bit after that. Marshall thought I should give it another 20, but I reasoned that it usually takes a 100 shots to really break in a barrel, and I'd only shot 40 jacketed rounds, I'd go to 100 before I did any more lapping. It only took another 20.
Bye
Jack
