Posted by Marcus Merritt on June 23, 2014, 11:11 am, in reply to "Re: Chamber length "
DanB... The procedure: plugged the barrel with a dowel which had a cleaning patch pulled over the end to prevent molten low-melt Cerrosafe from running past it. Measured to just past where I thought the forcing cone ended and marked the dowel then pushed the dowel from the muzzle into the lightly oiled barrel and stopped at the mark. Heated the Cerrosafe ingot until it was liquid then carefully poured it into the chamber until it was at the top of the breach. Soon as it solidified I tapped the dowel to pop out the casting. Note: I understand that the casting needs to be measured soon as it's cool enough to handle as it apparently changes size - although very, very slightly - over time.
I was just curious to confirm the chamber length and to understand better the forcing cone and was only using a tape measure for dimensions, not a micrometer for exact measurements. Although I've not done it, I assume you could use a similar procedure for casting plugs at different locations in the barrel. Note: I bought a pound of the low-melt (Cerrosafe) and melted it all, not knowing how much it would take to fill the chamber. Just weighed the cast plug and it is very slightly over a half pound.