Following the advice of members on the gunsmith forum, I bought .0002 minus plug gage pins for my 629-6 and they arrived today. The 0.428 pin fits all 6 cylinder throats and the 0.429 pin does not. I have not slugged the barrel and hope to avoid that, but the 0.428 pin will not fit in the bore.

I take it this means my throats are somewhere between 0.4278 and 0.429 and my bore somewhat less, though I do not know what the groove would measure.

I have only fired Berry's 240 gr. plated bullets and some factory loads, and both are .429 diameter bullets. The accuracy with both has been outstanding.

I want to order hard cast bullets now and I expect both .429 and .430 diameter bullets will work but I don't want to order more than one kind at this time. Would you go with the .429 or a bigger size?

The Brinell ratings from the different companies seem to run from about 18 to 22. I have never loaded hard cast bullets before but these seem pretty hard. I will be trying for loads between 1,200 to 1,300 fps. Any advice on the Brinell rating I should look for?

Ultimately, I hope to get a good load for 240 grain hard cast for hogs. At least as important as a good hunting load is a load that does not lead my barrel. I truly hate cleaning the lead out of a bore.