About a year and a half ago I picked up a nice Stevens 44 in 32/40 with a bright crisp bore. This is a new cartridge for me and wanted to load a round that would give me exceptional accuracy with a bullet soft enough for reliable expansion on deer. At a gun show I bought 100 cast and lubed bullets sized to .323 and labeled as "hard cast", 165 grn. I could not find brass anywhere so I bought some Starline 32 Win Special cases and re-formed them to 32/40. My starting load was 8grns. of Unique and the results were promising - 3/4" at fifty yards. I then went to a softer bullet [ wheel weights] and my first six shots were spot on but after that I experienced severe leading and keyholing. The leading was all in the first few inches in front of the chamber but the bore is smooth and clean. I'm wondering if a gas check would solve the problem of if I should try different diameter bullets. The bore slugs out at .320 And as I said the hard bullets at .323 shot just fine but I will not hunt with them. Any suggestions would be welcome, Thanks

I've been using both .321 and .322. 160 and 165gr plain base, 12.0grs 4227. Both work quite well, no leading. BHN 16.

Jonathan I don't know what kind of lube you are using, but I was having the same problem years ago shooting WW bullets Lyman Moly lube cured the problem. Another thing  try your lube, but pre lube your clean barrel before you ever fire a shot, smere some lube on a patch and run it through the bore 3 or 4 times.
Hope it helps
LD1