Coated bullets and lead residue in the barrel question

[armoredman]

I've had barrels come out looking cleaner than when I started using power coated bullets. What velocity are you pushing these coated bullets to?

[Dan_69GTX]

armoredman - right at 1030 FPS

lewmed - forgot to try smashing a bullet last night.  however the coating does NOT come off real easy with a pocket knife.

I got some .357 bullets and pushed them through the barrel.  Looks like I'm just shy of .356.  So maybe I just need to load with larger bullets - got some coming from ACME.

[redbaron]

I'm willing to bet money the larger bullets are going to solve your problem, and maybe give you a little better accuracy too.

[MynameisEarl]

I recently swithed over to reloading with 124 acme bullets with ASP and have the same thing you?re describing. I?ve paid close attention to my barrels after shooting and this doesn?t to appear to be leading. I use 3.8 gr at 1.12 oal.

I?m not really that experienced at reloading, I?ve only loaded about 60k rds of 124 fmj using hp38 over the last 18 months....prior to switching over to acme coated bullets with ASP and never had this residual stuff in my barrels.

I did try some 125 Blue bullets sized at 356 with ASP and the barrels were clean. Like I said I?m fairly new at reloading and this is my limited experience.

[Earl Keese]

I?m not really that experienced at reloading, I?ve only loaded about 60k rds of 124 fmj using hp38 over the last 18 months....prior to switching over to acme coated bullets with ASP and never had this residual stuff in my barrels.

Like I said I?m fairly new at reloading and this is my limited experience.

60k rounds in 18 months isn't exactly what I'd consider limited experience. 3300rds per month is quite a bit. . .

[MynameisEarl]

I?m not really that experienced at reloading, I?ve only loaded about 60k rds of 124 fmj using hp38 over the last 18 months....prior to switching over to acme coated bullets with ASP and never had this residual stuff in my barrels.

Like I said I?m fairly new at reloading and this is my limited experience.

60k rounds in 18 months isn't exactly what I'd consider limited experience. 3300rds per month is quite a bit. . .

I try to shoot at least 3 days a week, adds up fast.

[Dan_69GTX]

UPDATE:

The deposits in the barrel are LEAD!  Could be carbon too, but it is LEAD!

Using .357 bullets and the same load of bullseye - still had lead at the end of the barrel.

Using the .356 bullets and Silhouette powder - had deposits.

Did try any other powder yet.

Jacketed bullets DO help clean the lead out of the barrel!  Don't know how many rounds required, but after 18 rounds, the barrel was very clean - just a little left at the end.

So, I'm guessing what happened is, I didn't realize the leading was occurring when doing my tests, cause I did follow the tests with some practicing with my competition load using 124 JHP PD bullets.

So, Now to test in the Scorpion Carbine.  Hopefully I'll have results that do NOT lead the barrel and can use up these bullets.  So much for trying to go cheaper for competition loads.  And I'm not even loading them very HOT.  oh well.....

[MynameisEarl]

Thx for the update, I?ll keep a closer eye on my barrels for lead while using up the rest of the acme

[Dan_69GTX]

Update:

Tried the 124 ACME rn in my Scorpion - with bullseye and silhouette powder - all fine - no leading.  Speeds around 1200-1270 FPS.

So, I can use it in that gun just fine.

Weird!

[Earl Keese]

Update:

Tried the 124 ACME rn in my Scorpion - with bullseye and silhouette powder - all fine - no leading.  Speeds around 1200-1270 FPS.

So, I can use it in that gun just fine.

Weird!

That's a relief! 

[Dan_69GTX]

That's a relief! 

Yes it is!   I?d still love to know why the pistol doesn?t like them.

Definitely can back down the powder for the rifle.

[Earl Keese]

That's a relief! 

Yes it is!   I?d still love to know why the pistol doesn?t like them.

Definitely can back down the powder for the rifle.

I don't get it either. The Scorpion barrel comes out clean as a whistle. I'm just glad I don't have to feed it premium bullets. So far using Sport Pistol in my P10C with the ACME'S I'm still not getting any lead fouling like I did with HP-38. I shot 680 rounds last Friday and another 80 or so today. When I cleaned the P10 Friday, there was heavy carbon fouling in the barrel but it cleaned up pretty easily.

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[M1A4ME]

My understanding is that if the bullet is too small, you'll get the "gas cutting" immediately, which places the lead near the chamber end of the barrel. Same thing for lead being too hard. You stated your leading was near the muzzle end. So I'm thinking your bullet size is OK.

Leading at the muzzle is typically too high velocity, or not enough protection for that velocity. Are you sure you didn't start with copper fouling, which scrubbed off the Hi-Tek ??


 

I've loaded (some) lead bullets for the .30-06 bolt action rifles.  One of the things (heavily) recommended was to scrub all the copper out of the bore before shooting lead bullets in it.  And then don't shoot jacketed bullets in it unless you weren't going to shoot lead again.

That was lead with a gas check on the bottom, not coated lead, so there was a lot of lead contact with the lands as those 200 grain bullets moved down the barrel.  That was in an M1917 with the original barrel (darn thing is a 100 years old).

[ThompsonCustom]

I can tell you velocity shouldn't cause you any problems out of the pistol.

In my cz open gun to make major I push my 115gr coated lead bullets 1500fps with zero leading.

It's strange your still having leading issues now that you've used 2 different bullets and 2 different sizes.

After your done loading your bullets 100% you have pulled some some bullets and made sure there not undersized at all correct?

[Dan_69GTX]

Correct, pulled and the bullets are correct size - no shrinkage