Ammunition & Hand Loading > Cartridge and Shotshell reloading
Powder Coating Lead Bullets
bkoenig:
That's right, or to think of it another way, the powdercoat replaces the lube on a plain cast bullet.
Plain lead will foul the bore if it's not protected from rubbing off on the bore. Shooting plain lubed cast bullets is cheap works fine with minimal fouling if you have your alloy/lube/powder combination all figured out. The downside is that you typically can't push it as fast as a jacketed bullet, and the lube tends to be smokey.
I tried the coated bullets out today and they seemed to shoot just as well as the cast bullets I've been using. No real difference in accuracy that I could tell, and no smoke. I'm pleased with the results so far, but I was really just banging away and not doing any serious testing. I would like to try the same load side by side but with one cast and one coated, and see how they differ through the chronograph. Most guys report a few extra FPS with coated bullets.
I haven't had a chance to strip the gun down and check it for fouling. Hopefully I'll get to that tonight.
bkoenig:
Another update - I finally got around to cleaning the barrel after shooting the coated bullets, and there was very little fouling. A couple of passes with a brush and then a patch and it was perfectly clean.
Next up will be to try the .311 bullets for my 7.62x54R and some of the big 245gr subsonics for my .300 Blackout. Probably will be next week before I get a chance to work on those.
GreyGeek:
Cool! That solves the "when Copper is as expensive as Gold" problem! (Which seems to be rapidly approaching!)
bkoenig:
Yeah, now I need an easily to melt and low cost lead replacement in case they ban that....
GreyGeek:
--- Quote from: bkoenig on September 12, 2013, 01:15:59 PM ---Yeah, now I need an easily to melt and low cost lead replacement in case they ban that....
--- End quote ---
Serious problem.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/29/lead-doerun-smelter-idAFL2E8HT76620120629
The EPA is shutting down the LAST Lead smelting plant in the US, run by Doe Run, at Herculaneum, Missouri, at the end of this year.
With no smelting plants inside our boarders ALL of our used battery cores are now being sent to Mexico and other countries for recycling.
The Progressives are saying that Doe Run, the company which the EPA has been hounding for years, is shipping jobs out of the country for greed and profit.
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