Ammunition & Hand Loading > Cartridge and Shotshell reloading

Range report, powder coated bullets.

(1/1)

DangerousDrummer:
My new loads shot safely with no signs of overpressure.  The speeds were averaging 250 ft/sec faster using I4198, but almost identical to my Berry's plated using the RE-7. Accuracy was not affected and there was absolutely no leading, none, zero, zip, nada! This is turning out to be a very cost effective alternative to gas checks for cast bullets. They require no lube and just plain look cool to boot. I can coat batches of 63 in 10 minutes with a bake time of twenty minutes. In addition to my 458, I also powder coated my cast bullets for my muzzleloader with identical results. I shot the ML over twenty times and never swabbed the barrel! The bullets still rammed easily and cleanup showed no leading.

I am still having issues with unburned powder fouling the chamber and barrel, which can cause the next round to not chamber. This is a problem that I really would like to solve without getting new primers since ordered primers now takes about 3 months for delivery. If anyone knows what I might try to get the powder to burn better, I am open to suggestions. Could this be a result of running loads that are 10k under max? Does anybody else have this problem?

unfy:
!!!!!

\o/ \o/ \o/

Kick ass!  Subsonic rifle big bore: check.

I was going to go to the range today to dump 100 powder coat bullets down range to see how things went, but was too busy making stupid stuff out of wood (air compressor muffle box). Hopefully Sunday I'll be able to get out to do so.

As far as unburned powder... I had some really low charged pistol rounds that had some similar problem, didn't really come up with a solution.

For the rifle case, do you use any filler to keep the charge near the primer ?

DangerousDrummer:

--- Quote from: unfy on April 21, 2013, 02:35:56 AM ---For the rifle case, do you use any filler to keep the charge near the primer ?

--- End quote ---

My loads are all close to 100 % already with the slower powders for such a large bullet. I am going to have to address 2 issues that are more about casting than powder coating.

1. Bullet size of the PC bullets in the 458 is .459 which appears a little large for my RRA SOCOM. I had started a project of making a sizing press with custom dies which now I need to finish. I need to size to .457 or maybe even .456  before coating so I can seat the bullets without any neck expansion. The muzzleloader bullets are perfect and require no adjustments. I have been told that I will lose some accuracy as I go smaller.

2. My loads are about 10k under pressure so I will have to build a load ladder to find a load that will burn 100%. I just purchased 2000 CCI 350 primers so a switch to magnums is not an option. As far as this bullet seats into the case, more powder will likely be a crush load. I am also going to use a little RTV to seal the base pin hole after coating in case there is a small amount of powder in it that is not getting burned. My big bore already makes a big boom and punches my shoulder so I kinda wanted to stay away from larger loads, but a big boom is why I got big bore anyway.

I love the research and experimentation part so to me this is just plain fun! (as long as I keep both my hands and face, to which I have become rather attached!)

Navigation

[0] Message Index