igolfat8

I slugged my 9mm KKM barrel and it measured .355" - .3555". I am sizing some Lee 120 TC and 125 RN home cast lead boolits with my NEW Lee .357" sizer kit. The boolits came out .356 out of the .357" sizer die so I opened it up with some emery cloth on a whip in a die grinder ... BUT ... I went too far and now they are sizing to .358"-.359". Is this too large to safely shoot in my 9mm Glock 34 or should I buy a new die? BTW I am powder coating the boolits and sizing after coating.

"Best" is pretty subjective and will likely yield a lot of responses. For my money, I like the Burris FF III. I have 4 of them and none have ever had any issues. One is going on 5 years old and still running the original battery!

I've used Slide Glide for years with excellent results. I've recently been using Wilson Universal lube and it works exceptionally as well. It stays where you put it just as SG but it also works on the barrel, trigger group, safety, etc... and is easier to apply straight from the bottle.

No I don't but there are plenty of videos on there to view. Just search powder coating lead bullets. I don't spray the powder on but apply it via a Cool Whip or butter dish. I use a hand full of black plastic air soft BBs to create the static that makes the powder cling to the bullets. I am casting pure reclaimed range scrap with a Brinell hardness of 10-12. Hardness seems to be less important for powder coated bullets. Size after PC. The powder painted is amazing that it really clings and does not come off during post sizing or loading. I have flattened coated bullets to the thickness of a dime and the powder does NOT come off! Over the last two days I have shot over 500 rounds, without cleaning by barrel and the bore looks as clean and shiny as a mirror. Its pretty amazing stuff.

They are "dry tumble" coated with powdered paint which coats the entire bullet surface. Each bullet is set on its base on NON STICK tin foil and the base bakes just as smoothly as the rest of the bullets exterior surface. Its quite easy to do, especially if I can do it

+1 For what Grumpy said. What sense does it make to base COAL off of what your magazine will accept if your barrel won't accept it. If your COAL is too long and your bullet seats against the rifling your gun will never go into battery unless you force it closed, which is not a good habit to get into.

Yes, hand cast with range scrap lead using a Lee .40 S&W 175 grain mold then powder coated in a $15.00 thrift store toaster oven. It takes 30 seconds to coat the boolits and 20 minutes to bake. A pound of powder is $17.50 and will coat 10s of thousands of bullets.

If you get tired of black and blue you could always do what I did

Bingo! This is one of the reasons I switched to a Hi-TEK coated bullet. Me too. I am in the process of delving into (home) powder coating. Not because of the smoke but lube issues take a long time to understand and remedy. Then after you have figured out a solution you are still left with all of the filth and wax build up in your breach area nooks and crannies to clean. Hopefully these powder coated pills will help in that area Pre-bake: Post bake: PS, The Pink and Purple pills are my daughters

I have done the very thing you are asking about. The 1st round your 2nd round is pushing against has already been sized so there is very little compression (resistance) forces to worry about IMO. I have not had any rounds change in COAL post bulge busting.

I've shot lead exclusively for the last 3 seasons in my G35 (KKM barrel). I ran home cast Lee 145 SWC for the first two seasons using 4.2 grains of TiteGroup. This season I ran 175 grain Lee TC with 3.4 grains of Bullseye. Neither smoked anymore than plated or FMJ. Its not the powder but the lube you are using which is causing the smoke. High humidity is also a factor that will cause almost anything to smoke. Lee liquid alox lube smokes the worst of any lube I have ever seen. I have a recipe for a home made lube that is the cleanest I have ever used if you lube your own boolits?

I use a short piece of wooden dowel. Its easy to push the cases all out. Just cut the dowel to length, to fit the opening between the pusher and die, with your press fully opened.

How much oversize do you run your powder coated pistol bullets over the barrels slug diameter in 9mm, .40 and .45? +.001", .0015", .002" or ??? I am just moving into powder coated bullets from cast lead. I have always run my cast lead +.002" over slug diameter with excellent results in .40 and .45. However, I don't have any experience with PC pills... yet.

What is this powder ETR-7? Never heard of it before now ... What powder was used in the other two groups?

I had similar problems as you with cast lead boolits but the problems went away after I switched to Dillon dies. The FCD is fine for copper plated or jacked bullets but will cause nightmares with lead. I also had a custom powder funnel made a few thou larger than a std funnel and that helped a lot too.

I've never seen it myself with TG but I have had it frequently with Clays. Looks like somebody went crazy with the pepper shaker on my forearms

I did some testing over the weekend starting at 19 grains with 55 grain Hornady FMJBT. My stock M&P Sport ran fine with an average velocity of 2205 FPS easily holding POA and POI groups of 1" at 100 yards. I had the best accuracy with 20 grains at 2298 FPS holding sub 1/2" groups. Last night we had 3 gun practice. We shoot 8" x 3/8" plates at 75 yards and 20 grains had no problems knocking them over. The recoil was very friendly and noticeably less than we my normal 24 grain loads @ 2695 FPS. Since my rifle cycles fine with 19 grains I will likely take it even lower to see where it fails to cycle.

Once you go wet you'll never go back. I tumbled dry for 35 years then tried wet this year and I don't foresee using my dry tumbler anytime soon.

Try removing the old primers, then cleaning your brass until the primer pocket are Spic-n-Span clean. See if that makes any difference. Old burnt powder crud, in a shallow primer pocket, could keep the primer from seating or create a slight cushion when impacted by the striker.

RIA barrels internal machining can leave a lot to be desired. The internal surface finishes are some of the roughest I have ever encountered but they can be surprisingly accurate. It could be the roughness is stripping the lube too rapidly. Have you tried any lead bullets with traditional wax lube? Having said that, I still think you need to try a larger bullet OD first. 9.5 Times out of 10, if the entire length of the bore is leading that [usually] points to undersized bullets.

.2 grain increments for me.

Based on that article I purchased a Precision Armament’s M4-72 Severe-Duty Compensator! and it works really, really well at reducing recoil. However, the blast gasses come back in my face more than I care for. I am going to try their M11-SPR since the blast is more directed to the sides instead of rearwards plus it has two vertical top ports which should help to keep muzzle rise down too.

You should try larger OD on your bullets. Your only +.0005" which isn't large enough. You need to be at least .001" larger than your bore and even more if possible may solve your leading issues. I shoot lead exclusively and I shoot +.0025" over slug OD in .40 S&W and .45 ACP. My bores look like a mirror with no traces of leading. You've not stated where your barrel is leading? Is it at the end close to the muzzle, the entire length of the barrel or close the the chamber? What barrel are you using? OEM or aftermarket? If OEM, whose?

I'm shooting a stock M&P Sport, 16'' barrel in 3 gun. We are shooting six 8" plates at 75 yards. My 55 grain Hornady bullet pretty much vaporizes on impact and has PLENTY of energy to knock down the steel plates with authority. I am running 24.5 grains of H335. Hogdon website says minimum load is 21 grains. How low can I go below published specs? I would like to lighten my load as much as possible to make follow up shots quicker yet still with enough energy to drop the plates. My guys says I may be able to drop down below published load data significantly but I'm not sure what that will do to the effectiveness on the steel plates and function of the rifle. Please feel to share your experience.

I have the WFT and love it. Can't compare it to the other one.