southernshooter Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Ok, so I'm casting my own bullets out of wheel weight and using the Lee 6 cavity 175 grain TC. I coat my bullets with the Hi Tek lube from Bayou Bullets. Uncoated bullets with the traditional lube in the lube groove ran fine. The coated bullets ran fine for a couple thousand rounds, but now they won't chamber. Everything is sized after lubing/coating to .401. I'm trying to use these in both my KKM barrel in my Glock and my Kart barrel in my Caspian. The loaded rounds (1.135 oal) won't chamber in either gun. I inspected both barrels for leading in the throat area, causing the round to not chamber. No visible leading was found, but I read on the castboolits forums that some copper chore boy scrub pad on an old bore brush would work wonders. I made the brush up to be tight and proceded to scrub the snot out of both barrels. No luck. I slugged both barrels and the groove diameter comes out at .400 on both. Jacketed bullets run great but I can't afford to practice in volume with jacketed bullets. 50 bucks for 110 lbs of wheel weight makes alot of good bullets, so I need to figure out how to get them to run. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noylj Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Like every other time one has this problem, coat the bullet and case with black magic marker. Drop the painted round in the barrel and rotate it back-and-forth. Remove and inspect. Scratches on the bullet: COL too long for that bullet Scratches on the case mouth: Not enough crimp Scratches on the case at the base of the bullet: bullet seated crooked, usually because there was no case expansion or insufficient case expansion (caused, many time, by NOT using an expander plug but just a flare) Scratches above the extractor groove: case had a bulge that wasn't removed or left a raised ridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southernshooter Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 The coating that I'm using on the bullet is serving the purpose of the marker (for the bullet) and the only visible point of contact is completely around the remaining .401 diameter sticking out of the case. Theres an even line all the way around. I did try to seat the bullets deeper to the point where there was none of the larger diameter sticking out of the case. This solved that problem but then the rounds were too short to feed reliably. OAL on the shorter round was about 1.115. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowenbuilt Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 So what changed? The chambers on 2 guns didn't shrink, the OAL didn't grow by its self so the only other answer is the bullet diameter is not really .401. If it's the same bullet that ran flawlessly for thousands of rounds and now all of a sudden won't chamber with everything else being the same the bullets must have been sized in the wrong die or this run of lead sprang back more than your last run through the sizing die and the coating is adding to the diameter below where the taper crimp die can reach. If you can chamber them at a shorter OAL this has to be the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cslafrain Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 We utilize the same coating with a 92/6/2 lead. The wheel weight lead will have a slightly greater spring back due to inconsistencies in the raw material. Also with a tight chambered KKM you basically have 2 options. 1. Use a Mansen throating reamer to breaker the edge of the chamber and allow the 0.401 to chamber properly. 2. Change your sizer to a 0.400 and run them slightly smaller. The standard 40 that we produce is at 0.400 instead of 0.401 because of this concern. Give us a call at Black Bullets International and we will try to help you out further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Hunter Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 ^ This Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamikaze1a Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I bet the first 1k of bullets were from a separate batch from the problem bullets? If they are from different batches (alloy mix), as LaFrain posted, springback during sizing probably the cause. Harder alloy in problem bullets caused less sizing... With TC bullet profiles in 40 I have had to throat my KKM barrels and most other aftermarket barrels to run reliably. A few of my factory barrels needed reaming too. The barrel manufacturer will throat/ream your barrel (probably for free) or buy the reamer from Manson. One time purchase and if you buddies shoot 40 with lead too, will be happy too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southernshooter Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 Thanks guys for all the info on this. This has had me scraching my head. One quick call to Mr. LaFrain at Black Bullets and I've got a plan. Get a Manson throat reamer and the .400 bullet sizing die. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdrr72 Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Had pretty much the same problem with a KKM in my G35 using Bayou Bullets TC bullets. The rounds would chamber, but when racking the slide back with a loaded chamber, sometimes the round would get stuck - really stuck. I sent the barrel and a couple of dummy rounds back to KKM, and they opened it up slightly to accomodate the lead .401 rounds at no charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southernshooter Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 Thats exactly the problem that I'm having. I'm ready to get this straight and get back to the shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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