Barrel wear with coated lead bullets

[357454]

One of my local cast bullet suppliers called today to dicsuss some bullets I have on order, he has been supplying me with cast 9mm,40,44 and 45 bullets for quite a few years. Recently he has been producing limited quantities of coated bullets and I had order a few thousand for testing. His call was related to a local shooter who has been shooting a cast bullet with a black coating ( no brand given) who is seeing rapid rifling and throat wear in both revolvers and Semi/autos. due to this concern he is ceasing the production of coated bullets until he can investigate this more thoroughly. Has anyone seen or heard of similar reports regarding barrel wear and with coated lead bullets?

[Hi-Power Jack]

:cheers:I've never heard of "rifling/throat wear" from using lead bullets, coated or not.

Might have some fouling, but not wear.

[Dr Mitch]

I have 30,000ish coated projectiles through my Limited gun, and the leade and rifling look fine. I am hoping to pound 20k through a Production gun next year.

Interested in what his coating is as well as his process for application.

[GJGary]

Ground diamond dust added to give that projectile the bedazzled look shooters like Lol

Edited December 16, 2015 by GJGary

[Echd]

There was some concern that certain powder coatings could exacerbate barrel wear. So far as I know there is nothing truly empirical regarding it. There is one guy over at the 300 blackout forums who states that he burned a barrel in short time using powder coated bullets in harbor freight's black color.

HF black was known to be a relatively poor candidate for powder coating as it required the use of a sprayer gun to apply it... that brand and color in particular did not apply well at all through the tumbling method many hobbyist bullet casters use. Some folks did some digging and on the materials list for HF black (and no other color) they found a mild abrasive, calcite. Some have hypothesized that this was the cause for that poster's wear.

Again, this is unproven and based on so far as I know a single guy on the 300 blackout boards making a claim about powder coated bullets.I personally have shot a fair number of homemade bullets coated in HF black with no issues whatsoever. However, very few black powder coats apply well compared to other colors- gloss shades being an exception. A compound in the black color used could potentially accelerate barrel wear.

I personally don't buy it and think it more likely that the burned barrel I have heard of was probably the result of mag dumps and a powder like lilgun- which has been warned against due to extreme temperature generated.

I have shot thousands of powder coated bullets in the past few years in rifle and handgun. That is not to say or suggest all coatings are the same in abrasiveness or anything like that. There could be a barrel damaging substance out there in some coatings. Given thr explosion of popularity in coatings stateside in the past few years (I know they have been popular much longer in Australia in particular) I would think that if there were an issue with common coatings, it would have been discovered and documented by now.

[Yeti]

Been shooting Hi-Tek coated from various manufacturers in multiple guns for years...no issues.

The two main coatings used are polyurethane (Hi-Tek) and commercially available powder coatings (polyester...mostly) both of which are much much softer than any barrel material.

Sounds like a friend of a friend said....

Find out what the actual "coating" in question actually is. If the individual ever cleans his gun. Or can accurately measure.

[Yeti]

HF black was known to be a relatively poor candidate for powder coating as it required the use of a sprayer gun to apply it... that brand and color in particular did not apply well at all through the tumbling method many hobbyist bullet casters use. Some folks did some digging and on the materials list for HF black (and no other color) they found a mild abrasive, calcite. Some have hypothesized that this was the cause for that poster's wear.

Calcite? I wouldn't want to use it. With a high energy round like 300AAC...??? Probably best avoided.

Thanks for the info.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Yeti

[427Cobra]

Not pistol, but I noticed a slightly longer barrel life in my 260 Rem shooting coated pills, but not enough to justify the headaches, I can't imagine a lead pill coated or not reducing barrel life in a pistol

[copecowboy22]

I've got over 6k on my gun that I've coated myself over the last 6 months. I can't see any wear. I'm using hitek, several different colors.

[llevola]

The hardness of calcite aka limestone  (CaCO3) on Mohs scale is 3, same as copper. 

[RePete]

On 12/15/2015 at 11:38 PM, Hi-Power Jack said:

:cheers:I've never heard of "rifling/throat wear" from using lead bullets, coated or not.

Might have some fouling, but not wear.

 

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More like the coating is filling up the rifling due to poor cleaning methods.

[IHAVEGAS]

Gas blow by due to diameter or hardness issues? 

[Eros]

So I had an experience like this with coated bullets out of a p320x5 with W231 behind it. In less than 5000 rounds the barrel had severe “flatening” of the lands at the 3, 6, and 9 o’clock position at the muzzle end causing 9 out of 10 bullets to tumble and I was unable to group the gun at even 7 yards. With that being said I suspect that it was barrel related as I have never had that problem before putting tens of thousands of rounds through both factory and aftermarket Glock barrels.