coated bullet toughness

[chetc]

i have been using some coated bullets recently from a well known bullet company, i noticed that during my loading on either the lee loadmaster or the dillon i am seeing lead shavings, this does not happen with example SNS, i want to try other brands, i am reading good things about the coatings on the precision and Jame's bullets, curious if anyone had any issues loading these brands or how they shoot

 

chet

[nso123]

Do sll the bullets have the same diameter, i.e. .355, .356,? etc?  It sounds like you might need to bell the case a bit more, or possibly the bullet seater does not have a seating stem that fits the profile of the bullets. Can you see where the coating is missing on the bullet?

[shooter.860]

8 hours ago, nso123 said:

Do sll the bullets have the same diameter, i.e. .355, .356,? etc?  It sounds like you might need to bell the case a bit more, or possibly the bullet seater does not have a seating stem that fits the profile of the bullets. Can you see where the coating is missing on the bullet?

Agreed, I also had this issue on my Dillon. Needed more bell to solve problem. 

[chetc]

11 hours ago, nso123 said:

Do sll the bullets have the same diameter, i.e. .355, .356,? etc?  It sounds like you might need to bell the case a bit more, or possibly the bullet seater does not have a seating stem that fits the profile of the bullets. Can you see where the coating is missing on the bullet?

 shooter

i tried more flare, up to .390 dia as Dillon suggested, bullet seater is custom made for the contour of the bullet. i even modded a dillon powder funnel diameter to .354 dia,

 

chet

[nso123]

It is possible it is happening in the crimp station as well. Can you tell where the the shavings are falling on the press?  I use Blue Bullets, and teh only time I have had shavings is when I don't get the bullte lined up well going into the seating station with all other stations properly adjusted. 

[chetc]

14 minutes ago, nso123 said:

It is possible it is happening in the crimp station as well. Can you tell where the the shavings are falling on the press?  I use Blue Bullets, and teh only time I have had shavings is when I don't get the bullte lined up well going into the seating station with all other stations properly adjusted. 

hi NSO

i am using a modded lee bullet seater, it is spring loaded like some rifle dies, the moment the bullet contacts the seater is starts centering. gonna look into the crimp station, but would it happen on 2 presses, we will find out. and one thing i did not do is measure the bullets.

 

chet

[RAP]

Chetc,

Are you seating and crimping in one station? Are you using a Lee seater/crimp die? Reason I’m asking; I went through this problem when I was using the Lee seat die. What was happening, as the bullet and case was entering the seat die the die was immediately removing the bell on the case and by the time the bullet was seated to depth the case mouth was tight enough that a lead and or coated bullet was digging into the bullet shaving off some. I now use a Redding competition seater and Redding taper crimp dies.


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[Yondering]

14 hours ago, chetc said:

 shooter

i tried more flare, up to .390 dia as Dillon suggested, bullet seater is custom made for the contour of the bullet. i even modded a dillon powder funnel diameter to .354 dia,

 

chet

 

If that .390" measurement is on the outside of the case, that's still not a lot of case flare. Consider trying quite a bit more; you should be able to see and feel a noticeable flare at the case mouth. Also make sure you are seating and crimping in separate steps as mentioned above, otherwise you should definitely expect lead shavings if doing both with one die. 

[BallisticianX]

Assuming your using the Hi-Tek coated then yes that coating is quite tough when done correctly. But if the coating was not cured correctly it will be soft and can peel and give you the problems your experiencing. Easy way to test this is put some acetone on a rag and wipe your bullet in the same way you would wipe off your shooting glasses. If you get coating coming off staining into the rag then it wasnt cured properly and thats your problem, nothing should deposit into the rag if there Good to go. If this passes then next is it happening to every case? Then you have a problem in the seating and or crimping process. You may want to consider the tolerance of your seating die. If its a tight inside diameter its quite possible that even if the flare is good initially it may be getting squeezed closed a bit when it drags the bore of the die at the same time the bullet is getting seated. If its only a couple here and there keep in mind that (and I assume your loading 9mm) that case wall thickness varies all over the place between brands and that flare may be good on the outside but still not enough clearance on the inside. I find this common to Military headstamp with their heavier walls. Also case length varies between brands and in a shorter case again the flare will be less etc. 

Edited July 16, 2019 by BallisticianX

[dsa]

https://www.doublealpha.biz/us/mr-bulletfeeder-powder-funnel

 

Install one of these in place of your Dillon powder funnel die.  It is similar to the Lyman M die, instead of flaring per say it creates more of a seat for the bullet to sit in.  Great for coated bullets.

[Yondering]

1 hour ago, BallisticianX said:

Assuming your using the Hi-Tek coated then yes that coating is quite tough when done correctly. But if the coating was not cured correctly it will be soft and can peel and give you the problems your experiencing. Easy way to test this is put some acetone on a rag and wipe your bullet in the same way you would wipe off your shooting glasses. If you get coating coming off staining into the rag then it wasnt cured properly and thats your problem, nothing should deposit into the rag if there Good to go. If this passes then next is it happening to every case? Then you have a problem in the seating and or crimping process. You may want to consider the tolerance of your seating die. If its a tight inside diameter its quite possible that even if the flare is good initially it may be getting squeezed closed a bit when it drags the bore of the die at the same time the bullet is getting seated. If its only a couple here and there keep in mind that (and I assume your loading 9mm) that case wall thickness varies all over the place between brands and that flare may be good on the outside but still not enough clearance on the inside. I find this common to Military headstamp with their heavier walls. Also case length varies between brands and in a shorter case again the flare will be less etc. 

 

Lots of good info in that post. 

 

That last bit is something I experienced with an RCBS 454 Casull die and lead bullets; even with no crimp being applied, the ID of the seater die was tight enough to completely remove the case flare and cause lead/coating shaving. This was evident by the lack of flare after pulling the round back out of the die. Switching to a different brand seater die fixed that issue.