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Bench

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A great bullseye shooter and bullet maker told me than most of the time a lead bullet .001" over slugged bore diameter would be the most accurate.  He also said you can't take that as gospel.  Sometime an actual bore diameter bullet is more accurate, and something you have to go more than .001" over.

 

Coated bullets make that a little harder, because the coating isn't consistent.  

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6 minutes ago, zzt said:

A great bullseye shooter and bullet maker told me than most of the time a lead bullet .001" over slugged bore diameter would be the most accurate.  He also said you can't take that as gospel.  Sometime an actual bore diameter bullet is more accurate, and something you have to go more than .001" over.

 

Coated bullets make that a little harder, because the coating isn't consistent.  

LOL...if one doesn't work then go to another...so far I've found that slugged size doesn't work. Just ordered some .358". Hopefully I'll be getting closer with these. Then .357" just in case. Thanks!!

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/3/2019 at 12:23 PM, Yondering said:

 

Yep, as we said earlier in the thread, .357" or .358" is where you'll need to be. .357" diameter is the minimum for your .356" barrel, not the maximum or the optimum diameter; you may have better results with .358". 

 

On the crimp - sounds like you're not crimping enough to cause an issue, so that's good. It's important to understand though that your crimp isn't doing much to prevent bullet setback, case neck tension does that. As long as your cases are sized down enough, you don't need to rely on crimp to prevent setback. This is a bit different from a hard recoiling revolver where we might want a heavy crimp to prevent bullets from moving forward, opposite of setback and with higher forces on the bullet. 

 

TLDR: I have had similar problems with a larger bore which slugged to .356", even with Gallants at .357", but whatever Blue Bullets uses for a coating is magic because I don't seem to get much, if any, leading from many/most of their 9mm bullets even in .355".

 

Longer story is in this thread:

 

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On 9/5/2019 at 3:15 PM, Steve RA said:

Be sure to let us know your results with them.

Had a level 2 match so the new load was put on hold since I hadn't chronoed  and with the PB 38/125's (.358") RN the OAL is way down to 1.050" and so I ran another post regarding load data. I got good information so I'm back at it and out to the range this week to see what "the tale of the barrel" is.

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On 9/15/2019 at 9:18 PM, BryceA said:

 

TLDR: I have had similar problems with a larger bore which slugged to .356", even with Gallants at .357", but whatever Blue Bullets uses for a coating is magic because I don't seem to get much, if any, leading from many/most of their 9mm bullets even in .355".

 

 

 

Lead buildup in the bore is a minimum standard to avoid, it should not be seen as the ultimate verification of a bullet working right or not. 

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On 9/5/2019 at 3:15 PM, Steve RA said:

Be sure to let us know your results with them.

Ok, all you reloading wizards out there, today was the first day of trials...and I'm off and running!!! I ran 200 rounds of Precision 38/125 RN and ran a bore snake through the barrel after 100 rounds. The barrel looked as clean as what it did when I began the day. Then after the second batch of 100 rounds I snaked the barrel again and again it was as clean as when I started. I happened to notice a bit of smoke but nothing near like what was coming out with Titegroup. HP-38 is what I've switched to now.

 

Thus endeth the lesson for this shooter...and thanks All for your input!!!

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1 hour ago, Bench said:

Ok, all you reloading wizards out there, today was the first day of trials...and I'm off and running!!! I ran 200 rounds of Precision 38/125 RN and ran a bore snake through the barrel after 100 rounds. The barrel looked as clean as what it did when I began the day. Then after the second batch of 100 rounds I snaked the barrel again and again it was as clean as when I started. I happened to notice a bit of smoke but nothing near like what was coming out with Titegroup. HP-38 is what I've switched to now.

 

Thus endeth the lesson for this shooter...and thanks All for your input!!!

 

Bench, please be aware that if you're seeing smoke, there is room for improvement and a larger diameter is the first thing to try. The long term lead exposure isn't worth using an undersized bullet, even if you don't see any difference in accuracy or barrel leading.

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1 hour ago, Yondering said:

 

Bench, please be aware that if you're seeing smoke, there is room for improvement and a larger diameter is the first thing to try. The long term lead exposure isn't worth using an undersized bullet, even if you don't see any difference in accuracy or barrel leading.

The Precision bullets I'm using are 38/125's which are .358 dia. That's about as big as I've ever seen in coated bullets for 9mm use. The HP-38 isn't a really hot/fast powder on a burn rate chart so I think I'm good there. As I mentioned "I happened to notice a bit of smoke" which when I think about it didn't occur consistently. Though I do appreciate your comment regarding 'room for improvement'. Since I've increased the bullet diameter, found the OAL for my barrel, crimped to .378-.379, and on the low end of the powder load data that seems to be about the only thing left. Any suggestions on powder. I didn't notice any scalping of coating during the loading process. The accuracy at 35 yds was there with this load so I'm pleased with that.

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Gotcha, I missed that you were at .358". 

Smoke may be from the powder if it is dark and sooty. If it's gray smoke though, that's lead. Generally speaking if you're already using a larger size, the next steps if needed would be to try a harder bullet (especially if using a soft swaged bullet) or a different coating. Sounds like you're doing it all right though and perhaps any smoke is just the powder. I don't use HP38 so I can't comment on it specifically. 

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1 hour ago, Yondering said:

Gotcha, I missed that you were at .358". 

Smoke may be from the powder if it is dark and sooty. If it's gray smoke though, that's lead. Generally speaking if you're already using a larger size, the next steps if needed would be to try a harder bullet (especially if using a soft swaged bullet) or a different coating. Sounds like you're doing it all right though and perhaps any smoke is just the powder. I don't use HP38 so I can't comment on it specifically. 

Thanks Yondering, I'll keep an eye on the color and see what might be causing the bit that did come out.

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  • 2 weeks later...
17 minutes ago, Polaris13 said:

I use Bayou's (coated) with Titegroup.  Yes a little "stink", but since they shoot like lasers, I'm not worrying about it.  The bullet "stink" is better smelling than my shooting buddies anyway....

What's that Moody Blues song: 'breath deep the gathering gloom'...increased lead levels with every boom(!)

Edited by Bench
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