OK, the fact that undersized PC bullets do well has me interested. This seems to mimic jacketed bullets that shoot reasonably well when undersized for the bore eg. SMLE's. Has anyone tried PC bullets in a pitted bore? Any improvements in groups as opposed to PB lead, wax lubed? Do PC bullets wear the rifling to any extent in older, softer steel bores? I have a 32-20 rifle (old so only use lead bullets) with a pitted bore in which I'd like to improve results.
Powder coating rifle bullets & the shooting results
- Thread starter fingers284
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fingers284
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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- Alberta Cowboy Ranges
That's another test I'm looking forward to trying next summer. I have a circa 1893 Win. in 32-20 with a bit of pitting that I want to try. Actually if the PC bullets do as good as or better than the wax lubed ones that still shoot well in that gun. That little gun still shoots Sillywet chickens easily if I do my part so I have a good reference to start against.
Have been shooting varmints with .223 hollow point cast boolits for many years now; velocity slightly under 2000 f p s .
using Lee liquid alox in 45 - 45 -10 concentrations; works fine but takes forever and a day to clean the barrel.
just found some boolits that are about 6 years old and they appear to have no lube on them; was thinking of re lubing them or using moly paste in the barrel, until I came across this p c article.
Anyone buying these coatings in Calgary?
using Lee liquid alox in 45 - 45 -10 concentrations; works fine but takes forever and a day to clean the barrel.
just found some boolits that are about 6 years old and they appear to have no lube on them; was thinking of re lubing them or using moly paste in the barrel, until I came across this p c article.
Anyone buying these coatings in Calgary?
fingers284
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta Cowboy Ranges
Don't know of any "retailers" in Cal. but you might be able to convince a commercial coating company to sell you a pill container or two (all you need to get started and to test with) from their bulk stock.
Failing that, I know there are more than just a few guys in that city that PC and probably for a beer or two (money well spent in my opinion) would mentor you to get started.
One suggestion I would make if your bullets were cast 6 yrs ago (the ones I used in the OP for this thread were at least that old) is to give them a swirl in a methyl hydrate or paint thinner bath for a few seconds and then let them dry thoroughly, to get rid of any "oxidation" that may have formed so you get a good powder to bullet bond.
Failing that, I know there are more than just a few guys in that city that PC and probably for a beer or two (money well spent in my opinion) would mentor you to get started.
One suggestion I would make if your bullets were cast 6 yrs ago (the ones I used in the OP for this thread were at least that old) is to give them a swirl in a methyl hydrate or paint thinner bath for a few seconds and then let them dry thoroughly, to get rid of any "oxidation" that may have formed so you get a good powder to bullet bond.
I went to a PC place off Manitou Rd with a couple of very small containers and got a couple samples of red and black. He didn't tell me a lot about what it was, seemed to be quite uninterested in dealing with it. Which was ok at the time as I was just experimenting with it. If I go back, I will make a point of finding out what they have there as to brands and versions. One thing I noted in reading up on Cast Boolits site was that PC doesn't stick too well to oxidized bullets, which old ones are. I had about 400 bullets kicking around, that I could have tried it on, I just dumped them back in the pot and recast them to put fresh boolits thru the PC method. I tumbled them in the #5 tub with some airsoft pellets. The stuff passed the hammer test, boolits looked good. The PC increased boolit size about .003 on a single coat. As Fingers 284 said, a couple of pill bottles will do to experiment with, you can do a few hundred boolits with that amount.
fingers284
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta Cowboy Ranges
Sooo another successful PC test...with an abrupt ending.
Last spring I bought a Japchester 1886 in 45-90 that I hadn't shot yet, very good forecast for New years and I thought what better chance to finally shoot the new rifle and test some more bullets.
When testing loads I like to "see small so I can shoot small" and with my vision problems lron sites just aren't the ticket any more and at a hundred yards a 6" bull is smallest I can see...so scopes are compulsory for any meaningful results. To this end I developed a tang mounted scope mount that mounts on all my lever guns. I have shot this way with many many 45-70 and other lighter recoiling guns but this was the first kick at the cat with this 45-90. Well, the testing session was cut shorter than I wanted when I snuggled up to close to that gun and that 45-90 jumped up and kicked me in the teeth with that scope mount...a lot of blood and swearing and a fat bruised lip like I haven't had since I quit playing hockey 25 yrs ago took the fun out of things LOL. Heading out to the shop today to do a "factory modification" to said scope mount before any more testing resumes...
The testing that got done before the "incident" was, again very complimentary to PC bullets. Both bullet groups I got to use were from the same box of commercial hard cast, 405 gr RNFP. The first group I left as bought sized to .459 and hard wax commercially lubed. The second group, same bullets but I boiled the lube off and sized to .459 after PCing . All loads were 29 gr of smokeless SR4759 powder. I fired 4 rounds of pc'd bullets from the brand new barrel just to make sure it was printing on the paper. The wax lubed group was fired next without cleaning the barrel and got a very much "less than acceptable" group of around 4 ". Not a small cluster with a round or two "fliers", this was a totally scattered group, so much so that I was really doubting the capabilities of the gun...then I shot the PC bullets (again without cleaning the barrel). I was feeling real good with these bullets, that is until she jumped up and kicked me in the face. The group with PC bullets was a very acceptable 1.5", the last two shots were even fired after the face plant.
Last spring I bought a Japchester 1886 in 45-90 that I hadn't shot yet, very good forecast for New years and I thought what better chance to finally shoot the new rifle and test some more bullets.
When testing loads I like to "see small so I can shoot small" and with my vision problems lron sites just aren't the ticket any more and at a hundred yards a 6" bull is smallest I can see...so scopes are compulsory for any meaningful results. To this end I developed a tang mounted scope mount that mounts on all my lever guns. I have shot this way with many many 45-70 and other lighter recoiling guns but this was the first kick at the cat with this 45-90. Well, the testing session was cut shorter than I wanted when I snuggled up to close to that gun and that 45-90 jumped up and kicked me in the teeth with that scope mount...a lot of blood and swearing and a fat bruised lip like I haven't had since I quit playing hockey 25 yrs ago took the fun out of things LOL. Heading out to the shop today to do a "factory modification" to said scope mount before any more testing resumes...
The testing that got done before the "incident" was, again very complimentary to PC bullets. Both bullet groups I got to use were from the same box of commercial hard cast, 405 gr RNFP. The first group I left as bought sized to .459 and hard wax commercially lubed. The second group, same bullets but I boiled the lube off and sized to .459 after PCing . All loads were 29 gr of smokeless SR4759 powder. I fired 4 rounds of pc'd bullets from the brand new barrel just to make sure it was printing on the paper. The wax lubed group was fired next without cleaning the barrel and got a very much "less than acceptable" group of around 4 ". Not a small cluster with a round or two "fliers", this was a totally scattered group, so much so that I was really doubting the capabilities of the gun...then I shot the PC bullets (again without cleaning the barrel). I was feeling real good with these bullets, that is until she jumped up and kicked me in the face. The group with PC bullets was a very acceptable 1.5", the last two shots were even fired after the face plant.
Curious if you're using gas checks on your cast bullets in the 223? No luck with mine unchecked even using lower charges and enamel coating.
Gotta try out some of my coated bullets in the milsurps without checks to see how they work. Always a project in the works it seems. Sourcing some PC and equipment to use it is on the long list of things I need to get in this new year.
Haven't shot there in years but do stop by the store on occasion. Actually picked up a box of commercial pc bullets by Ares which work well in my Norc 226 clone in 40S&W. Appreciate the offer f55 and also the info you experienced pc fellows bring to the table.
yes; use Hornady gas checks and they work fine; used Gator gas checks a couple of years ago with poor results.
According to " Beagle " over at castboolits; the secret to accuracy in a centre fire .22 is the hollow point.
Have not used anything but hollow point cast and reasonably accurate; 1 - 1-1/2 " @ 100 yards...... minute of gopher.
fingers284
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta Cowboy Ranges
I tried a few "unchecked" boolits in the wife's 30-30 couple of weeks ago and the results were less than spectacular, however I think the loading quality may have been compromised a bit. My die has an expander ball of .306 and the boolits miked at .3105 so I may have "squeezed them a bit when loading (more pressure than usual was noticed when seating). I have since cut a .309 expander ball but haven't had a chance to try it yet.
Also the gun still has a vernier sight on it that the wife shoots well with but I can't see sh!t through but will be scoped for the next trial
I'd be happy enough with that kind of accuracy. Couldn't hit paper at 10m as I believe the bullets were just disintegrating. Checks are most likely a must with these bullets or maybe a better coating
fingers284
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta Cowboy Ranges
Just an updade on this post: I tried some rounds with the larger expander ball using basically the same bullet as mentioned ( WW, 175 gr fp with gas check base but no check applied) before, the only difference was that I "sized" them thru a home built sizer die to a uniform .311 after coating.
The results were actually spectacular in the sense that they shot as good a group as I have ever shot with that rifle with jacketed. A tight 1" cluster, no stringing at all. Not chrono'd but should be somewhere 16-1700 fps.
The results were so good I decided to give some 120 gr rn (again, a check based bullet with no checks applied) the same treatment, Pc'd and sized to .311 and loaded into .309 case neck's. I was rewarded with even slightly better groups than with the heavier slugs, slightly under an inch.
Excellent, thanks for the update.
