Question: Lead plating on case necks. . .

[edwardware]

Good evening. I'm starting up loading .35 Remington with a cast bullet, and I'm seeing an new-to-me phenomena:
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I observe a fringe of lead plating on the necks of the cases near the mouth after firing. This is consistent from min to max loads of 2400 under the Lee 358-200, cast of COWW, water dropped, HiTek, copper GC'd, sized to 0.360. The cases are reformed from .308 (yes, the case heads are resized to .35 Rem spec), and neck turned to 0.014" (just thin enough to clear the chamber neck with the .360 bullet seated).

The gun is a 2010's Marlin 336 in .35 Remington, microgroove. I'm printing 2" groups at 50 yards, probably mostly due to my lack of practice with an aperture sight. Even after 30+ rounds in a sitting, there is no leading whatsoever; it's one of the cleanest cast loads I've ever seen in a medium bore rifle.

Is this normal?

[243winxb]

cast of COWW, water dropped.

Add linotype to harden the alloy or oven heat treat the bullets/water drop.

Dropping from mould to water, doesnt work for me.

Normal? I have seen it with 38 spec target loads and Bullseye powder, using almost pure lead.

[edwardware]

Normal? I have seen it with 38 spec target loads and Bullseye powder, using almost pure lead.

What sort of coating was in use when you observed it in 38 Special, and were you getting any leading in the bore?


Add linotype to harden the alloy or oven heat treat the bullets/water drop.

Frankly I'm disinclined to fiddle with the alloy without good reason; it's easy to make (100% COWW) and accuracy is excellent for my ability with aperture sights.

To be clear, I'm not trying to fix this. . . it's not a problem so far as I can tell. I would like to understand how an apparently 100% encapsulated (HiTek coated) bullet can leave lead deposits on the outside of the case neck, but no sign of leading in the bore. Obviously that lead is coming from the bullet, but I would have expected it to show up in the throat or bore long before being deposited on the outside of the brass.

[Dusty Bannister]

Did you anneal the case mouth after all that working of the brass?

[243winxb]

I don't use any coating. If the lands are going to cut into the bullet, exposing lead, why bother?

When i seen the red bullets, i forgot about it and will stick with hard cast and 50/50 lube. https://www.ar15.com/forums/armory/Palmetto_Projectile_Coating_Issue/42-452615/?

The micro groove barrels should be more forgiving?

Sorry, not much help.

[edwardware]

Did you anneal the case mouth after all that working of the brass?

I found it best to anneal the .308 before forming, all the way down to the future .35 Rem shoulder, and again after opening the .35 Rem neck out. Do you think that has something to do with the lead plating?

[earlmck]

You're shooting my favorite 35 Rem boolit there so we should be able to figure out what is happening. I don't see this lead coating in my loads -- my first guess is that something in your loading procedure is getting the lead there. Are the cases flared a bit before seating the boolit? I use the Lyman "M" die for this but have used other methods.

Or are you crimping so hard and at too short a COAL that the case neck plunges into the boolit a ways? The Lee boolit has a nice crimping groove so I try to crimp moderately at a length that folds the neck in a bit but doesn't impact the boolit appreciably.

I'd look at those two loading questions first. I've not used the HiTek coating but have happily shot conventional (white label 2700) lubed and PC'd boolits in my 35 Rems without ever seeing that lead coating thing.

[243winxb]

My guess is some lead is scraped from the bullet on firing and is vaporized by the hot gas. Instant solder.

[edwardware]

You're shooting my favorite 35 Rem boolit there so we should be able to figure out what is happening. I don't see this lead coating in my loads -- my first guess is that something in your loading procedure is getting the lead there. Are the cases flared a bit before seating the boolit? I use the Lyman "M" die for this but have used other methods.

Or are you crimping so hard and at too short a COAL that the case neck plunges into the boolit a ways? The Lee boolit has a nice crimping groove so I try to crimp moderately at a length that folds the neck in a bit but doesn't impact the boolit appreciably.

I'd look at those two loading questions first. I've not used the HiTek coating but have happily shot conventional (white label 2700) lubed and PC'd boolits in my 35 Rems without ever seeing that lead coating thing.

I built an faux-M-Type expand/flare mandrel to use in the Lee Seat/Crimp die (since I don't use it to seat), and they seat without any damage or undersizing.

The bore-riding shank ahead of the forward band is just clearing the chamber lead/lands, and there's no scraping or engraving of the bullets on chambering. I have a batch of these PC'd but haven't loaded them yet.


My guess is some lead is scraped from the bullet on firing and is vaporized by the hot gas. Instant solder.

Yes, that's my thought too, but what an odd place to end up!