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Thread: Powder coated rounds getting stuck in the rifling before fully chambering

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy

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    Powder coated rounds getting stuck in the rifling before fully chambering

    I usually powdercoat tumble lube type bullets and have zero problems with chambering. I coated some regular shaped bullets like lees 9mm with the standard shape and lube grooves, like a fmj bullet. I don't have the box with lee's number on it.
    anyway, I coat, cook and size them. when loaded, they look beautiful but dont go into battery in any of my 9mm pistols.
    I know what the problem is the thick PC gets stuck in the rifling and wont let the round chamber. So, what do you all do to deal with this? I want to load some bullets with no lube grooves.

    thanks

  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy bazzer485's Avatar
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    You need to resize your boolits so they pass the plunk test first of all. Then ensure the OAL is correct
    B


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  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    I found this also, seated them deeper to solve the issue.
    Take a kid to the range, you'll both be glad you did.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master

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    if the boolit is hitting the rifling its to long of a OAL. make sure your cases are all trimmed, that helps with better fit.
    if you are ever being chased by a taxidermist, don't play dead

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    look at the NOE HTC-358-133-RN-B05. It is a no lube groove RN that has the nose portion sized at .340 so powder coating does not affect chambering. The problem you are having is common to PC bullets and NOE has several molds featuring reduced diameter nose portions
    Loren

  6. #6
    Boolit Master Dapaki's Avatar
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    Been there, done that, got the lands printed to prove it! I did the same thing with a Lyman .224 mold last weekend and had to back them down 40 thou due to the two PC coats on a shallow ogive. Just give the seater a turn and see if it clunks into the chamber and check the accuracy.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master

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    For a couple of guns, the Lee 356-125-2R (round nose profile) must be seated to 1.03 to chamber in a couple of guns.
    "There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something."
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  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy
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    Either reduce the OAL as others have said or have the barrel throated to work with the bullet at the normal OAL. I prefer to do the latter as I use bullets with a crimp groove and choose to use it.

  9. #9
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    bigjake, how many of your barrels have nearly zero freebore in front of the chamber? These are problematic regardless of boolit style or coating. I like to see a throat that will let you plunk whatever will cycle through the magazine. Even published load data has to often be compromized to work around a non-throated barrel. SAAMI specs call for freebore, very few gun makers actually adhere to this spec. Throating the barrel is an affordable, one-time event that will let you load whatever you want, however long you want to load it.
    Got a .22 .30 .32 .357 .38 .40 .41 .44 .45 .480 or .500 S&W cylinder that needs throats honed? 9mm, 10mm/40S&W, 45 ACP pistol barrel that won't "plunk" your handloads? 480 Ruger or 475 Linebaugh cylinder that needs the "step" reamed to 6° 30min chamfer? Click here to send me a PM You can also find me on Facebook Click Here.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master
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    Every gun barrel is or can be slightly different even in the same model gun. So you can just guess at what your OAL length needs to be, like most, or you can easily determine your ideal OAL for every bullet design you have and for every gun you have.

    All you need as a cartridge case and and a way to cut it; a Dremel tool with a cutting disk works well. First size the case and sort through and find an ideal case of the proper length. For 9mm I use .750" as the ideal length. For 45 ACP I use .495". Remember these tapered cases headspace off the mouth of the case, so length is important for consistent accuracy.

    Cut a slice into the case like in the photo, which will now allow a sized bullet to be barely inserted into the case, held by tension, but still can be pushed deeper into the case. Now with thumb pressure push the case/bullet into the gun barrel's chamber until it is fully seated. Then carefully extract the case and measure the OAL. Do this at least three time to make sure. The measurement will be at the point where the bullet engages the rifling. In some barrels, bullets sizes and/or designs the bullet may be completely out of the case before this happens. With this method you can customise your rounds for the gun. The shorter bullet jump to the rifling is usually preferred for accuracy and you should never have a too long of an OAL chambering problem.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    Powder coating adds to the dimensions of the bullet in all areas. Therefore, there has been a buildup on the part of the bullet that enters the leade of the rifling, adding both length and diameter, that sizing does not touch. Increasing the seating depth would be the logical option. I find this happens on powder coated bore riding rifle bullets. Adding 2 or 3 thou on the bore riding section, can make closing the bolt difficult, or the impossibility of chambering the round, when using the seating depths that worked for traditionally lubed bullets. Just saying, that this can happen.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by GBertolet View Post
    Powder coating adds to the dimensions of the bullet in all areas. Therefore, there has been a buildup on the part of the bullet that enters the leade of the rifling, adding both length and diameter, that sizing does not touch. Increasing the seating depth would be the logical option. I find this happens on powder coated bore riding rifle bullets. Adding 2 or 3 thou on the bore riding section, can make closing the bolt difficult, or the impossibility of chambering the round, when using the seating depths that worked for traditionally lubed bullets. Just saying, that this can happen.
    It happens if you just coat and shoot and haven't measured your chamber and sized accordingly.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master
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    I would first check the throat as Doug suggested. If yours has none then some bullets will need to be seated too deep to work well (and cause higher pressures). You may have to change the bullet to one that will work with the throat you have.

    The plunk test has to be part of everyone's routing when trying a new reloading setup. Every time you change bullets or increase OAL you should load up one as a dummy and do the plunk and feed test. As an extra step I like to use a black sharpie and 'paint' the bullet before hand to see where it strikes the feedramp and chamber on loading, as well as seeing if it is into the rifling.

    When I find the right setup for a load I will save that dummy round and mark it. That way if I ever change something I have the correct OAL for that bullet and can easily reset my seating die.

  14. #14
    Boolit Buddy pacomdiver's Avatar
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    i had the same problem as taterhead with the lee 356 125 2r, when powder coated, the nose is too fat to chamber without making them super short, i was somewhere around the measurement he gave .

    i started using the lee 356 120 TC and havent had a problem since, i also got the NOE 130 mold grooveless to try and it never shot as good as the lee 120s in any of the 3 handguns i tried it in, and about the same in the 2 carbines

  15. #15
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by pacomdiver View Post
    i had the same problem as taterhead with the lee 356 125 2r, when powder coated, the nose is too fat to chamber without making them super short
    Its really depressing how many of these I made up using this mold as my first ever powder coated load - only to find none of them worked. Only thing that might save me is that I used the minimum load to be cheap on powder and I may well be able to push the bullets further in, but they measure 1.14 right now and are all crimped in. 1.03? Probably can't do that. And its only this one bullet design that has the problem. The one I loaded about 800 of.

    I took the lazy way out of this. I bought a Uberti Cattleman II Convertible and they fit in that.

    So Now I'm in SASS. I didn't tell them why I hav a single action revolver now.

  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by Taterhead View Post
    For a couple of guns, the Lee 356-125-2R (round nose profile) must be seated to 1.03 to chamber in a couple of guns.
    And of all the bullets I could have chosen to start powder coating with - it was that one. All seated to about 1.15 and crimped that way.

  17. #17
    Boolit Grand Master


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    When I first started PCing, I sometimes had that problem. I realized I was using too much powder and the coating was too thick. I’m sure boolit length and shape could cause issues too. Seating deeper should help.

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
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    You loaded 800 without testing them first?

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy
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    Yes. I did. They looked fine, and the overall length was even less than commercial ammo.

    EDIT: seating the bullet deeper did fix the problem. I had to pull every bullet, reflare the case and load it back in. I had loaded them with 3.2 grains of 700x and have since learned 2.6 grains actually works fine, so I'm saving on powder and less concerned about the bullet being deeper in the case. Also my Uberti Cattleman 2 is MORE picky than my Glock, not less. Surprised me.
    Last edited by 2TM101; 01-01-2024 at 02:36 PM.

  20. #20
    Boolit Master


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    I think a lot of us will only make up 10 or 20 when trying something new, checking that those function as they should before committing to several hundred.

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BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
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