Done with harbor freight black

[jcameron996]

I rubbed some of the loaded rounds against my finger and they sure don't seem abrasive. Not taking any hide off anyway.

[Omega]

What reloading powder are you using? It has been said that lil gun erodes barrels like that, maybe others do too.

[bangerjim]

I rubbed some of the loaded rounds against my finger and they sure don't seem abrasive. Not taking any hide off anyway.

There 'ya go! That is a seat-o-the-pants test I developed that anyone can do for testing abrasion for matte finishes. Not scientific, but a good indicator.

As to the powder changing sizing dies............. a coated boolit moving at 1FPS thru the die is a tad different than that same boolit moving thru a barrel at 1,000FPS! But I, and many others will attest to, have found no detrimental effects of the HF black or ANY PC.

Over the past couple years, there have been the odd complaints and nay-saying about it, but when the dust settled, every situation was proven to be something else OTHER than the black matte or gloss powder causing the problems. If there was a serious universal problem, many more would be posting about it.

I have examined my barrels with microscopic precision and find absolute ZERO wear from ANY PC. There is more wear (and cleaning!) using FMJ's, yet no one complains about replacing those barrels after thousands of rounds passed.

Works for me!

bangerjim

[jcameron996]

These rounds were all loaded with 3.9 grains of Winchester 231. Like I said above the bullets don't seem abrasive, but that doesn't change the fact that the barrel is ruined. I went after it again this afternoon and it is definitely not leading. The rifling is just gone. It may have been a bad barrel, but I have done enough modifications to this pistol to make any warranty department laugh me off the planet. I have always said I wouldn't care if we wore out a gun, but shooting out a barrel in just shy of ten thousand rounds is a little ridiculous. It may not be the powder coat, but I am a little gun shy about running those rounds through my custom STI. We'll use the junk barrel to burn up the rest of them and make some changes and try again.

[bangerjim]

Use them up as you said.

Switch to a gloss power, either HF red or get some of Smoke's excellent powders! Good stuff.

banger

[tigweldit]

Since the barrel is already toast, why not put another 2-3 hundred rounds through it and see what happens? Check for accuracy and more erosion problems. Could be a fun, long time test.

[jcameron996]

It's going to be a fun test all right. When was the last time you had to burn up ammo just to get rid of it? I checked this afternoon and while it won't be winning any bench rest matches the wife can still get some practice value from it. Does Smoke have a website?

[bangerjim]

Just to a search on here for him. There is a thread he lists all his colors in. The PM him.

[mold maker]

The factor that makes paint flat is an additive powder. We have no surprise that HF is a broker for china made goods. If improperly mixed black powder resulted in extra flattening powder in a whole batch, or just one container, it would not be unusual.
For it's intended purpose there may have been no problem.
Why would some Chinese chemist (??????) have expected his powder would be fired through a gun barrell?

[TheDoctor]

All the HF powder I have gotten was made in India.

[Smoke4320]

Thread on Smokes powder .. PM to Smoke4320

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...raying-bullets

[mold maker]

I haven't much confidence in stuff made in India either. With a few exceptions stuff made outside the good ole USA, is made for sale, and not use. Cheap imitations of American made goods. The flattening powder of some sort is still in play. It might even be sand for all I know. And being foreign made, there is no telling. Is there an MSDS for it, and is it accurate?

[Beagle333]

I haven't used any HF matte black yet, but I do have a couple of pounds of it in the old stock. I got a mauser with a rough barrel that is the perfect candidate for it. I don't think it's abrasive, but it would actually be a benefit to that one if it was!

Hey!.... if you got a lot of HF black left.... that's a great excuse to have to buy an old mauser! (Try that one on the wife!)

[destrux]

Some of the XD pistols were known to have their melonite coating done poorly and it wears off leaving the softer barrel steel exposed. If yours is one of those that could be a factor.

I'd be curious to see what this stuff does to a stainless barrel, being that those are the softest (rockwell c scale 30-ish) barrel material commonly used.

It's possible that the people not seeing problems have barrels made from one of the harder metals.

I'm just going to avoid this stuff.

[xacex]

This is the second xd I have heard this happen too using powder coat. There was one wore out blackout barrel in Oregon that was replaced from wear related to hf black as well. Found that one on AR15.com. Nothing else.

[Maximumbob54]

I've put several hundred strokes on this barrel with the brush wrapped so tight ...(snip)

To be clear, this is a bronze tornado brush wrapped in solid copper Chore Boy material?

[gpidaho]

Beagle333: We think alike at times. If the flat black does prove to be slightly abrasive it will be a big help cleaning up old Mil-Surp rifles. Would be a lot more fun shooting them clean than the two days of scrubbing on my last Mosin to get it "almost" clean. Gp

[jcameron996]

Yep, bronze brush wrapped in copper scouring pad.

[Maximumbob54]

Yep, bronze brush wrapped in copper scouring pad.

Thank you. I only belabor this point because I still run into guys that try to scrub away lead with a bronze brush and complain when it doesn't work. I was actually hoping for your barrel's sake you might be one of those guys. Sorry.

[jwber]

I have an XD9 service with about 13k through it. About 4k FMJ/Plated, 2k Lubed Lead, 1k SNS Hi-teks, 3k HF Red (tumbled) and 3k HF Matte Black.

I haven't noticed any wear in the barrel.

I plan on picking up a Tactical model in the next month, I might just use HF Red or another powder to ease any future worries...but so far no issues.