Powder coat observations

[LenH]

My first thread was just 2 weeks ago with my first attempt to powder coat. By the way it has become easier and coverage
has improved greatly.

We had a practice match today and I loaded up some .45 AP to test during the match. These boolits were cast from
a H & G S242 mold at 166 GR LSWC. The mold is supposed to throw 160 with LINO but that is a waste. These were
powder coated and loaded over 4.5 gr of Bullseye, just like some Valiant 160's of a similar configuration that were cast
with Magma molds.

I had problems with both boolits. Both boolits had rounds that failed to go into battery. It happens from time to time.
During Timed & Rapid fire strings I noticed two things, with the Vaiiant's and their red grease about the 4th round in a
string of 5 shots the smoke cloud was pretty thick. The powder coated strings, no visible smoke. The powder coat rounds
seemed to be a smoother recoil.

I am going to break the pistol down and clean it and this should fix the boolits that won't go in to battery.

[RP]

Check the nose of the coated bullets to make sure the increase of PC is not effecting the chambering.

[Walter Laich]

take the barrel, when you have torn down the pistol and use it as a cartridge gauge. Hold it vertically and see if the rounds will chamber.
I went from RN to TC and found I had to seat the TC lower into the case so they would chamber.

I'm guessing your pistol is not brand new. Some need several hundred rounds to smooth out the rough spots. A bit of lube (oil) on the moving parts is not unheard of either.

Another thing is to check the cases to see that you don't have a bulge just above the rim. Most dies don't do full resizing all the way down. I know Lee for one has a bulge buster die that will size the entire cases. You push the case through the die like you do with their bullets sizing dies.

Keep us posted

[LenH]

Walter, I use a case gage some of the rounds are a bit stiff going into the gage. The sizing die is a RCBS carbide sizing die so I hoping that isn't it.
The gun was built in 2010 and has about 8k rounds through it. It has a kart barrel still shoots lights out. But like I said I've had a few of the plain boolits
have chambering issues but not that many, I had 2 out of 20 of the pc boolits that had chambering issues. I'll give them another try soon.

I've put about 1500 rounds through it since the last cleaning, it is time I would imagine.

[Smk SHoe]

What kind of lube are you using on the 1911. I had some issues with a Springfield Armorery 1911 that has about 60K thru it. I was using gun scrubber that was suppose to be a scrubber and lube. After a couple weeks the lube started to act like glue. wouldn't chamber anything, and you could watch the slide cycle. Cleaned all the nasty lube out and used a quick squirt of rem oil and all back to being good. Just something else to look at.

[Dragonheart]

I would suggest you start by finding when the bullet actually engaged the rifling. Just take a sized .895" length case and cut two slits about halfway down the case using a Dremel thin cut off wheel. This will allow you to just start a bullet in the case and there will be enough spring tension to hold the bullet. Push the case in the barrel's chamber until it stops then pull the case out and measure the OAL. You may need to do this a few times and may need a little prying to get the case back out. This will give you your OAL for setting your seating die, most back off 3-5 thousands for bullet jump. Additionally, you will probably find that there will be OAL variation between rounds, depending on the press used, so you might want to take this variation into consideration when setting the die.

Walter is right about a bulge just above the base of the case. I used RCBS dies for years and they are good quality, but one thing I learned is they didn't size as far down on the case as my Dillon Dies I started using later. I had a bag full of 45 brass that had the "Bulge" and had been sized with my RCBS. I was surprised to find a lot of this brass when sized with the Dillon die became usable, but a lot still had a bulge too bad to be used. Lee came out with the "Bulge Buster", which is an inexpensive push through die that take the case back to like new. I bulge bust all my straight wall cases as this eliminates any chambering problems due to the case, assuming your cases are trimmed to the proper length.

The only other problem that comes to mind is if your crimp die is set too tight you can actually bulge a case and create a chambering problem.

[bangerjim]

The 45ACP is, from all I have personally done and read on here, is one of the trickiest boolits to successfully load and shoot in cast. The guns are extremely unforgiving as far as OAL, size, etc and even nose profile. Loading greased lead has problems.....add PC to it and there can be even more!

I had about a 20% successful cycle/fire rate early on. Then I switched to 451 sizing, "pointy nose" style designs, and using a LEE factory crimp die to rid my cases of that little bulge that managed to allow almost every round to stick in the chambers! I also bought max case gauges for all the cals of pistols I load and that was moeny well spent!

No more loading/cycling problems.

You will probably have to play around al lot with different ideas just as I did. There was no "one fix" for all the problems. Once you find the combo that works for your 45ACP guns, all will be sunshine and roses!

banger

[LenH]

Smk SHoe, a friend had a gun built by Roddy Toyota and he had a recipie for his own oil for his pistols. The guy gave me a glass bottle of the stuff and had the recipie on
the lable. I can't remember what is all in it but it will slick a 1911 down real good. It must have some ATF in it cause it is red Like Ed's Red cleaning fluid. I use it on all
my autos and it doesn't gum up the works. I'll look tonight and may post what is in it. I know a little goes a long way.

I'll check out the factory crimp gage. I have never really given it much thought because it hasn't happened that much (the chambering issue) but I think you can get
one for less than $20. And you need one if you use the bulge buster.

[LenH]

Here is the oil Mixture: Roddy Toyota's Mixture
1 Part STP Oil treatment
2 parts Marvel Mystery Oil
2 parts ATF (automatic tramsmission fluid)
3 parts detergent motor oil any weight

[LenH]

I think I found the chambering problem lies. It was at the powder funnel station, the bulge was just below the crimp. I reset everything and it seems to be working better.


For some dumb reason I bought a Mini-Mister Bullet feeder. I put this thing on a 550B and it caused nothing but problems. I removed it and put
everything back to the way things ought to be and evidently set the funnel a tiny bit too deep, just enough to cause a problem.

[Schrag4]

LenH,
I'm trying to understand what the actual problem was, in case I come across something similar in the future. Are you saying the cases were getting flared too much? That the crimping wasn't removing all of the flaring? Thanks.

[Zaneiel]

thats what i got from it too Schrag, I have had that issue as well. good to know im not alone :P I always wondered if a factory crimp die could remove the "bullet bulge" you sometimes see in the case where the bullet is seated. I'll have to try one sometime.

[Motor]

Smk SHoe, a friend had a gun built by Roddy Toyota and he had a recipie for his own oil for his pistols. The guy gave me a glass bottle of the stuff and had the recipie on
the lable. I can't remember what is all in it but it will slick a 1911 down real good. It must have some ATF in it cause it is red Like Ed's Red cleaning fluid. I use it on all
my autos and it doesn't gum up the works. I'll look tonight and may post what is in it. I know a little goes a long way.

I'll check out the factory crimp gage. I have never really given it much thought because it hasn't happened that much (the chambering issue) but I think you can get
one for less than $20. And you need one if you use the bulge buster.

I hope you don't mean a Lee "Factory Crimp Die".

I don't think anyone shooting cast bullets no matter what they are coated with including plated, should use a Lee FCD.

Motor

[LenH]

What I wound up doing was remove the decapping pin from my sizing die and checked the round with a case gauge. If it stopped short I
put a bit of imperial sizing wax at the top of the case and eased it in the sizing die, the ones that went through were all at the top of the case.
I did have a bit too much flare and not enough crimp. Everything has been adjusted to fix the problem. I even ran a couple of dummy rounds
and they all passed the plunk test.

[dryflash3]

Here is the oil Mixture: Roddy Toyota's Mixture
1 Part STP Oil treatment
2 parts Marvel Mystery Oil
2 parts ATF (automatic tramsmission fluid)
3 parts detergent motor oil any weight

Thanks for looking that up.

[LenH]

Thanks for looking that up.

You are welcome, I had the bottle put back in my cleaning supplies, I just had to get it to remember what was in it.

I was always told never put STP in a car but it works great in this oil. A buddy of mine mixes STP with a military grade gun grease to slick up his fishing reels.
It really stuck to the gears of an old bait casting reel.

[rbuck351]

STP will really slow down a slide in cold weather. During cold weather hunting I strip off all the oil and put the slightest bit of ATF on the metal to metal parts. Many of the gun oils get really thick and sticky at 30 below.

[Smoke4320]

I hope you don't mean a Lee "Factory Crimp Die".

I don't think anyone shooting cast bullets no matter what they are coated with including plated, should use a Lee FCD.



Motor

I actually got great improvements in accuracy with a 300 Blackout using a lee FCD .. You just never know

[fredj338]

I shoot a lot of 45acp in various 1911s, almost 100% cast bullets. No real issues but you have to watch you OAL & crimp on tight chambers. Other than that, 1911 & lead bullets, like PB&J. FWIW, no LFCD, not if you want the most accurate ammo. Rifle LFCD, totally diff than pistol.
I switched to a good synthetic grease for all my semi, especially 1911s. Various oils burn off on long hot days of shooting & the slide will slow down quite a bit. A good gun grease will run 100s, even 1000 rds between cleaning & relube.

[websterz]

I've been using LFCD's in all of my semi auto ammo for tens of thousands of rounds. I wouldn't reload without them. YMMV of course.