Shot my first PC bullets today.

[Rick459]

Chris C
i have to diagree with Veral Smith as i have fire lapped many barrels pistol and rifle and find that not be the case if done correctly. in your case just start with the finest grit in that kit which would be the 600 grit. or you could pick up some 1200 grit compound. if fire lapping worries you then another way to go is JB Bore paste.have you shot any jacketed bulets in that pistol yet. if not try that. you have many options here.HTH
Rick

[Chris C]

Rick, the pistol has never seen lead until the recent 100 rounds I've shot. But I have to admit it's been what some call a "safe queen", in that it's been in my bedside stand since I quit carrying it. Bought it new in 1986 and retired it in 1997............and (I'm embarrassed to say) it probably had no more than 50 rounds through it when it went into the bedside stand. Recently decided to carry it full time, so have started practicing with it. Buying commercial jacketed rounds is too expensive, so thought it would be smart to cast and load my own and practice with lubed lead bullets. Then I stumbled onto all this talk about coated bullets. Had never paid any attention to them before. I bought 500 Bayou Hi-Tek coated bullets and shot 50............only to have them lead terribly. Then a fellow here on the forum was kind enough to send me 50 bullets of a different style, but 35 were powder-coated while the other 15 were lubed lead. They, too, leaded badly. So here I am.

I've loaded up 50 of the 147 gr coated Bayou bullets with BE-86. 10 each of 3.5 gr, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8 and 3.9 to see if dropping the velocity will solve the problem. I'm going to try and shoot them tomorrow.

By the way, Rick, thanks for taking the time to talk with me on the phone.

[Chris C]

Okay, I shot the 50 rounds today. 10 shots per target and then pulled the barrel and cleaned in-between each target. All five loads produced more leading than I've ever seen in any pistol barrel I've ever shot. I've heard it said that "some" Hi-Powers just don't like lead. I'm beginning to believe mine is one of those. Best accuracy was with 3.6 gr.............1 1/4" group..........no big deal because that was just at 21 feet. So I've got around 400 of these bullets I'm just going to toss back into my smelting pile. I'll just order some FMJ from Precision Delta and be done with it.

[MyFlatline]

Dang Chris, was hoping you could get it figures out. Hope I don't run into one of those..

[Chris C]

I just soaked the barrel in Lead Out for an hour..........and still had to run 10 tight LeadAway patches down the barrel to get it "almost" clean..........followed that up with JB Bore paste and now it's clean. Pretty certain I'm stickin' with jacketed bullets in this barrel.

[Grmps]

Chris, Just curious, take one of the High-Tek coated bullets and put a piece of paper on the anvil of your vise or a hard metal surface and flatten it to 1l2 it's original size with a big hammer. if the bullet is coated properly you should get no flaking. If you get flaking then this might be a coating problem (even companies can make mistakes) If they pass the smash test and you live near someone that does hi-tek coating they could put 2 more coats on the bullets and bring them close to 358.
You are shooting starting loads for those powders, I'm wondering if they are not being pushed hard enough to obturate due to the hardness of the alloy.
I have good luck with the Lee 356-125 2R sized @ 357for all but my lama that slugs out fat and needs .3585
a properly sized hi-tek bullet usually cleans you barrel

[Chris C]

Thanks for the suggestion, Grmps. Did the test and it passed with flying colors. Have pushed these bullets from 783 fps to 1165 fps and they all lead heavily. I think jacketed bullets are in my future. All I'm after is a hassle-free bullet to load for practice. So far, at least, lead hasn't shown itself as a good candidate................kind of like HRC.

[Chris C]

Okay, problem solved..............or averted, which ever! I ordered 500 115 gr FMJ bullets from RMR today. Not going to have to worry about this lead mess any more. Wasn't trying to start yet another journey into casting, lubing and sizing lead bullets................just wanted a hassle free practice round. I'll put these jacketed bullets over 5.65 gr WSF and be happy. (that is reported to duplicate my carry round in recoil) So all is well in my neighborhood.

[barnabus]

Bullets are too small for your barrel
Need to be .002 over min and in 9 mm many have found .003 to be even better

i shoot Smokes clear and size to 358 and now i dont hate the 9mm anymore!

[Chris C]

Ended up with 115 gr FMJ from RMR over 5.65 gr WSF.
This target was shot at 21 feet, rapid fire, 10 shots...........first shot was dead center of bullseye, or so my buddy claimed. Oh, and no lead in the rifling.



Guess I'll forego PC and stick with FMJ.