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Thread: Coatings and barrel wear??

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy dogdoc's Avatar
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    Coatings and barrel wear??

    I am curious if any of the new coatings seem to increase barrel wear to any extent. I have shot several thousand blue bullets in my 2011 sti 40 cal at Uspsa competitions and love the concept and no smoke. I am considering doing some of my own for my home cast revolver bullets. Just curious if there is any significant difference between coated and traditional lubed bullets.

    Dogdoc

  2. #2
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    So far from what I have read friction goes down with the coating so barrel wear would also go down as a result of the reduced friction.

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    The PC coating is slicker than lead. I usually just push a lightly oiled patch down the bore to clean it and call it a day. I cannot imagine any increase in wear from a PC boolit.
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  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master fredj338's Avatar
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    Unless a coating has a serious abrasive emdeded in it, I just don't see how it increases bbl wear.
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  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    Im familiar with modern paint,but not PC. Modern paint contains fillers ,and i imagine powder does too,for the reason that the base material needs filler for strength/endurance/cost.You can check for yourself by burning some of the powder with a hot flame,and looking at the ash under a microscope.Common fillers are powdered silica ,powdered glass,powdered mica......but a lot of things are now "nano particles",and you wont see them .......or the manufacturers MSDS and assorted specs may tell.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master


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    I fired 100 PC bullets in mine and the caliber went from ..38 to .43!

    I continued and it wore the barrel so thin that I can watch the bullets being shot out the barrel (slo-mo camera)

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  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy
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    I've got >60K down the pipe of my G34's KKM barrel with no visible wear or decrease in accuracy.

  8. #8
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    I have fired MANY thousands of rounds of PC (matte black included) down at least 7 barrels and no sign of excessive ware at all. I would hazard a statement that "PC does NOT increase barrel erosion at all".

    That is my observed conclusion. Your mileage may vary.

    Banger

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master


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    Not to hijack the thread but has anyone observed any buildup in their barrels?
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  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by stubshaft View Post
    Not to hijack the thread but has anyone observed any buildup in their barrels?
    If the PC is cured correctly There will be no buildup .. Even in comps and muzzle breaks ..
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  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy dogdoc's Avatar
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    Sounds like no evidence of increased wear. I was just curious.

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy Pumpkinheaver's Avatar
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    I have seen no evidence of increased barrel wear from using PC bullets.

  13. #13
    Boolit Bub
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    Even if it did, the wear will still be less than jacketed bullets.

  14. #14
    Boolit Bub
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    Good to hear, it sounds like the Hi Tek coating is a nice innovation for a few extra bucks a case. I just worry about extra barrel wear as well, event though most of us don't shoot enough for that to crop up. I am concerned about not ruining the barrel on a 9mm target pistol, since it's the S&W 952, and since it is discontinued, I don't want to mess up the barrel.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master MyFlatline's Avatar
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    Barrels are cleaner now than ever before. Rarely even swab them out.. Will never go back to lube.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    There has to be less wear, as the friction is lower. I know this, as I gained 5-10 fps in my 45acp over grease lubes.

  17. #17
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    The barrel wear question came up a few years ago and I answered it back then.

    The reason I first got into PC was I shot in a weekly IDPA match, so I went through a lot of ammunition, about 300 rounds a week. In 2012 the shelves went bare (Sandy Hook) so I could either quit shooting or make my own bullets. But I hated the sticky goo as that was the reason I quit casting years before. Then an old gun club member showed me some colored bullets he had made and PC using a Cool Whip container. In no time I was hooked on PC and cranking out thousands of PC bullets.

    I have no idea how many PC rounds have gone through my G-34, but a lot. When I first bought the gun I slugged the barrel like I have done on all my barrels, so I had a measure on a new barrel. I didn't think PC could induce excessive wear, but that was just my opinion. After slugging the barrel again, there was no measurable differences between the first slug and the slug taken after many thousands of PC rounds. So as far as I am concerned this is a non-issue.

  18. #18
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    HiTek coating is a polymer and has been used by commercial caster for over 20 years, some also have metal flakes in it.

    My lube/sizer has been collecting dust for years. I should probably boil it out for the long term.

  19. #19
    Boolit Master rsrocket1's Avatar
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    I have over 50,000 rounds through my M&P40 barrel with about 35,000 being exclusively PC'ed bullets with HF red and a few Sherwin Williams purple. When new it slugged at 0.3995" to 0.400" (tough to tell, but that last half mil was insignificant). About a month ago I reslugged it and it was still 0.400". You could tell when sizing the PC'ed bullets, that it glides through the sizer will less resistance than even TL bullets so there is very little resistance and essentially no wear. Now if you were flame cutting the barrel by using too small a bullet, you would be getting more wear over the long term perhaps without noticing it because the flame cut powder coating just leaves soot behind and not lead or copper fouling.

  20. #20
    Boolit Buddy
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    If you went from 38 to 43 in 200 rds. that wasnt lead you coated must have been carbide or something nuclear?????????

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