Cast Bullets and silencers

[Larry Gibson]

Folks shoot thousands of lead pellets through barrels with cans in airguns with no trouble.

Air rifles deal with neither the temperature or the pressure.

[alamogunr]

I've only got one air rifle and the blob on the end of the barrel is NOT a suppressor. Since it is a break barrel, it gives me something to hang on to while cocking. I'm not sure what other purpose it has.

[edctexas]

I certainly am not an expert but I shoot 9mm cast thru a TI-RANT can. The bullets are PC'd. I would be concerned if the PC was coming off. The can does disassemble and I have cleaned it numerous times. No PC dust, and no discernible lead. Plenty of ever loving carbon ****.

Ed C

[megasupermagnum]

I'm no powder coat expert, but how could you have leading if you have a powder coat jacket on the bullet?

[hlvabeach]

Rugged Obsidian was leaded up some using .3575 .358 sized 9mm powder coated bullets. Was a b to clean up, ended up using the dip and dental picks. Now I size the bullets .356 and seems the problem went away.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[Landshark9025]

I'm no powder coat expert, but how could you have leading if you have a powder coat jacket on the bullet?

Hey Mega,

Contrary to what some may think, powder coat (or Hi-tek coating, for that matter) is not the same as a jacket. Fit is still king otherwise you can get blowby- which will definitely lead. All but one of my 9mm pistols have a groove diameter of .355 - .3555 so I size all of my PC bullets to .357. I picked up a Canik this year and it has a groove diameter of .357. I tried it one time- that was enough for me. It leaded the barrel pretty badly. Once I sized those to .358 it was all good.

Additionally, I had tried Hi-tek in my 9mm PCC, and while the barrel didn't lead, there was lead deposits on the muzzle device. As the bullet left the barrel, the gasses caused some lead "spray", I guess.

I can see it being totally possible that the coating was sufficient to prevent leading in the barrel, but was getting cut, and then as soon as it has an opportunity to blow by in the can, deposits can get left. Could be any manner of thing that caused it, but I'd also say it should be curable.

Again, I've easily shot thousands of rounds of powder coated bullets through my 9mm can in between cleaning and it has never seen anything more than an ultrasonic tank.

[megasupermagnum]

Powder coat obviously isn't as tough as copper, but all the pictures I've seen of recovered PC bullets showed a complete covering, even after going through an animal. I don't shoot powder coat, so I don't have first hand experience. I figured it must have some advantage besides just reduced smoke. Maybe not.

[6.5 CM]

Reduced smoke is a HUGE advantage on an indoor range. PC boolits are also much easier to load as they are a clean as Berrys.