Observations about old,superhard boolits.

[Petander]

These LBT 425 grainers have grown from .502 to .5035 in ten years. They also have hardened to some crazy BHN, can't fit them in my Saeco tester but they are 50/50 mono/WW -mix. Hard to begin with,about 14% antimony.

Now I Hi Tek coated them before I noticed the size,after coating they are .504.

No way using any press, I have Rockchucker,CH etc...Only this 5# hammer gets them through a Lee .501 die which actually gives .502 with these. I polished the new, rough die half a thou wider,it gave .5015 but it scraped coating.

These are still a little too big for my .5013 throats. Quite a bit of work, seating gas checks with a LAM first is not easy either,getting rejects... fat shanks... I have a few hundred more of these but it seems that the best option is to melt and cast again.

[Drew P]

I find it hard to believe you grew 1.5 mil. That’s a lot. But regardless it’s interesting they are so hard you can’t size them right. I’d say it’s time for a meltdown?

[kir_kenix]

I've had this happen before as well. When we moved to our new house I found a tin of previously sized .310 boolits that had grown to .3115-.312 and were ridiculously hard. I don't know how long they sat, but I'd guess they were pushing 10 years too.

They ended up shooting ok through my friends Mosin, but they basically exploded into dust when they connected with my steel targets.

[DougGuy]

If you have to sledge hammer them through the die, imagine what that will do to pressures when you fire it into a smaller bore. This is why I recommend using the sized boolits soon after sizing, before they grow and age harden.

This is also the reason I do not recommend reaming/honing 500 throats any bigger than .5015" ~ .502" because unlike smaller calibers, the 480 and 500 uses rather long boolits, which exert considerably more resistance to being swaged into the bore on firing, than lesser calibers which would translate to much higher spikes in pressure.

[Petander]

Thanks Doug and everyone.

At least my coating technique is good... all this hammering and coating still looks perfect. But I don't feel confident shooting these @ .502. My throats are approx .5013, I have not slugged the S&W barrel.

I loaded a few though,they do chamber even with CBC brass. This LBT is a beauty and snug. I edited my first post,always mix NOE and LBT...

[Winger Ed.]

Gosh.
Those sound harder than Chinese Algebra.

[JBinMN]

Thanks for sharing your experience with these boolits, Petander.

It makes me wonder about rounds that are loading with boolits and then sit on the shelf for a couple years before firing. Not jacketed, but home cast "boolits" as these were from your description. I can imagine there "might be" some pressure issues even if the round(s) would chamber.

I know there are members here who have been handloading for some time & do not use all they have loaded over the years & just stored them quite a while now. Some just because they like to handload & others for possible future needs like if they got to where they were unable to handload or a TEOTWAWKI/**** situations ( They, or those who go to fire them may be in for some surprises when they are fired if they "grew".)

Of course, it would likely depend on the alloy used when they were cast, (In the OP you mentioned 50/50 mono/WW) to account for any "growth", but still, I wonder how many folks ever even pull or check any old rounds to check them for size before firing the round(s). I'd bet not many.

Interesting, and Thanks again for sharing!

[Petander]

Yeah I've tried pretty much all lubes. I use Hi Tek Aqualube for bullet sizing,it's as slippery as anything ever gets. No lube mess,it's dry.

These boolits spring back so much that after sizing I still can not use any press with the same die. If I want them through the same sizer again,I still need the 5# hammer.

Here is how they smash:

[Texas by God]

What about heat annealing them without quenching? Will that soften them up any? It's a shame to waste gas checks by melting them down but that may be best.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Hamish]

Case lube to size.

Please don't smash your reloading tools with sledgehammers, what did they ever do to deserve that,,,,,,,,

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Yes! Melt, blend, and recast! No reason to waste the alloy on stubborn boolits!

[Petander]

LOL @ Hamish.

I found some more boolits of the same age,this time Lee 440 grainers that I sized and lubed ~ ten years ago. My lubrisizer die is .500, most probably gave me .5005 back then. Now these boolits are .502.

.


EDITH:

Oh,I fired some of those sledgehammer-sized .502 LBT:s today. Got pressure signs with a ~ 1100 fps plinker load,cases sticking etc.

So I melted them all and cut the alloy generously with pure lead.

[DougGuy]

Oh,I fired some of those sledgehammer-sized .502 LBT:s today. Got pressure signs with a ~ 1100 fps plinker load,cases sticking etc.

That reinforces why I don't like to ream throats of these super magnums to the same .0025" larger than groove diameter as I do the lesser calibers, and why I suggest using sized boolits and loaded ammo soon after sizing.

Aren't you glad those weren't Grizzly loads??? I shudder to think how much of a pressure spike that would cause.

[Petander]

Aren't you glad those weren't Grizzly loads??? I shudder to think how much of a pressure spike that would cause.

It's a horrifying thought... I also load hot with N110 ... ouch.

I dropped a couple of grains from my general N120 plinkers because of these boolits. Still sticking.

[Drew P]

How could they really make a pressure spike when the majority of hot metal flying down barrels is copper? Every try to size down a FMJ? They are pretty tough too. I mean, it makes sense they would take more pressure to get down the tube but how much more I don’t know. And pressure equates to velocity so there might be a way to test that theory if you’re brave enough to shoot them.

[Petander]

How could they really make a pressure spike when the majority of hot metal flying down barrels is copper? Every try to size down a FMJ? They are pretty tough too.

Hard cast is much harder. Jacket doesn't compensate for the soft lead inside. And now that the cast ones are way oversize for the throats... compared to undersize j-ones...

I smashed both of these three times with a sledgehammer,equal hits with my calibrated arm. Jacketed went much flatter. Very unscientific but easy to see. It's a Magtech 400 grainer.

[Drew P]

Interesting. Makes sense. Jacketed core lead is softer, so will elongate easier.