My first big PC Boolit test- .30-30 and .480 Ruger

[Beaverhunter2]

I shot some 350gr. RD's in my .450 Marlin a few weeks ago. One load was almost as accurate as the LLA boolits in my preferred load for that boolit (CCI-200 and 56.0gr H-322) but not enough to bump it.

Not giving up yet, I PC'ed a bunch of Lee soupcans and Lee 170FN to try in my Savage 24F .30-30/12 Gauge. I could never get it to shoot as well with cast as j-words. While I was putting together 8 soupcan loads and 10 for the 170FN, I remembered I had a Lee 325gr. WFNGC that had always cast undersize for my .480 Ruger SRH and the gas check shank was too small to hold even crimped on checks. I never got around to opening it up. Could PC be the answer? I coated a bunch of those that had been sitting on the shelf, and I decided while I was at it I'd load up some PC versions of my BABore 400gr. LFNGC. My preferred load had always been this boolit (pan lubed with Speed Green), a CCI-350 and 20.0gr of W296.

To make a long day of shooting shorter- the loads for further testing are (drum roll, please)….

Soupcan- 9 gr. of Unique- four rounds made one ragged hole at 50 yds. I had a couple left and they chronograph at 1563fps. Perfect for a small game/varmint load. I tried Unique (8-10gr.), Trail Boss (6-8gr.)and H4895 (22-23gr.).

Lee 170FNGC-
IMR3031- 27.0gr. four rounds made one ragged hole at 50 yds. With a called flyer the group was 1 1/4" (Tried 26-28gr.)
H335- 29.0gr. four rounds made one ragged hole and with the 5th the group was 1" (Tried 25-29gr.)
H4895- 27.0gr. 5 shots made one big ragged hole. (Tried 27-28gr.)

The LEE 325gr. WFNGC is still not impressing me but 18.0gr of 2400, an S&B LP primer and the PC BABore 400gr LFN shot a 1 1/8" 6 shot group at 50 yards- visibly better than the 2" groups I got with the same boolit (both PC and pan lubed) with a CCI-350 and 20.0gr. of W296. Gonna load up a box of these and put them up against the pan lubed ones to see if they are consistently better or if it was a fluke. BTW the velocity was 1060fps- about 20fps faster than I get with pan lube.

I have some .40 and .45 PC boolits to load yet and loaded up some .357 magnums (158gr RFN and SWCGC) I'm hoping to shoot tomorrow if the snow and wind holds off a bit. Also, thinking about the RCBS 180FN for .308 and .30-06.

In summary, PC isn't replacing other lube methods for me entirely, but it definitely has a place. I've been wanting a small game load for the .30-30 barrel of the 24F for a long time. The 9.0gr Unique soupcan load gets me one. Planning to try the Lee 314-90-SWC powder coated and sized to .311" next. Hoping for an accurate load around 1000-1100 fps.

Thanks to all that shared their techniques and advice! Gotta love this site!

Great stuff!


John

[frankmako]

the more you work with powder coating the more you will like it. i just cleaned out all the lube from my sizer and dies. for what i do powder coating work and is cleaner. what is not to like.

[bmortell]

I think its mainly for no leading and to delete lube. if there is a scenario where a bullet would be less accurate powder coated its probably because of a side effect like the a big empty lube grove obturating out or dimension change or something like that not directly the coating. in revolvers I did pretty good with lubed back when I started but even then I'm still just glad to have lube be gone even in the situations that its not a performance advantage.

[charlie b]

Yep, I went to PC to get rid of the extra issues that lubes bring to the accuracy thing. My PC bullets (.308 Win) are just as accurate as my lubed bullets were and to me are far less fussy to deal with. The bonus is the rifle bore is much easier to clean with PC.

[Beaverhunter2]

I don't have a lubesizer. I've always used Lee push-throughs and pan lubed or, in a couple cases LLA because that's what the boolits are designed for. I have a BABore 380gr HP I use in my .480 that I haven't tried powder coating. It shoots well with speed green and, from what I've read on the various threads, keeping the HP from filling up with PC is a challenge.

I'm really looking forward to trying cast and PC in my .30-06 and 6.5 Grendel. My experience has been with softer boolits (ACWW, 2 WW-1 Pure, 50-50) for hunting purposes. To get the velocities where I want I always figured I'd have to harden the boolits (not ideal for expansion). The PC seems to be the answer that will let me step things up a bit in the calibers that can benefit from higher speeds. I was really encouraged by the .30-30 load with 29 gr. of H335. I didn't have any left to chronograph but based on book data I'm estimating between 2000 - 2100 fps. Those boolits were 2-1. Funny thing- right before I shot the 28.0 gr load I looked in the muzzle and it was all gray. I thought it might be was leading but ran a bore snake through it (just one pass). The bore was black again! Same thing after the 29.0gr load.

Thanks again!

John

[Beaverhunter2]

Shot the .357 today. Felt like a pop gun after the .480! PC wins again- Lee 158 RFN with 14.0gr of 2400 and a CCI-500 beat out my pan lubed best load of 12.5gr of 2400. Actually 13.5gr with the PC boolit beat it too but 14.0 seemed to be the best.

And, of course- no leading!

John

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

how do you cook the 170gr lee flat nose , stand them up by the nose ? in a holder of some sort or by the base? , I have been thinking about powder coating some of the 170s I have aluminium gas checks.

I assume you are gas checking them?

thanks , Pete

[Dragonheart]

PC will definitely allow using soft alloys at velocities impossible for lube without severe leading. The reason is PC is forming a jacket that is as hard as copper. If you are going for full power accuracy choosing a nose rider design has been proven to work. I have had zoro full power success with spitzer design bullets past 50 yards.