Coated cast in Glocks

[Chuck Perry]

I'm using a major maker's HiTek coated 125g RN in my Glock 48 9mm. 4.5g of CFE Pistol over a standard Fed pistol primer, OAL is 1.11". And I'm getting horrible leading, after no more than a few magazines. The leading is on the face of the muzzle and the interior of the barrel viewed from the muzzle. Bullets measure right at .356 before loading. I pulled three loaded rounds. The coating is perfectly intact and the bullets measure consistently at .355 after crimping with a Lee FCD. I know Glocks have a bad rap with standard lubed cast, but I thought the HiTek coating was ok? Is this just a Glock thing or do I have something else going on?

[whisler]

Probably need a larger boolit. You are resizing the boolit with the brass.

[Dusty Bannister]

It sounds like over crimping might be reducing the diameter of the cast bullet in the case. A common problem with the Lee FCD when not carefully adjusted. Do you know what the groove diameter of the barrel actually is? If the groove is .355 and your bullet is .355 it is going to leak hot gas under pressure and lead the barrel as you have found. Nice photo.

Have you reviewed the sticky "getting set up with a new 9MM"? A lot of good information in that thread and maybe you will find a bit of information that will resolve your problem.

[Chuck Perry]

I found that sticky and will review it. I thought of one more thing. I noticed that the outside of my fired cases are black with soot. What would cause that?

[nicholst55]

I found that sticky and will review it. I thought of one more thing. I noticed that the outside of my fired cases are black with soot. What would cause that?

Generally this is caused by a too-light powder charge. The load doesn't create enough chamber pressure to obturate the case to seal the chamber. Try increasing the powder charge or switching powders. Also if you haven't already, take a look at the sticky linked below:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...locks-and-Cast

[StuBach]

I can’t speak to 9mm but in my glock 21 (45 ACP) I have never experienced leading of that degree in either traditional lubed or PCd. Haven’t tried HiTek yet.

As others have stated fit is critical so make sure you slug the barrel and size appropriately. Don’t let the case crimp or sizing die size your bullet down which is easy to do with lead.

[Chuck Perry]

I definitely needed to adjust the crimp. I have the FCD die now set so that the outside diameter of the case is .380 after crimping, which is what my Lyman manual shows the spec as. I have Titegroup and W231 on hand, I can try those powders next.

I've never slugged a barrel before. I'm generally aware of the process, pushing a soft lead core down the barrel from chamber to muzzle and then taking measurements of the swaged core. There's probably a sticky around here that talks about it in more detail? Any sources out there for the core material?

[mvintx]

Do a search on this form for slugging a barrel and you'll get enough hits to waste an evening. Check out Boob-tube also...there's a pretty good video of a guy slugging a 9mm barrel. It's easy.

[BigAlofPa.]

I had very bad leading with tight group. With the coated cast. It was the worst with 9mm. Im now using sport pistol. No leading with it.

[onelight]

A good friend of mine has shot a lot of .356 , 125 Hi-Tek in his Glock 48X He loads in mixed cases WW primers and powder is BE-86 normally 50 to 100 rounds per session with no appreciable leading he does clean after every session and he does use the Lee carbide FCD.
Are you getting enough flare to get your bullets started with out scraping the Hi-Tek ?

[Chuck Perry]

Are you getting enough flare to get your bullets started with out scraping the Hi-Tek ?

Flare is good. I pulled three loaded rounds and the coating is perfect on all three.

[megasupermagnum]

That load looks good, and you say the coating is intact after loading, not getting scraped out. Your problem is either the bullet is too small allowing gas cutting, or the coating itself is inadequate. I'm willing to bet the bullet is too small. you say pulled bullets were being sized down to .355". Many on this site run a .357" or .358". The best answer would be to slug your barrel, and get a bullet .002" larger than the groove diameter.

[sigep1764]

When I was setting up for cast for my 9's including three Glocks, I found that .358 boolits left no leading, .357 was marginal, and .356 leaded like crazy. Before switching powders, try some larger diameter boolits. Load them as a dummy rounds, then pull the boolit to make sure it isn't being swaged down in diameter by the brass. If it is .358 after pulling, load some up and shoot. If not, you will need to solve that problem with a custom expander. Lathesmith makes them for Dillon presses and NOE makes inserts for the Lee Universal Expander die that fixes the problem as well. Give us an update when you get a chance to try some of these things.

[blue32]

That picture brings back memories. You can slug it all day but I have that same "marksman barrel" in my gen5 and I say size to .358 and be done with it. I also crimp to .380" but you may want to push that expander deeper into the case to keep from sizing down upon seating with a larger boolit.

[Drew P]

I did a little fire lapping on mine that actually helped a lot. But you do need to have suitable pressure to obturate well and it sounds like you’re a little light.

[mdi]

Not a Glock owner and only fired one, but are all the stock Glock barrels in all available calibers poly "rifled"?

[Ed_Shot]

While I use Lone Wolf barrels for G22 and G17, and I have a LW barrel for my G21, I find that my G21 OEM barrel performs better (in both function and accuracy) than the LW barrel using either lubed or PC'd boolits. I have no issues with leading.

[Conditor22]

Flare is good. I pulled three loaded rounds and the coating is perfect on all three.

It's not just about the flare. You need to expand the case neck


http://noebulletmolds.com/smf/index.php?topic=1795.0

https://noebulletmolds.com/site/prod...gory/expanders
first number is the flare/bell size at the case mouth, the second is the neck size. (remember they The cases ) shrink .001 after flaring) you need to find what works for your setup 361-357 -- I use for .357 boolit.

I only crimp the 9MM to the point where pushing the loaded boolit against my bench and the boolit doesn't move. .355 is TO SMALL, even with 15-16 BHN alloy

[onelight]

That load looks good, and you say the coating is intact after loading, not getting scraped out. Your problem is either the bullet is too small allowing gas cutting, or the coating itself is inadequate. I'm willing to bet the bullet is too small. you say pulled bullets were being sized down to .355". Many on this site run a .357" or .358". The best answer would be to slug your barrel, and get a bullet .002" larger than the groove diameter.

Not a Glock owner and only fired one, but are all the stock Glock barrels in all available calibers poly "rifled"?

I have heard they are using I different rifling in some of the Glocks now if I read the pictures correctly it is more of a standard rifling with rounded lands. But many of us have shot a lot of cast particularly with coated bullets that do not lead in Glocks .

[leadhead]

If your going to use .358 dia bullets, and use Lee powder thru dies, order a
Lee powder thru expander die for the .38 S&W and then go with .358 and
don't look back.... Problem solved.
Denny