Stupid question - lube and copper?

[selmerfan]

Okay, so just tossing out stupid ideas here, but I have to wonder if the Barnes TSX/TTSX monolithic copper bullets with the pressure rings would benefit in any way shape or form from running them through a size die, say .309" for a .308" bullet, and putting a good boolit lube on them. Has anyone tried this? Probably stupid, but who knows? And how do you know?

[rockrat]

I use monolithic solids in one of my rifles and coat the bullet in a thin coat of LLA.

You do not want to fill the grooves with lube as I believe they are there for a place for the copper to go when displaced by the rifling.

Maybe a thin coat of LLA would work on the Barnes, just not too much, so as to not fill the grooves

[selmerfan]

I'll probably be checking this out. I have some 85 gr. 6mm TSX bullets that I'll be working up a load for. Once I have a good one with naked bullets, I won't be able to resist trying some 45/45/10 vs. speed green vs. naked groups.

[selmerfan]

...and copper fouling, though I don't have a borescope to check it out, I'll have to go from a clean bore control.

[.22-10-45]

I don't think your question is stupid...apparently Springfield Armory didn't either..the very first
.30-40 Krag 220gr. cupro-nickle jacketed bullets had such grooves filled with lube in an effort to eliminate jacket fouling.

[noylj]

They remove some copper so pressures don't shoot through the roof, along with your bolt and part of the receiver.
Have to make long bullets just to get the ballistics to be usable.

[nanuk]

I used to have a huge pile of saved documents I collected along the way, that got lost during a move.

one refered to lubing a J-word with something, and getting lower pressures, so allowed an increase in load to get higher velocity. accuracy was never worse.

don't recall what lube, but I'd guess a thin TL coat of something good would work.

[geargnasher]

They make long bullets to make the weight useable, has little to do with ballistics.

Doesn't Barnes offer a whole line bullets coated with some sort of moly disulfide-based paint?

I don't think filling the lube grooves would be much help, since the jacketed bullets tend to leak a lot more gas than cast boolits do, and the lube would simply be blown out the muzzle as soon as the bullet got out of the case neck. I think lube on cast boolits serves more as a sealant than as an actual lubricant, although I think a good lube prevents galling of lead/steel to a degree.

Gear

[btroj]

Many different things have been tried as a "lube" for jacketed bullets. I have a feeling that if any had real benefit the mass production bullet makers would be using them.

Word I heard is that Barnes used the blue coating to reduce fouling from the original X bullets. They then found that the grooves fan the same results, lower pressure, and better accuracy.

Somehow we keep coming back to the re-invention of the wheel. I will stick with the current wheel, it seems to work fine.

[runfiverun]

this has been done before.
i wouldn't lube too many of them.
the blue boron nitride coating would work pretty well though.

[DLCTEX]

Gear:I got chastised pretty good here several years ago for saying lube helps create a seal. I still believe it does.

[nanuk]

..
Somehow we keep coming back to the re-invention of the wheel. I will stick with the current wheel, it seems to work fine.

You mean those wheels like the original pure rubber tired ones that were wobbly and wore very quickly?

Innovation is a good thing.

never hurts to experiment.

[357maximum]

Gear:I got chastised pretty good here several years ago for saying lube helps create a seal. I still believe it does.

You are not alone.

[runfiverun]

it is a floating, sometimes fluid, gasket.

[btroj]

I can see it as such.

[pdawg_shooter]

What will it hurt? Give it a try, most it could cost you a a few cents in lube. Go for it!