Bob58
11-03-2012, 07:48 PM
I have been shooting 4 grains of Win 231 behind a 122 grain Leadhead cast bullet in my 9 mm Walther PPQ, and have been getting a fair amount of leading with this load.
I read on this forum about the use of Cream of Wheat (COW) to prevent, and even remove, leading from cast bullets, so I thought I'd give it a try. I made a couple of dippers for measuring the cream of wheat, by cutting (shortening the OAL) on an empty .22 RF case, and wrapping a wire around the base of the cut case for use as a handle. By experiment, I came up with a length that measured out 1.6 g of Cream of Wheat, to dump on top of the powder in the 9mm case prior to seating the bullet. This easily covers all of the exposed powder, and appears to bring the powder column / COW column about level with where the base of the bullet would be when seated. I loaded ten rounds with COW, reducing the 4 g charge of Win 231 to 3.6 grains to compensate for reduced case volume due to the presence of the COW.
Earlier this afternoon, I fired 60 rounds of the 4 g Win 231 / 122 g Leadhead bullet (no COW), chronographing each of these rounds as they were fired. Mean velocity was 1047 fps, with a low of 1014 and a high of 1069 fps.
I then fired all 10 of the 3.6 g Win 231 / 1.6 g COW / 122 g Leadhead, chronographing these also. Mean velocity was 987 fps, with a low of 961 and a high of 1021 fps.
I then came home and cleaned the barrel. Leading appeared to be unchanged from what I would have expected with firing 60 rounds of the 4 g Win 231 / 122 g Leadhead load combination. Based on what I had read previously, I expected there to be no leading, or at least, reduced leading.
Have I misunderstood the COW application in regards to leading?
I'm thinking of repeating the above experiment, but using even more COW, to be certain that the load is compressed, and consequently there would be no (I hope) possibility that the COW will shift down into the powder prior to the rounds being fired. Perhaps this "shifting" is what occured this afternoon, and prevented the COW from performing as I had expected. I drive over some pretty rough country roads to reach the place where I can safely shoot.
Thanks for any help offered. If I've done something really dumb, you have my permission to laugh. I'd just like to know what it is, so that I can make the necessary corrections!
Thanks,
Bob58
I read on this forum about the use of Cream of Wheat (COW) to prevent, and even remove, leading from cast bullets, so I thought I'd give it a try. I made a couple of dippers for measuring the cream of wheat, by cutting (shortening the OAL) on an empty .22 RF case, and wrapping a wire around the base of the cut case for use as a handle. By experiment, I came up with a length that measured out 1.6 g of Cream of Wheat, to dump on top of the powder in the 9mm case prior to seating the bullet. This easily covers all of the exposed powder, and appears to bring the powder column / COW column about level with where the base of the bullet would be when seated. I loaded ten rounds with COW, reducing the 4 g charge of Win 231 to 3.6 grains to compensate for reduced case volume due to the presence of the COW.
Earlier this afternoon, I fired 60 rounds of the 4 g Win 231 / 122 g Leadhead bullet (no COW), chronographing each of these rounds as they were fired. Mean velocity was 1047 fps, with a low of 1014 and a high of 1069 fps.
I then fired all 10 of the 3.6 g Win 231 / 1.6 g COW / 122 g Leadhead, chronographing these also. Mean velocity was 987 fps, with a low of 961 and a high of 1021 fps.
I then came home and cleaned the barrel. Leading appeared to be unchanged from what I would have expected with firing 60 rounds of the 4 g Win 231 / 122 g Leadhead load combination. Based on what I had read previously, I expected there to be no leading, or at least, reduced leading.
Have I misunderstood the COW application in regards to leading?
I'm thinking of repeating the above experiment, but using even more COW, to be certain that the load is compressed, and consequently there would be no (I hope) possibility that the COW will shift down into the powder prior to the rounds being fired. Perhaps this "shifting" is what occured this afternoon, and prevented the COW from performing as I had expected. I drive over some pretty rough country roads to reach the place where I can safely shoot.
Thanks for any help offered. If I've done something really dumb, you have my permission to laugh. I'd just like to know what it is, so that I can make the necessary corrections!
Thanks,
Bob58