Recovered Boolits some preliminary observations

[nemesisenforcer]

I built a backstop in my yard for shooting cast boolits. Having cast and shot a couple thousand, and having recovered several hundred of those, these are some things I've noticed:

Very few slugs are demonstrating any expansion. This is true across velocity levels and calibers. Maybe 5% of recovered projectiles are mushrooming to any extent. Many of the recovered boolits are deformed to a greater or lesser degree, though much of this is due to hitting obstructions in the backstop (nails, knots) I assume.

On the plus side, virtually all are intact meaning that no significant weight loss occurred and very few broke into two or more pieces.

Not surprisingly, all the gas checks are shed early in the backstop and I can't recall recovering a single boolit with its gas check still attached.

Across velocities and calibers, no keyholing or unstable flight paths are occurring. Although I'm not getting the one hole accuracy claimed by many with cast boolits, this is encouraging me to keep at it and keep experimenting with components until I get better results.

Penetration can be quite good with the heavy or high speed boolits. Many pistol projectiles were penetrating many or even all of the layers of the backstop even at moderate velocities.

I'll report again in a few months when I rebuild the backstop and recover some more results.

[skullmount]

Not surprisingly, all the gas checks are shed early in the backstop and I can't recall recovering a single boolit with its gas check still attached.


I bumped into this post and read with interest because I have built a boolit trap to recycle lead.
The comment about the GC's being shed surprised me. I have only shot GC's on some 40 caliber 400 grainers, from one of my fast twist muzzleloaders. I have not found one yet that had shed the GC. Of course the alloy I try to use for the ML is as pure pb as I have. The boolits came from a friend and he mentioned a bit of tin to aid in fill-out. Why do you think they all came off ?

Just curious.
:?:

[Hondo 60]

What materials are both of using for gas checks?
Commercial ones? what brand?
Or are you making your own?

How hard of a crimp are you putting into those gas checks?

My guess is, these questions will help figure out why nemesisenforcer is losing the gc & skullmount is not??????

Just my observations & 2¢ worth.

[44man]

The rifling being engraved usually locks a GC on pretty good. It does not matter if you lose them when going though a target or backstop, they just get scraped off. I was finding some in front of my bench once and had to lap the mold some to tighten them. That is what you want to avoid.
What you really want to look for on a recovered boolit is any signs it is skidding past the base band. Nothing else matters much.
Be happy to recover boolits, I can't unless I use the boolit trap full of rubber mulch. Too many rocks at 100 yards plus steel plates I shoot now and then. To get any lead I would have to melt the dirt and rocks! [smilie=b:

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

To get any lead I would have to melt the dirt and rocks! [smilie=b:

they'll float to the top and can be scooped off :)

[nemesisenforcer]

The backstop is old boards so I'm not surprised the GCs are stripping. Especially since I only use them on my fast loads.

[runfiverun]

about all I find is my gas checks.
I think that screeching halt the boolits come to at the end of it's journey swells everything up and pops them off.

[Von Gruff]

I just tried a recovery box about 7ft long with cardboard every 8"or so and understory from the pine forest filling the box. I shot and recovered a couple yesterday ( A 6.5 bullet at 1750 shot into the box at 50 yds) that also had the gc off them but that was because the understory was a little abrasive and wore the drive bands from .2645 down to .2595 but there was enough information gained to give me some pointers for future development.
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv39/VonGruff/Cast%20bullets/010_zps840cf1f3.jpg

[FAsmus]

Gentlemen;

Years ago I made a funnel-type bullet trap of 1/4 inch steel, and a piece of boiler tubing from a US Destroyer curved to force the bullets into a solid stop made of pipe. Included angle of the funnel is a bit more than 30 degrees.

I fired cast bullets into it and was surprized to find just mightly little recoverable lead. What there was had been reduced to powder - pretty tough to handle or use for much of anything.

The trap fell into dis-use but recently I got it out and placed it at our 350 yard distance to see what might happen out there. The same thing happened at distance as happened up close; bullets were shattered when they hit the steel.

It is still out there and I still shoot at it but recover bullets or useful lead - it hasn't happened yet .. However, it does make a distinctive tone when hit!

Good evening,
Forrest

[dtknowles]

I use a cardboard box stacked with dry newspaper about 2 ft. deep. I put a steel plate in the back but nothing has gotten to it yet. It catches the bullets fine but they are always very deformed. I use it in my shop for function tests, etc. It is easy to recover the lead but the bits of newspaper can get everywhere when I dump the box.

Tim

[wmitty]

I built a plywood box about 1' thick and filled with pea gravel thinking I'd be able to recover the boolets. Wrong! They were shattered into tiny fragments and the pea gravel was very quickly reduced to dust. I have found that shooting into a large (24" diameter) by 24" long oak tree trunk has caught all the cast boolets up to 350 grain .375 slugs; and I have split it into pieces and am burning them in the fireplace insert to see if I can recover the lead. I fired a few tracer rounds into the end of the trunk, but they penetrated completely and I got to fight the resulting fire.

[fredj338]

At typ handgun vel, you won't get a solid lead bullet to expand much if at all. It will need a HP of some kind. I have recovered dozens of gc lead bullets, mine always have the gc still attached?? Then again, I recover them from soft dirt, water or wetpack.

[Case Stuffer]

According to a lot of research I have done ground rubber mulch is the best all around material for stopping bullets e3specially if you want to recover useable lead. There are many post on the web and several here including this one

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?188071-DIY-bullet-trap-Capture-your-lead&highlight=bullet+trap

I have a 55 gallon plastic drum which I have cut the top out of and I just purchased 11 ea. 0.8Cu Ft bags on the mulch this morning. As soon as the temperature warms up to above 50F I will fill the drum and give it a try. I am only interested in stoping 9MM,45ACP,and perhaps .38/.357 and mostly to not have to purchase as much casting alloy.

[Case Stuffer]

Got impatient put 12" of rubber mulch in a 5 or 6 gallon plastic bucket and fired 3 rounds loaded with 135 gr. SWC ,5.7 gr. HS-6 point blank into the bucket. Non of the boolits made it to the bottom of the bucket. These same rounds shot through 9" dia. live pines so it seems this rubber mulch does indeed have great stopping power. I will empty the bucket tomorrow and see what the boolits look like.

[44man]

According to a lot of research I have done ground rubber mulch is the best all around material for stopping bullets e3specially if you want to recover useable lead. There are many post on the web and several here including this one

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?188071-DIY-bullet-trap-Capture-your-lead&highlight=bullet+trap

I have a 55 gallon plastic drum which I have cut the top out of and I just purchased 11 ea. 0.8Cu Ft bags on the mulch this morning. As soon as the temperature warms up to above 50F I will fill the drum and give it a try. I am only interested in stoping 9MM,45ACP,and perhaps .38/.357 and mostly to not have to purchase as much casting alloy.
That is what I use. I put cargo belt rubber on both ends with screws so I can change them. Now the thing needs emptied and I can't even roll it. I need a fork lift!
I have actually had big caliber revolvers penetrate the whole drum. Boolits run into boolits but still can be recovered.

[skullmount]

What materials are both of using for gas checks?
Commercial ones? what brand?
Or are you making your own?

How hard of a crimp are you putting into those gas checks?

My guess is, these questions will help figure out why nemesisenforcer is losing the gc & skullmount is not??????

Just my observations & 2¢ worth.


been away for a bit.............I did not make the bullets I used so I can't answer the ??

My trap has a OSB front and is backed up with 2X then sand. I have taken the top off to show people who have been over to shoot and we have dug with various things to recover different bullets most are intact while others are fragmented.