Need help interpreting leading in 5" pistol barrel?

[igolfat8]

I have a small amount of leading in the first 1" of a 5" long Lone Wolf .40 barrel. The rest of the barrel is clean. I am using range scrap mixed with harder lead with an overall hardness that is averaging 13. The barrel bore was clean and freshly pre-lubed with Ed's Red before the first shot was fired which is what I normally do. The 145 grain Lee SWC were sized in my Star lubrasizer last fall with Mikes lube. What is strange is that this same recipe yielded ZERO leading all last summer and fall.

I sized / lubed up several hundred bullets last summer and they have been setting in a cardboard box for a few months. I recently shot some rounds that were loaded last summer and also shot some rounds that were loaded a few days ago and both had the same leading issue. Is it possible the lube has dried out and lost some of its lubricating quality?

[HeavyMetal]

no but your boolits may have dropped a little hardness as they sat.

How are you checking hardness: Saeco tester or a BHN type tester like a cabin tree?

Never had much faith in the Saeco's and if your talking BHN then 13 is a tad soft for a 40 and, if it dropped to a 9 or 10 BHN while stored your getting a little leading before the boolit stops skidding and gets a grip on the rifling.

Hence the leading in the first inch of barrel.


Leading the length of the barrel can mean to soft an alloy or to small a boolit diameter or poor lube or all three!

Leading at the end of the barrel usually means your lube stoped working right where the leading starts!

Please re check you boolit hardness, advise type of tester and explain harder lead!

Range scrap varies greatly and lead is lead! you need something like Clip on WW to add some hardness or better yet some type metal.

We can always offer suggestions but really need to know what your working with before a good idea can be formulated.

[bruce381]

re lube or go a little fatter on boolit size, worked for me.

[igolfat8]

I'm using a Cabin Tree tester. Will pull a couple bool its and retest hardness tonight. Boolits are sized .4025" and bore slugs at .400".

[prs]

Get the barrel clean. Use sharp bamboo cooking skewer to trace around the end of the chamber using quite a bit of force. You may peal-out some lead and debris. With all of that clean, get in bright light and examine the transition of the end of the chamber to the rifling, the leade. Is it gently tapered, tapered a little, or just an abrupt step? Seems to be getting common for barrel makers to use a very abrupt leade these days. With lead boolits, the "edge" of the leade strips lead and then the rear of the boolit rides over that lead debris and "paves" the first bit of the barrel with it. If you shoot that way for a lot of rounds the leading progresses and accuracy goes to pot pretty quickly. I have a LW barrel for my Glock and it leads a little beginning at the rear of the barrel too. My Glock barrel does not lead, so the solution was simple for me. LW might be willing to ream your leade if you ask, can't hurt to ask.

prs

[williamwaco]

I have ammo loaded with bullets sized in 1972 with Lyman 50/50.
The lube has turned much darker in color but still works fine.
There is no leading.

I am not familiar with your lube. Is it possible that the ambient temperature is low enough to cause it to harden up? Since it worked fine last summer? I seriously doubt it.

I am thinking that "prs" is on the right track.

[ioon44]

I shoot the lee 145 SWC out of Lone Wolf and Glock barrels sized to .402" with 6-2-92 alloy with Hi-Tek Red Copper coating, no leading and great accuracy.

[igolfat8]

The last time I looked it was very abrupt with no taper.

[fredj338]

Powder, LFCD, vel level? If you are running 40 minor, your alloy could be too hard to get some upset in the first inch. Why powder matters.

[igolfat8]

LW might be willing to ream your leade if you ask, can't hurt to ask.

prs


I called and they don't custom cut a tapered lead in the throat. They said they would open the barrel up to fit my boolits if I sent some to them along with the barrel. Their turnaround time was 2-3 weeks for custom work.

I also spoke with KKM too and they said their barrels have a tapered lead. They also said there is a short section after the chamber, in the throat that doesn't have any rifling and this helps gently guide the boolits into the rifling. They also said they would do custom work with a 1-2 day turn around if the stock barrel leaded.

[igolfat8]

Powder, LFCD, vel level? If you are running 40 minor, your alloy could be too hard to get some upset in the first inch. Why powder matters.

4.2 grains Tight Group or 4.4 grains of Bullseye. I pullet some bullets tonight and they measured 13-14 with my Cabin Tree.

[Wayne Smith]

Did you change your loading process in any way? Especially boolit seating and crimp? Is it possible that your boolits are now sized a thousandth or two less than they were, maybe in the case?

[GP100man]

I agree with too small a boolit & gas is getting by in the first bit of barrel travel till the boolit bumps up to seal , also if ya gonna go for major power factor ya gotta have as good a lube as ya can get !

If useing a Lee fcd die I agree, try summtin different , most of em "resize" the boolit in the case , the only fcd die I use is for Mrs. GP100mans BERSA which has a tite 3547 barrel & the fcd takes em down to 3555 so all is happy .

The only question I have is the leading stripped strings or smeared mess ??

FPS ??

Maybe clean a few boolits & relube em with fresh lube .

GP

[igolfat8]

Did you change your loading process in any way? Especially boolit seating and crimp? Is it possible that your boolits are now sized a thousandth or two less than they were, maybe in the case?

No changes in process, seating depth, crimp. All bullets were sized on my Star to .4025" which is .0025" over bore size..

[igolfat8]

I agree with too small a boolit & gas is getting by in the first bit of barrel travel till the boolit bumps up to seal , also if ya gonna go for major power factor ya gotta have as good a lube as ya can get !

If useing a Lee fcd die I agree, try summtin different , most of em "resize" the boolit in the case , the only fcd die I use is for Mrs. GP100mans BERSA which has a tite 3547 barrel & the fcd takes em down to 3555 so all is happy .

The only question I have is the leading stripped strings or smeared mess ??

FPS ??

Maybe clean a few boolits & relube em with fresh lube .

GP

Lead is smeared. My powder funnel spud is custom oversize so the boolits are not resized after they leave the case. I tried Lee FCD and that made problems worse. Last year I went to a Dillon taper crimp and that improved to the point where the bore was clean as a whistle.

[Daveb6332]

Have you pulled a bullet with an inertia puller and measured diameter to check if the bullet is being sized down by seating and crimping?

You mentioned a Dillon taper crimp die helped last year so I'd be barking up this tree. Maybe the taper crimp is a little heavy for some reason.

A Factory Crimp Die is not advised because it will size the bullet down for sure around the crimip. Lead does not have the elasticity of a jacketed bullet so does not rebound close to original size.

I use a Lyman M die as it opens up the case a little bit to allow the lead bullet to seat without being sized down much.

[Harter66]

I'm going to step into lions jaws here.

I've read about 8 million times that leaded 1st inch is fit and it goes away by means of slug up or orbitration . I'm going to speculate that as the boolits aged they have hardened just enough that it takes that 1st inch to seal up.

The XD40 I loaded for never leaded but tumbled until I used straight WW and water dropped. Which is only odd because the 50/50 WW / pure water dropped works fine in 9mm/38/357 and 45 Colts and ACP even in the carbines.

[igolfat8]

Have you pulled a bullet with an inertia puller and measured diameter to check if the bullet is being sized down by seating and crimping?

Yes and that is how I found out the Lee FCD was making the boolit smaller as it left the case. I had a custom powder spud made that is larger and combine that with the Dillon die now the bullet comes out of the case at the same size as it goes in the case.

[popper]

Always wondered if a 13/32 twist drill & tape would take out that sharp edge when turned by hand. I've heard of using a hard oversized bullet & laping compound. I have a PX4 that leaded until I PC'd the H.T.d boolits (BHN ~20 something). The XD doesn't have that problem, 1:16 twist.
I tried WST, coated, leaded. Could be the burn rate of the powder and BHN.

[Bongo Boy]

It seems like a lot of agonizing to me over a non-issue, but folks seem to go to an awful lot of trouble trying this and trying that to solve this, and I just wonder why the concern. The experience other folks have may certainly differ, but my experience is that the degree of fouling doesn't change after the first 25 rds...whether it's 50 or 500, the bore looks about the same when I've seen it. Is there a concern about accuracy or pressure or accumulation?