Question about Hi-Tek and rifle boolits

[rhill]

A while back I tried Hi-Tek on some Lee .311 160's for my Mini 14 .300blkout. After about 30 rounds, accuracy fell off and I found the barrel had a large amount of fouling and lead. I was shooting them at about 1700fps with gas checks. I recently purchased an NOE 155gr. mold and was thinking of trying Hi-Tek on these boolits. My thought was that the surface of the boolit on the Lee's that contact the bore is much larger than the NOE, therefore possibly the fouling and leading might be greatly reduced or eliminated. Is this logical thinking or am I missing something? Maybe someone here has been in the same boat and tried the same thing? Or should I just bake 30 or 40 and try them? Thanks for any help!:veryconfu

[slide]

Did your bullets pass the swipe and hammer test? Bullets shouldn't make much difference as long as they are sized for your rifle. I would focus on following the instructions to the letter and make sure the coating is cured.

[popper]

I've tried with poor results, not the Lee mould. PC works fine. MBC sells coated rifle boolits (94/4/2) but I've not yet heard of a good report at higher fps. Try it and report back.
Edit: I tried AC & WD isocore, some @ ~36 BHN (superhard) in AR, same results.

[rhill]

Slide--yes they passed the wipe and smash test, my coated boolits for my handguns work great. My first try with rifle boolits did not. I will try a small batch with my NOE boolits and see what happens. They do fine both tumble lubed and also thru my Lyman lubersizer.

[Ausglock]

You need very hard alloy for rifle loads for semi-autos. the gas port tears soft alloy and gums it up as well as leading.

[rhill]

I don't have a hardness tester, but it is hard. Made from magnum shot water dropped, cannot scratch it unless I use a screwdriver or something like that. Even after baking in the oven they seem just as hard. Not scientific, I know, but I am a low tech person.

[leadman]

I have successfully shot HT coated 22 caliber Lee Bator boolits to 3,619 fps in my 23" Contender 223 Rem barrel and just over 3,000 fps in my 16" AR15. I used heat treated linotype and Gold 1035 coating with Hornady copper gas checks. The aluminum gas checks failed at these velocities.
For rifle up to around 2,500 fps I have been successful using water quenched alloy similar to Lyman #2.
You did not state which color of the HT you are using but it can make a difference in the results. The Red Copper will not allow velocities past about 2,500 fps. The standard Gold did not give me much more either.
Make sure you water quench each coat from the oven to maintain as much hardness as possible as the baking will anneal the alloy. Coating has to pass the acetone wipe test and the hammer test. Ensure all case necks are chamfered on the inside and a use of a Lyman M die to expand the case mouth is mandatory. Any nick in the coating will cause the boolit to lead. I do not crimp for most of my rifle or pistol loads except for the AR. Use a calipers and measure how much of a crimp you are getting. I normally just crimp enough to get the case mouth touching the boolit again.
If you continue to have issues you can PM me and we can try to work them out.

[rhill]

Thanks leadman-- I am using red copper, at about 1750fps. Hornady and Gator copper checks. My coating is good. The only thing I was missing was the M die, which I have now, but have not shot any since buying it. Maybe that will make a difference. I only crimp just enough to take the flare out of the case mouth. I am sure it will work eventually, just have to hit the magic combination. Thanks again for taking the time for a great reply.