Udersized bullets

[fatelk]

Has anyone noticed whether powder coating seems to be a little more forgiving in regards to undersized bullets? Yes, I know "fit is king", but it's just an observation I wonder about.

Here's what I've been working on: I have a Yugoslavian Tokarev in 7.62x25mm. The bore slugs at .312", but the chamber is tight enough that there's no way to chamber a round with a .312" bullet unless you cut the brass necks really thin. I'm not going to take the time to turn the necks on my brass that thin, and I'm not going to go to the trouble to get a reamer and open up the chamber, so it seems like it's kind of out as a cast shooter.

I was tinkering around the other day and for kicks loaded up a few rounds using powder coated plain base 100gr cast bullets that I had sized to .309" for the M1 carbine. I shot a couple magazines full of them and they shot fairly well, about like surplus for accuracy. I was expecting to have to scrape lots of lead out of the bore, but was surprised to see it wasn't that bad at all. A few passes with a bore brush and it was clean and shiny.

I'm not going to make a habit of shooting undersized bullets and I still think the old rules still apply for best accuracy and such, but has anyone else found PC to be a lot more forgiving?

[MT Chambers]

Bullets the size of an udder will be hard to handle.

[fatelk]

So that's what I was doing wrong! I thought they looked funny, big bulbous bullets with multiple tips...


Reminds me of the old joke about the cow that jumped the barb wire fence... udder destruction. Sure, funny joke and all, but if you ever lived on a dairy and have had to deal with the results of just such an event, it's really not funny at all. :(

[Outpost75]

Bullets the size of an udder will be hard to handle.

I thought so too.

[gpidaho]

It doesn't do much for accuracy but powder coated bullets can be more undersized without leading than lubed bullets in my experience. Gp

[landers]

I have had great results with PC 9mm and 40 S&W sized to bore diameter. Exactly as gpidaho mentioned above accuracy may suffer but fouling shouldn't be much of an issue with a good PC coat.
Keep us posted.

[popper]

I shoot bore dia. in 40sw and just 1/2 thous over in BO without any leading at all.
On another vein, I tried loading PC'd 40sw 401 in a fired but unsized case with flare at mouth. I know, trying to save a step doesn't work. Scraped the PC off the drive bands and pulled boolit is now 400. It isn't a BB mould but the boolit is now. Case should have expanded, alloy is AC WW. No problem when processed properly.
Ran the expander in a case to verify, seated and taper crimp still comes off but not as bad. repeat without crimp and better but some removed. I've pulled rifle PCd before with all PC remaining. Not sure of the problem unless these didn't get cooked right? Not probable.
Back to the OPs ?, the bore is 401, sized ot 401 afte PC, RCBS T/C die run all the way down to insure chambering (vs using the barrel as a checker). As posted above, the die can size down to 400 and they still shoot fine but it is a short range gun So for the OP, yes it works but not the best.