ivanfern
07-25-2019, 03:25 PM
Hello
I recently started casting bullets for my AR15. I am using a 55grain lee mold and powder coating them with eastwood powder. After I powder coat them I size them down to .224 which I have verified with calipers. For the powder charge I am using Hodgdon H335 running 22 grains of powder which is the lower end of the charge. Went to the range and shot them and the first thing I noticed was that it smokes like a muzzle loader. The ammo was feeding and cycling just fine and about 50rounds in I had an issue. After every few shots I was felling something hit my face. After later inspection I noticed that small amounts of lead was being spit out threw my gas port and hitting me in the face. The barrel itself looked clean but the gas block has lead debris around it. I was not shooting at a target to see the hits at the moment. I decided to set up a paper target and noticed that almost every other round was tumbling and made impact on the paper sideways. I continued to shoot until the bolt would not lock. Took the bolt out and the bolt lugs were stuck in place (my guess is due to lead buildup from the gas tube). The rifle I was shooting these in is a 10.5inch barrel with a 1-8 twist rate. I am scrambling to figure this out and would greatly appreciate the advice! Thanks
I recently started casting bullets for my AR15. I am using a 55grain lee mold and powder coating them with eastwood powder. After I powder coat them I size them down to .224 which I have verified with calipers. For the powder charge I am using Hodgdon H335 running 22 grains of powder which is the lower end of the charge. Went to the range and shot them and the first thing I noticed was that it smokes like a muzzle loader. The ammo was feeding and cycling just fine and about 50rounds in I had an issue. After every few shots I was felling something hit my face. After later inspection I noticed that small amounts of lead was being spit out threw my gas port and hitting me in the face. The barrel itself looked clean but the gas block has lead debris around it. I was not shooting at a target to see the hits at the moment. I decided to set up a paper target and noticed that almost every other round was tumbling and made impact on the paper sideways. I continued to shoot until the bolt would not lock. Took the bolt out and the bolt lugs were stuck in place (my guess is due to lead buildup from the gas tube). The rifle I was shooting these in is a 10.5inch barrel with a 1-8 twist rate. I am scrambling to figure this out and would greatly appreciate the advice! Thanks