mvintx
04-19-2020, 07:37 PM
So many folks said this is such a great-shooting bullet that I had to give it a try, but man, has this been a long trip down a long road. Today was the first day I got decent results out of my Polymer80/Glock 23 with a Lone Wolf conversion barrel. I was just about to give up after yesterday’s dismal results with groups averaging 3 inches and bigger – about what you’d see out of an AK47 at 100 yds. But after our in-home church service this morning, I went out to the loading bench and pursued another angle. My PC’d boolits come out of the NOE sizer at .3578”. The slugged barrel measures .3558”. I adjusted the expanding funnel (from our friend Lathesmith) deeper so that there was a noticeable bell at the case mouth and the bullet drops about half-way into the case. Enough taper crimp was applied so the case mouth measurement equaled the diameter of the boolit (.358”) , plus the thickness of the case mouth walls (.022”) for a total of .380”. It passed the plunk test and with two pistols and two loadings of Alliant Power Pistol I headed down to my range.
The Polymer80 pistol was up to bat first. Much to my surprise the first five rounds went into a 1-1/4” group at 12 yds (I can’t see the target well enough to test them at 25 yds anymore). The next five shots opened the group up to about 2”. Ten more rounds on another target produced a 1-3/4” group. I was elated.
Next up was my carry gun – a Glock 19L with a Trijicon RMR and fitted with an Alpha Wolf barrel. I have never fired a cast bullet through it and I had high hopes because of the red dot sight. Five rounds went neatly into a 1-1/4” group but the next five opened that up to 2-3/8”…not superb but still acceptable. The next ten rounds produced a 2-5/8” group with vertical stringing and I was surprised because I expected the red dot sight to improve my results considerably. “Good enough for now” I said to myself and packed up my stuff.
Now back to the shop to inspect the barrels and scrutinize the targets. There were a few specks of lead that came out of the Polymer80 but the Glock 19L barrel had some leading in the last inch or so. I had not slugged that barrel so I cleaned it well, lubed it up with Mobil 1 synthetic grease and started pounding. Much to my surprise, it measured a nominal .3545”! My boolits are .0035" over bore diameter.
So my questions to the knowledge base are;
Can a properly cured PC boolit be so oversized that it can still deposit lead in a bore? The PC baking is done in a PID-controlled, dual element oven for 25 minutes.
Would I be better sizing to .356” for both barrels? For the cost of a sizing die, it’s not too much to agonize over. Especially considering the aggravation I’ve given myself over this cast boolit adventure. I thank all of you who helped me along this journey.
The Polymer80 pistol was up to bat first. Much to my surprise the first five rounds went into a 1-1/4” group at 12 yds (I can’t see the target well enough to test them at 25 yds anymore). The next five shots opened the group up to about 2”. Ten more rounds on another target produced a 1-3/4” group. I was elated.
Next up was my carry gun – a Glock 19L with a Trijicon RMR and fitted with an Alpha Wolf barrel. I have never fired a cast bullet through it and I had high hopes because of the red dot sight. Five rounds went neatly into a 1-1/4” group but the next five opened that up to 2-3/8”…not superb but still acceptable. The next ten rounds produced a 2-5/8” group with vertical stringing and I was surprised because I expected the red dot sight to improve my results considerably. “Good enough for now” I said to myself and packed up my stuff.
Now back to the shop to inspect the barrels and scrutinize the targets. There were a few specks of lead that came out of the Polymer80 but the Glock 19L barrel had some leading in the last inch or so. I had not slugged that barrel so I cleaned it well, lubed it up with Mobil 1 synthetic grease and started pounding. Much to my surprise, it measured a nominal .3545”! My boolits are .0035" over bore diameter.
So my questions to the knowledge base are;
Can a properly cured PC boolit be so oversized that it can still deposit lead in a bore? The PC baking is done in a PID-controlled, dual element oven for 25 minutes.
Would I be better sizing to .356” for both barrels? For the cost of a sizing die, it’s not too much to agonize over. Especially considering the aggravation I’ve given myself over this cast boolit adventure. I thank all of you who helped me along this journey.