Prot X Bore boolits...leading magnet or let 'er rip?

Printable View

08-06-2021, 10:29 AM
SeabeeMan

Prot X Bore boolits...leading magnet or let 'er rip?

I made a pretty good haul this weekend from the grandfather of one of my students who is getting out of reloading. A sealed cardboard keg of bullseye, about a copy paper box worth of mostly rifle brass in 20 round boxes, and over 200 lbs of cast boolits, almost all of which are beautiful! Even some heavy 30cal hollow points which may make there way into some subsonic 300 BO rounds for filling the freezer this fall!

Amongst everything was roughly 800 125gn Prot X Bore boolits, complete with what I've now found to be the zinc washer gas check. I've been doing some ready on the whole concept that the bore is supposed to get coating in zinc, which I don't really like the sound of. It sounds like they were an interesting solution for the time but I don't really like the idea of coating my barrel in another metal, be it lead or zinc.

I'm torn between melting them down and skimming the zinc (temp control obviously), tumble lubing them as is (but I don't know if that will prevent the zinc getting onto the barrel) or Hi-Tek coating them (would it stick to the zinc?). Thoughts?
08-06-2021, 10:59 AM
Pressman

I have the moulds and plenty of washers with no desire to cast and shoot them. However, if I were in your situation I would lube and shoot them. Lube will keep the lead out of your barrel. Keep the velocity down to wadcutter speeds and you should have a fun plinking load with minimal bore fouling.
Ken
08-06-2021, 10:25 PM
SeabeeMan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pressman

I have the moulds and plenty of washers with no desire to cast and shoot them. However, if I were in your situation I would lube and shoot them. Lube will keep the lead out of your barrel. Keep the velocity down to wadcutter speeds and you should have a fun plinking load with minimal bore fouling.
Ken

Thank you for the advice. I was leaning towards hitting them with my normal coating of BLL and letting them rip. These would just be for playing on my backyard range and letting the neighbor kids shoot, so low velocity was already the name of the game.
11-18-2021, 06:49 AM
smithnframe

I have the mold and washers and I’ve cast 500 of them and loaded some in 38 spl. I’ve shot about 100 of them through a S&W Highway Patrolman with no problems whatsoever. No leading or zinc coating in the barrel. I did tumble lube them. Have fun!
11-20-2021, 09:37 AM
lotech

Quote:

Originally Posted by smithnframe

I have the mold and washers and I’ve cast 500 of them and loaded some in 38 spl. I’ve shot about 100 of them through a S&W Highway Patrolman with no problems whatsoever. No leading or zinc coating in the barrel. I did tumble lube them. Have fun!

Harvey referred to the zinc coating as "sherrardizing" (probably not spelled right) the bore. I never saw any evidence of a coating after shooting bullets with the washers affixed, or maybe it was so faint that it was masked by regular bore fouling from shooting cast bullets. The original Harvey zinc washers were made to industrial rather than handloading specs and there is considerable variance in dimensions, but they sort of work. While there are some small benefits to be derived from working with that Harvey stuff, I always questioned whether it was worth the trouble. Regardless, it's an interesting approach to a facet of handloading that many are unaware of.

The late gunwriter Kent Bellah of Saint Jo, TX was probably Harvey's biggest advocate and did lots of experimental work with Lakeville Arms products in the '50s and '60s. Much of this was written up in firearms publications of the day.