Pics- How accurate are Powder coated, or Hi-tek coated boolits

[Grump]

Those targets are about 3 or 4 years old, printed on thick, shiny photo type stock and have been in the garage in AZ heat their whole life. They are dried out and kinda crispy. Then they were shot with no cardboard backing.

I got good hits on 8 inch steel out to 20 yards. I don't think I would have had that accuracy if they were tumbling. But... I am going to try sizing the next batch to .358. I'll report back on that as well.

Well, target paper and target "tagboard" is made with short fibers. Office copier papers and photo type papers of higher quality are made with long cellulose fibers. Holes vs. tearing. Like many things, it's a matter of degree.

When older acid-bearing papers get into the yellowing stage, their fibers are broken down by the acid residues even more. I have about a half-roll of very, very old targets that will tear if you look at them sideways. They started out as short-fiber paper. If you made a paper airplane out of one of those, it might lose a wing in a stiff gust...

[KTM400]

Okay, went out this morning to practice and test some more. These 2 targets were shot consecutively at 18 yards, off hand, from the holster, on the clock, 10 rounds in < 10 second par time. Pistol is G34 with LW bbl. Target on right is Lee 356-125-2R, ESPC with HF black over 4 (or 4.2) grains of RS zip. Target on left is Berry 124 gr plated with same load. The 5 ring is 7 5/8" in diameter. I put the targets on a solid cardboard backing to help show the holes. For my purposes, I would call both targets equal. 7 shots in or mostly in and 3 out or mostly out. I have no problem saying, for me, the PC are just as accurate, if not more, than any other commercial boolit. Once I have exhausted my stash of purchased commercial boolits, I will be using my own for all my pistol shooting.

Also, the PC boolits are still sized at .356. I will be doing some at .358 to try in both the factory Glock bbl as well as the LW when I get around to casting and coating another batch.

Lastly, there is no leading in the bbl and whatever is in there, comes out with a couple patches, some hoppies and a nylon bbl brush.

[popper]

Finally got to test my 130 gr 9mm mould with green H-T in the XDS9. I like. worked great @ 7ys. not aiming at anything but first shot. 2 coats, need to work on better coating technique. Alloy is 1-11/2% Sb. 308 PC @ 100 wasn't bad, 41gr. H335 165 GC in AR, > 2300 fps. Increased the powder by 2 gr. & this was LC brass vs the Win/Rem commercial I was shooting. Recoil is greater, POI is higher, guessing ~200fps more. Also haven't cleaned for 3 range trips. Gotta turn the gas down next time. Added 1% more Sb for the next go around. Haven't shot much 100 in last year, need to practice. 30-30 2 coats H-T 180 gr FB, cooked 1 hr & WD. Terrible. I think all on paper but scattergun pattern. I'll stick to PC for rifle. I did 1 rnd of green in the 308, POI was 6" right of POA.
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