It Wasn't Just the Powder Coat

[ChristopherO]

A new NOE mold arrived last week and I started casting Saturday morning. One of the generous members of this board sent a hand full the 182 grain 360 WFN boolits he cast that were powder coated for me to try out in the 35 Whelen. They were tight in the chamber when the bolt was locked into place even though I had run them through the .360 sizing die. I attributed the extra bulk to the PC, but they shot wonderful, so I purchased the mold once Swede posted a new supply.

These dropped out of the mold using mainly range scrap and a handful of type (not sure if these are linotype or monotype, but they slurry up the the mix greatly and after fluxing with candle wax the mush is skimmed off the top) and measure .362". Taking 10 of them lubed with WLL 2500+, gas checked and sized to .360 they, too, were tight to lock into battery. When pulling them out of the chamber the boolits had been pushed back into the case a bit. It appears that the base of the nose is the restriction, before the main band touches the bore. A load of H2400 with a tuff of Dacron and they shot fine, left lead shards on the cleaning patches, though. Maybe a .359" sizing die will assist, but where I see the scuffing, it doesn't appear that will solve the problem.

What do you gentlemen do when a boolit is fat like this?

[cwlongshot]

Sounds like you have a few things going on here Christopher.

Fluxing a pot helps integrate the alloy. But if your scooping off the "mush" your removing needed ingredients. After flux and a good mix you should have dry powdery material on your lead to remove not "mush".

I prefer fat bullets but of coarse you need to listen to the firearm. The adjustment of searing depth and remembering not all bullets are friendly with .003 ish extra dia left by PC.

[mehavey]

The dreaded PC'd_Ogive problem

- ALOX them, thereby keeping the bore-to-ogive design fit
- PC them and reduce the OAL to fit the throat start (if not a ridiculous amount)
- Selectively nose size as well as body.

I've done both #1 and #2
Number 3 is waaaay too much trouble for little gain over 1 &2

[GregLaROCHE]

Do a test for max OAL with the PCed boolits. You will probably find out it is less than without PC that the boolit shape is different. That should help with chambering and who knows maybe the lead particles you are finding.

[ChristopherO]

I appreciate the feedback. CW, these dropped very pretty out of the new mold
Attachment 289305
The photo shows them once sized to .360 and gas checked. My bore slugs out at .3585" and I was hoping that a non PC boolit would fit easier whereas the PC'd boolits were tight on locking the bolt. It wasn't as tight uncoated, but it pushed the boolit back into the neck some with the lubed boolits. I may need to order a custom .359 sizing die to see if that helps.?.

The slurry isn't something that would flow through the ladle spout. It looks much like melted zinc, from the pictures I've seen, but isn't rock hard. Only happens when I add those type letters to the pot. I have used the type in a greater ratio years ago for 45 caliber boolits and those turned out very hard. Not looking for such a hard cast projectile with these, though.

Mehavey,
Yes, I was wondering if nose sizing is worth the trouble. Your reply confirms what I am already thinking.
For the few I loaded yesterday, I had already coated them with Ben's Liquid Lube, but wasn't sure it could withstand a load of 24 grains of H2400. Based on the book and a chronied load of 26 grains I estimate those were between 1,800 to 1,900 fps. I don't have enough experience with BLL to know what it can handle in fps, yet. So I smeared White Label 2500+ into the grease grooves over the alox mix. Even with a coating of only Alox on the nose it was too tight at .360. Maybe reducing the OAL to fit the throat start is necessary with both PC and Lubed boolits.

I'll keep playing with these to see how they go. I sure like how they are configured and believe the accuracy potential is there.

[megasupermagnum]

You apparently have a short throat in the rifle. All you need to do is seat slightly shorter. It probably wont take much.

[rockrat]

Try half a handful of linotype in your mix, instead of a whole handful. Linotype casts large

[ChristopherO]

Try half a handful of linotype in your mix, instead of a whole handful. Linotype casts large

Good to know. I was thinking from casting thousands of pure lead muzzleloader slugs many years back that soft shrinks more than hard lead.

[gwpercle]

If you are going to do a lot of cast boolit shooting you can have the barrel throated to match the ammo . Load a couple dummy rounds the way you want them , (boolt seated to crimp groove or the OAL you want ) for the gunsmith to base the throating job to .

If you like the throat depth where it is ... set for factory J-word loads , then seat the cast boolit deep enough to accomdate the existing throat .

Always more than one way to skin a short throated cat .
Gary
Just noticed ... post count is 6,999 ... odometer fixing to roll over !