It finally happened!!!

[Tripplebeards]

LEADED MY FIRST BARREL!!!



I’ve been casting for 5 years now and luckily never leaded a barrel..till today. My fault…I was shooting someone’s cast boolit hand loads for the first time ever….never again. My buddy gave me a box of AMEC boolits to load up. I loaded up a few to try in my Glock 20 10mm about a month or so back. Loaded them up with green dot in a few charges. I shot 5, removed my barrel to check for leading, and shot another 5. No issues with leading. I went out today and tried 6 grains of green dot vs 5.8 last time. Shot three groups of 5 at 15 yards. I checked for leading every 5 rounds and had a clean barrel every time. Was impressed by the groups I was getting with the 6 grains of green dot. It had a little more recoil than the 5.8 grain load and starting flinging brass pretty good. Two tenths of a grain really woke the load up.

Here is one of my 5 shot 15 yard groups with the AmEC boolits I loaded up…



I was free handing and didn’t take my time time either.


I then tried 20 or so rounds of 180 grain Hornady XTP load with 9 grains and 9.5 grains of HS-6. Groups were about the same or a little bigger.

So for the “what finally happened” issue. My buddy who gave me the AMEC boolits also loaded up 50 in new brass. I have never shot someone’s cast hand loads ever…and learned my lesson. He loaded up the same AMEC boolits and apparently over crimped and sized them down.

Five shots and checked…



OUCH!!! I never leaded a barrel before. Luckily I had chore boy and shooters choice. I soaked a patch and ran it down my barrel. Let it sit for a couple of minutes. After about 10/20 swipes with a bronze brush wrapped with chore boy and dipped in shooters choice it all came right out. I still repeated the process for a few minutes just in case. I was shocked how quick and easy it was to remove the lead.

This was after 20 strokes…



And after couple of minutes just to be safe. I ran a wad of toilet paper through as a dry patch. I believe that’s what the little black things are in the barrel yet…toilet paper lint. I’ll check later just to be sure…




I called my buddy and asked about the crimp. He said that he applied a heavy tapper and probably gave it a full turn down. Lesson learned…for both of us. It also explained why his load grouped horrible. First shot was an inch high, 2nd shot was a few inches away from the first, and the next three shots didn’t hit paper. I already knew I was in trouble with the horrible grouping before I checked the barrel. I’ll be pulling the rest he loaded needless to say.

[Tripplebeards]

Since I have a .401 lee sizer on the way. I figured I'd slug my barrel today...better late than never. The polygonal slug was throwing off .399 to .401 at the largest measure points. I don't trust my HF micrometer. I also measured the ".401" sized AMEC boolits. They were .403 at the largest measure point and .401.5 at the smallest. I also measured my unsized and PC group buy .402 170 HPs I made the other day. They average .408. My plan is to run a boolit through the lee .401 sizer tomorrow and measure. If it's smallest measure point is smaller than .402 I will end up polishing the inside till it is. Kinda paranoid now.

[armoredman]

Yikes!

[pworley1]

Live and learn.

[Tripplebeards]

.401 lee push through die showed up in the mail this moring. I pushed a boolit through and measured. The largest measurement I took was .400. I honed with 320 grit sandpaper wrapped around a pencil
I oiled the paper and put my pencil in a drill. I ran it a low speeds and worked it up and down along with rotating the sizer. I then polished with my drymel with a cotton tip and some mothers. Finally got it to .402. I the. Double checked my slug measurements. Most measurements csme out at
.400 ? One or tow at .400.5, and one at .401. Still don't trust my Harbor Freight micrometer but figured there is thousands worth thr difference between my barrel and sizer now.. I will call it good and size a few boolits, load, and test. Didn't have anyone ring in on green dot loads so I might have to wing it with a powder charge. I would assume the 6.0 grain charge i used on my 180s will work at a lower pressure with the 160 grain HPs? Max green dot was 6.2 with the heavier 180s.