barrel leading

[Chetc]

went out shooting my Ruger SR9C, i loaded 50 rounds of the plain lead 120gr tcbb with 4.7gr Unique with a COL of 1.040, load is fairly accurate, but barrel was leaded, had a tough time cleaning it, since i normally dont deal with leaded barrels. is this problem common or load related any suggestions to get around this, i have 600 of these tips. so i would like to make use of them.



Chet

 

[Milt1]

Chat. I think it's Missouri Bullet Company that has a very interesting article on their web site about bullet hardness and velocity (they have to be matched up or you will get a leading problem). Check that out and them either give them a call or send an e-mail with what your situation is and let them recommend something.

 

[wingman]

I switched to plated bullets some years ago over this issue much better experience in my opinion, cleaner, produce better loads, I understand
fully some wish to save a few dollars. One of the few guns I still load some lead in the 9x18 Makarov never experienced any leading with that round,
perhaps due to barrel quality...

 

[Chetc]

HI wingman

I use coated all the time now, no issues, but the 9mm lead bullets i purchased a few thousand 20yrs ago, don't recall coated then.

Chet

 

[kcofohio]

1st, I would get some Chore Boy (pure) copper scouring pads. You don't want the steel pads with copper coating. You can cut them in squares and wrap around an old bore brush. It gets the lead, lube, powder fouling out a lot faster.

Do you know the hardness of the bullets. Also who made them? What lubes?

Could it be that you have lube fouling with lead deposits mixed in?

Does your measurer drop Unique consistently, say within +-.2 gr.?

 

[243winxb]

Penn bullets? What diameter are yours? They list a choice of

9mm 120 Grain Truncated Cone Bevel Base
Standard Sizing - .356
Optional Sizing - .355, .357, .358

You may need a larger diameter? I dont see what BHN is for that bullet?

 

[kcofohio]

HI wingman

I use coated all the time now, no issues, but the 9mm lead bullets i purchased a few thousand 20yrs ago, don't recall coated then.

Chet

It may be that the bullet lube has broken down, or was not the best quality.

 

[Chetc]

all powder charges when i load test are weighted, 4.7 exact. the bullets are Penn 9mm 120gr tcbb from 20yrs ago, lube looks fine and as for hardness, dont know, but if my memory serves me right, i was shooting these out of my Beretta 92FS with W 231 and dont recall the severe leading.

Chet

 

[CZ9shooter]

For me, 9mm is a tough cartridge to get clean shooting ammo with plain lead bullets. In 380, 38 special, 45 auto, and even 44 mag, I get nice lead free barrels with minimal effort put into load experimentation. I fought with 9mm forevever. Casting my own bullets may help, with the added ability to control more variables, but I am not a caster..... yet.

Anyhow, coated bullets eventually did the trick. I use the ones from PrecisionBullets out of Kemp, TX. Cost over plain cast is minimal, and they work exactly they way I want them to.

 

[243winxb]

i have 600 of these tips.

Increase the Unique powder charge and/or add more lube. Lee Alox Bullet Lube, tumble lube them.

 

[joem1945]

I had lead problems when I used AA # 2 on a .41 mag. I switched to AA # 9 and the problem went away.

 

[Dudedog]

all powder charges when i load test are weighted, 4.7 exact. the bullets are Penn 9mm 120gr tcbb from 20yrs ago, lube looks fine and as for hardness, dont know, but if my memory serves me right, i was shooting these out of my Beretta 92FS with W 231 and dont recall the severe

When I used Unique I had better luck with about 4.3-4.4 gr using 125 lead.
You might try backing off a bit.

Might be the powder difference (velocity/pressure difference) but I doubt it. More likely a difference in barrel dia or just old lube.
I have heard some 9mm just don't like lead. Mine do but I am sure there are those that don't.


Chore boy time.

 

[LiveLife]

I would slug the barrel and see what the groove-to-groove diameter is. If the barrel is oversized, using more powder may not address the leading issue, especially if the bullet diameter is undersized for the barrel and/or the bullet alloy too hard for the velocity/pressures used.

Another member had leading issues with a new SR9 pistol using harder alloy bullets and I sent an assortment of MBC lead bullets sized .356" and .357" (BHN 18) and while the leading decreased, it did not entirely eliminate the problem as the barrel was oversized (I believe .357"+). I even suggested squishing the bullet down with a vise to size the bullets to .358" to see if that would help but leading continued.

Many suggested the member simply use larger sized bullets than groove diameter but the problem is larger .358" sized bullets would not always chamber in all factory barrels as chamber dimensions vary.

I ultimately suggested the member contact Ruger to see if a barrel swap was an option and after some fuss with customer service/technical department, in the end the member received a replacement barrel with .355"-.356" groove diameter and leading problem went away using typical .356" sized bullets.

BTW, all of my KKM/Lone Wolf barrels' groove diameters range .355"-.356" and I do not get leading with various powders and bullets (MBC 18 BHN, Dardas 16 BHN, ZCast 14-16 BHN) and even with lighter charges.

FYI, Glen Fryxell has an excellent free ebook on issues related to leading (definition/detection/location/prevention/removal) and chapter 7 is a wealth of information that should be referenced when working with lead bullets - http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Chapter_7_Leading.htm

 

[nettlle]

I had a friend cast me 2000 bullets made from lead wheel weights and I had trouble with these bullets leading the bore. I'm not going to throw 2000 bullets away so I bought some Chore Boy, wrapped it tightly around an old 22 caliber bronze bore brush so it fit the bore snugly, and gave the bore about a dozen or so swipes after each shooting session. Added about two minutes to my cleaning time. Leading problem solved for that batch of bullets.

I think the hardness or the lack of can contribute to leading. I have shot many thousands of cast lead at 12 BHN with no leading problems. I now shoot coated bullets of the same hardness. I don't shoot coated now to eliminate a leading problem. I shoot coated now because I got tired of cleaning bullet lube out of my 1911.

http://www.missouribullet.com/technical.php