Copper Plated Lead Shot

[fvf]

Copper Plated Lead Shot

I use a Saiga 12K and was shopping for 00 Buckshot at a gunshow, and would like to ask what the difference is between regular lead shot and the copper plated shot? What is its effect on accurary and power? Does it wear out the barrel faster?

Thanks

 

[sm]

Plated shot

Lead is soft.
When lead pellets are fired from a shotgun, they hit the forcing cone , travel the length of bbl and hit the "choke" area just before they exit the muzzle.

Lead deforms as a result of this, first being "smushed" due to force of being fired, then hitting the forcing cone.

Antimony is added to lead to make harder. Chilled shot, such as seen in Promotional loads have very little antimony (1-2%) if any.

Hard shot, has more up to ~ 6% antimony. These are used in Target loading for instance for trap and skeet...Used in better performance loadings.

Antimony makes lead harder and less Deformity occurs to lead. Less Deformed lead means better patterns and performance.

Copper plated and Nickel Plated Hard shot pellets add another level to protect against lead deforming.

These loadings will not hurt a thing.

Round flies truer than flat.

In the old days we bought "cubed" shaped pellets on purpose, and we reloaded these. We had fixed choke bbls, no screw in chokes. A fixed full choke bbl would throw IC - sometimes Cylinder bore patterns for close shots at quail for instance.

Stacking loads and taking limits....

Shotgunning is truly Art and Science

HTH

Steve

ps
"smushed" is a highly technical shotgun term.
chilled shot is more "whomper-jawed" than hard shot.

 

[fvf]

Steve

Thanks for the heads up.

Does it also mean that copper shot are easier to clean from the barrel because there would be no leading unlike regular lead shot? Is there a difference in pattern?

Also my Saiga shotgun barrel is chrome lined, does the harder copper plated lead shot leave more scratching on the barrel?



Thanks

 

[ceetee]

"Whomper-jawed", Steve?


Steve?







.

 

[sm]

*sigh*

*whomper-jawed* is Southern for "crooked" , not being "plumb", not being "true"...

damn thing is crooked.

Southern Dictionaries on sale in the lobby, just don't tump over Dave's Coffee, okay?

Clean?
Hey I concern myself with chambers, extraction, and if screw in chokes , making sure snug and there is an Anti-seize on the threads.

Ya'll really clean barrels huh?

umm I thought cleaning rods were for getting dust bunnies out from under the fridge...

Honest to Betsy, I do not think I even have a cleaning rod for a shotgun...If I have one, I have no idea where it is...do not ask me the last time I actually used one on MY guns.
I mean someone had one and a battery drill for a new gun...I was playing with the trigger group and stocks.

Cleaning Barrels -Not my job description.

(heard that said by a State Employee "not my job description", been dying to use it somewheres)

s



LawDog! where is that boy? LawDog! We gonna have to start giving tickets or something around here, these folks don't understand simple Southern.

See what happens when they quit letting kids take shotguns to school? Add NOT teaching kids to read using Phonetics?

*sigh*

 

[fvf]

Cleaning barrels is a carry over practice of mine from using handguns.

I had been told to keep the barrels clean to prevent fouling/leading, and that sometimes some primers used can be considered corrosive.

Nice to look down a clean shiny barrel

 

[sm]

Trivia but True

Yeah this is related to pellet hardness and deformity.

In my testing and evaluating days...
I had access to precious metals: Platinum, Gold (in any karat) Silver, and I also had sources and did Gold , Silver, and Rhodium Plating.
I also had pure copper, brass, steel.
This was w-a-y before Steel shot / non toxic shot was even considered mandatory for migratory birds.

I used the same lot of Win AA 28 ga Target loads. I patterned 3 for a baseline.
Then I started taking out the pellets only and replacing with various other pellets. I just made sure all these # 7 [not 7.5] #7 shot [because that is the diameter these pellets were] just weighed the same as factory load.

For instance Plat. is 24 % heavier than gold.

I probabaly concocted the first steel shot loads for 28 ga. Okay I probably concocted a lot of stuff never seen in factory loadings.

I learned a LOT about patterns, shot, forcing cones...LOTs of stuff.

Plat Pellets with iridium alloy and rhodium plated sure do pattern pretty!

I used to use a load of #5 hard shot, copper or nickel plated, in 28 ga, I reloaded - awesome! Textbook perfect.

All in the name of I just wanted to know and learn.

s

 

[redneck2]

typically you don't clean lead from shotgun barrels. The shot cups keep the pellets from contacting the barrel. You do, however, have to clean out powder residue and plastic fouling

Plastic can be a bear. HINT: Wet the inside of the barrel with a patch. Take your bore brush and scrub the barrel. Now, take a patch and wet it, then add RemClean or Flitz and put it over the outside of the bore brush. A few strokes will take out all the plastic

 

[JStordahl]

I love that mirror finish on my A5. I couldn't stand to put it away dirty. I have used some copper plated, buffered loads called Winchester Double XX, the 2.75 Magnum variety with 1.5 ounces of #4 shot. They can reach out and touch the fur with a full choke.

 

[sm]

Well if you are going to clean a barrel...

...chuck a cleaning rod in a battery drill.
Take a pc of Scotch brite fine grit pad and wrap around a bore brush. Main focus for me is chamber. LEAVE CHOKE IN, you do not want to mess up the fine threads.
Run it back and forth. Use Pipe cleaners if you have a gas gun with gas ports to clean.
Blast all this out with CRC Brakecleaner (dissovles plastic fouling).

Remove screw in choke if applies, use an anti-sieze lube, or RIG +P. Put choke back in.

Done.

This is what folks with tube sets do before inserting a different tube. One gun shoots 4 different gauges. I mean if a guy does this on a $50k custom Kriegoff set...it'll work on anything.

I use Dexron II ATF for lube.

Then again I would rather shoot than clean. Hand gun to gunbuddy, he cleans and I go out back and shoot something.

I like simple.

I mean I may put 2K rds thru one gun in a week...I mean once a week cleaning still cut into shooting time./

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

So, Steve,

Just how much is a 25 lb bag of platinum shot?

 

[fvf]

Redneck2

Have you ever had to chance to us Kleen Bore products. What do you think of them?

Was looking at the gunshow for some cleaning materials for a shotgun and came upon a Kleen Bore cleaning kit w/ aluminum rod, bronze brush, mop, tooth brush w/ small and medium bristles, cotton patches and their proprietary 3-in-1 gun oil.

 

[kudu]

I got dibs on the patterning board for that platinum shot.

 

[sm]

Aluminum rods are okay for shotguns. Never Aluminum for handgun or rifle. I take Aluminum handgun/ rifle rods, bend them to fit into the chamber of a Repeater ( pump or semi) so one can clean the chamber from the breech without taking bbl off. Seriously!

Most problems with a shotgun not feeding or extracting is a dirty, gritty, plasticized chamber. In the old days of paper hulls with wax coating we did not have this problem.

Just bend to fit, cut off length as need/ easy to tote/ range bag/ duck blind...
bore brush with wisps of Scotchbrite, twist and turn , chamber clean and dry. I kept a length of rawhide, with a pc of 100% cotton T shirt and pulled it thru from breech to muzzle.

Akin to Otis gun cleaning kit. Back then called Kit & Caboodle.

Pipe cleaners to take care of extractors, and gas ports. Simple tools easy to have on a range, field, duck blind. Golf Tees to punch out pins to drop trigger group.

I mean on the skeet field if a primer blew, on my SX1 with one pin, I could have the TG out, primer out, TG back in and running so fast it would blow folks minds. Ditto for 870 and 1300 as well.

Cannot do dat with a sidesaddle.


Cleaning supplies? Mineral Spirits ( low odor) Zippo lighter fluid, Dexron II ATF to lube. Save the empty Zippon tins to put ATF in. UV rays from Sun will not break down the tin like the plastic lighter fluid such as Ronsonal Uses. CRC Brake Cleaner - good to go.
Hoppe's Number 9 - crack top to sniff...traditon.

Most folks spend Too much attention cleaning what does NOT need cleaning - and NOT enough time inspecting and maintaining what DOES on a shotgun...or anything else.

Larry-
Gold was $32 an ounce. ( that dates me huh?)
Forget what Plat was running.

I have been using slugs for a long time for serious situations.

*ahem* Air shocks are good for a vehicle for transporting bars of Gold like seen in pictures of Fort Knox. I know one person who uses one as a door stop, nobody believes it is real.
The Plat bars are really beautiful, he had a smaller one for a paper weight.

Did I mention I like slugs for serious stuff?

 

[fvf]

Steve

Why not aluminum rods for handgun barrels? I usually clean from the breech side after separating the barrel from the slide.

 

[sm]

My opinion is...

Dirt, grit, and whatever adheres to aluminum. This acts like a "lapping compound".

I mean I used to make lapping sticks for some work I used to do to refinish precious metal.

Steel acts differently. I prefer steel rods. I do not like coated rods ...hey I used to take shrink wrap, and make lapping sticks/ rods that looked like these coated rods, as well ...no thanks.

One is wise to wipe each pass really well.

Shotgun bores being bigger diameter and especially smooth ones, one can do fine with Al.

A tool is never better than said operator of a tool. Proper technique with any cleaning system is critical.

If one HAS to clean from muzzle - the Otis system is great! In fact Great for guns that are NOT limited to being cleaned only from muzzle. Revolvers for instance.

Always Always Always use a muzzle guard if cleaning from muzzle end. I even use not only with a steel rod, I do so with a Otis, a pc of rawhide, or even Patch worms ( weed-whacker line).

Ever notice how the guides of a fishing rod get those lines of wear? Steel guides, Ceramic...no matter. Line is nylon. It will cut. So "yanking" something- anything thru a muzzle and not straight...it will cut eventually.

Proper technique allows improper tools to get by - Proper tools with Improper tools Never works.

See, easier to hand to gun buddy , let him do it. That way I can go out back and shoot something needing testing out. Last time Caspian Frame and Slide 1911 style as close to original GI model as one can get.

I am not lazy...just gots priorites is all.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Ther'es myriad ways to clean a shotgun barrel and darn near all of them work well. Any that have elbow grease as an ingredient qualify.

Here, there's about 5 shotgun rods, a dowel split at one end for steel wool and chucked up in a variable speed drill. There's a Boresnake, a chamber brush on a short rod and enough 100% cotton patches from old T shirts to make a few quilts. Q tips and pipe cleaners, toothbrushes, and the brush from an M-16 kit get the nooks and crannies sparkling.

Lubes include, Slip 2000, CLP, Remoil, Hoppe's oil, and Mobil 1 5W-30W. And yes, there's a couple tubes of anti-sieze compound.

Cleaners include both the Gun Scrubber and Choke tube cleaner from the SLIP 2000 people. Beta Tester perks. There's also a quart bottle of Hoppe's #9, some GI bore cleaner and some vestiges of homemade Ed's Red.

There's 4/0 steel wool, Scotchbrite pads and so on.

What's on hand is not as crucial as my willingness to use same.

 

[Hawk]

As much as I love my TB, last Sunday saw 200 rounds through the 687 SP3.

The one with the chrome lined barrels...

One swipe with the boresnake and all was shiny-new.

If I find myself looking at another high volume fungun, it will have chrome barrel(s). I am now officially spoilt*.



*Northern term roughly translated as "adaptive persnickity".