Reloading Myths - Busted or Confirmed?

[LiveLife]

How about busting or confirming some reloading myths once-and-for-all for us new/seasoned reloaders?

It's been my observation that THR H/R section seems to get to the bottom of most reloading issues/problems rather quickly.

I did a search and found an old thread, but instead of "he said, she said" endless discussions, how about conclusively busting or confirming them? Please realize that some of us may want "hard proof" when you are busting or confirming myths so linked sources/attached pics/documents will be helpful or may be requested.


There's one that I keep seeing that I have never got a satisfactory answer to:

MYTH #1 - Shooting a lot of jacketed rounds will wear your barrel out.

Now, aren't barrels made from fairly hard metal? My guess is probably harder than copper/brass jacketing of most bullets. So if the jacketing is softer than the surface of the barrel, any wear would occur at the bullet surface and not the barrel surface? I have read that Glock/M&P Tennifer/Melonite treatment hardens the metal surfaces to hardness comparable to Tungsten carbide ... and that's pretty hard.



Here's another I keep seeing and even repeated myself:

MYTH #2 - When scrubbing leading out of barrels, you should only use copper scrubbing pad material, not copper plated steel/stainless steel.

Well, I know that copper is softer than most barrel materials, but if your barrel surface is hardened with Tennifer/Melonite treatment, would your "average" steel/stainless steel scrubbing pad material be able to scratch it?



MYTH #3 - WD40 will remove bluing on metal.

 

[MEHavey]

In reverse order....

Myth#3: WD40 is bad for bluing. I'll to go look again at the sporterized Springfield I built in `70 and have been using WD40 on at various time over the last 40 years -- Nope, good as new.

Myth#2: Copper-coated steel scrubber pads won't scratch properly surface-hardened barrels. If someone believes that, I invite them to scrub down the front doors of their wife's favorite stainless refrigerator. Survivors get to keep their guns.


Myth#1: Jacketed rounds will/will not wear your barrel out. Of course they will -- after many, many, (many), (many) thousands of rounds of reasonable loads. Naturally, some eargensplitten loudenboomer Mach-IV specials will burn the throat out faster than a nice middle-of-the-road 308. But all eventually will cause you to replace the barrel after many thousands of rounds. (Water will eventually wear out granite, too.)

Lead bullets/steel barrels, however, seem to last near forever... due in part to lead being softer, lubricated, and for the most part relatively speed-limited even with gas checks.

YMMV, of course.

 

[Sport45]

MYTH #4 - Glock/M&P barrels are coated withTennifer/Melonite.

As far as I know the coating is only on the surface of the slide. The inside of the barrel is just like any other. But I could be wrong...

MYTH #2 - When scrubbing leading out of barrels, you should only use copper scrubbing pad material, not copper plated steel/stainless steel.

I've used the copper colored stell pads and saw no problems at all. I figure for steel to be hard enough to damage a barrel it would be too brittle to make a decent scrub pad. (I look for real copper when I'm buying them for this purpose though.)

MYTH #1 - Shooting a lot of jacketed rounds will wear your barrel out.

When they were available, I shot a lot of steel jacketed Danish ammo through my Garand.Again, no problems seen. I did some research first and read that copper-washed mild steel jacketing was not a problem for rifle barrels.

 

[steve4102]

Myth #5 5.56 Military brass has less case capacity than Commercial 223 brass.

http://www.6mmbr.com/223rem.html

http://www.exteriorballistics.com/reloadbasics/gasgunreload.cfm

 

[steve4102]

Myth #6, Reduced OAL on bottle neck rifle rounds will increase pressure.

http://www.barnesbullets.com/resources/newsletters/september-2007-barnes-bullet-n/

 

[cfullgraf]

WD-40 itself will not harm bluing but it is not a good rust preventative.

It's not the jacketed bullets themselves that wear the barrel, it is probably the combination of the remnants of combustion and the jacketed bullets pushing it down the bore followed by all the hot gasses that accelerates the wear of the bore. Ask the fellow shooting 220 Swift about barrel wear.

A couple years ago i weighed several hundred each Lc and Winchester 223 Remington brass. The Winchester was heavier than the LC.

 

[mc223]

#7

The people who reply to your post really care about your problem, issue, opinion.

 

[Clark]

Lots of myths

 

[R.W.Dale]

MYTH: that to achieve top velocity you use a faster burning propellant for short barrels and slower for long

REALITY: optimum propellant burnrate is determined by the case capacity, bullet weight and bore diameter NOT barrel length







Tapatalk post via IPhone.

 

[Nevmavrick]

If there is advanced wear downbarrel after a LOT of ammo it would be caused by someone cleaning with a little extra vigger from the muzzle end. There will be SOME wear, but not enough to affect anything...until the cleaning-rod starts wearing on the crown.
The barrel will have to be replaced because of throat-wear long before the rest of the barrel becomes a factor.
A stainless brush CAN cause more wear than a copper or brass brush, but why would you work the rod that hard or fast or long?
WD40 means "Water Displacement- test #40" Bluing is literally slow-rust. Hmmm...they are tied together...How?
Have fun,
Gene

 

[lizziedog1]

Myth #8

Using Lee Powder Dippers results is inaccurate and dangerous ammo.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

WD-40 itself will not harm bluing but it is not a good rust preventative.

Another MYTH that has been busted so many times it's almost funny.<http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/lid=10700/guntechdetail/Gun_Cleaning_Clinic__Knowing_the_Limits_of_Rust_Preventatives>

WD40 means "Water Displacement- test #40" Bluing is literally slow-rust. Hmmm...they are tied together...How?

I do a lot of hot salts bluing. I literally drench the blued parts in WD-40 afterwards. If I polish gun parts and have to wait an extended period of time before actually bluing it I spray the parts heavily with WD-40 to prevent the polished parts from rusting in the meantime. It works VERY well in that roll(much better than B.C.'s SHEATH.

 

[LiveLife]

I do a lot of hot salts bluing. I literally drench the blued parts in WD-40 afterwards.

jimmyraythomason, thank you! I think your comments along with WD-40 company website comments are enough to bust this myth:

What about using WD-40 on my sports equipment?

Use WD-40 to clean and protect your gun. It will prevent corrosion and it won't damage bluing.

MYTH #3 - WD40 will remove bluing on metal.
VERDICT - BUSTED!

 

[cfullgraf]

Another MYTH that has been busted so many times it's almost funny.<http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/lid=10700/guntechdetail/Gun_Cleaning_Clinic__Knowing_the_Limits_of_Rust_Preventatives> I do a lot of hot salts bluing. I literally drench the blued parts in WD-40 afterwards. If I polish gun parts and have to wait an extended period of time before actually bluing it I spray the parts heavily with WD-40 to prevent the polished parts from rusting in the meantime. It works VERY well in that roll(much better than B.C.'s SHEATH.

I will not dispute the results of the test posted but 72 hours is not a long time. I am surprised some of the so called rust preventatives did not work very well. But it has to make you wonder about manufacturer claims.

My experience with WD-40 is that it is a short term performer. Once it "dries" it does not protect against rust very well.

I use it for what it names says--water displacement. Then follow up with something more suitable for the longer term task at hand.

But, what do I know.

 

[Shadow 7D]

OK, I'll add one
WD 40 is great cleaner

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I use it for what it names says--water displacement.

So do I. Rust will not form in the absence of moisture.

OK, I'll add one
WD 40 is great cleaner

You're kidding,right?

 

[cfullgraf]

WD-40 is about the best agent to use to remove the stick-um left behind when removing stickers from products.

 

[Shadow 7D]

Nope, I've had guys tell me that "all I ever use is WD-40, you just shoot it in there, scrub a few times and wipe em down, then put some more on them before you put em up"

But I think they complained about how 'finicky' and 'sticky' their 'old' rifles were...
But don't mind me, I come form a military background, and have had a 'white glove' inspection of my rifle, as a mater of fact, that happened 4-5 times a year...And we had to use more than most cleaning kits have, lets just say a full automotive shop came in handy.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

"all I ever use is WD-40, you just shoot it in there, scrub a few times and wipe em down, then put some more on them before you put em up"

That would be a BAD idea with ANY cleaning agent! WD-40 or anything else has to be used properly to be effective. I use it liberally and flush the excess with shop air and yes,my guns would pass most white glove inspections. WD will remove most all gums,dried lubricants and even bugs from your car bumper. I don't try to convince anyone who doesn't like it to use it but I sure hate to see posts about it that I know aren't true.

 

[ranger335v]

" "all I ever use is WD-40, you just shoot it in there,...then put some more on them before you put em up"

That's certainly not good practice, WD-40 is not made for that. Thing is, the carrier will evaporate in a couple-three weeks and leave the additives loosely spread over the metal. The additives are for getting under water and lifting it off the metal so it can be dried and then properly oiled for storage. Those additives are lousy lubracants and not much for rust protection, it wasn't made for that. Worst yet, the additives will themselves slowly dry and form a sort of 'varnish' on the metal. That gummy stuff is perhaps THE greatest cause of Remington 700 safeties malfunctioning; it also interfers with the proper functioning of some autoloaders and revolvers.

Use WD-40 as it was intended, to remove water, then dry it off and apply a proper slow drying, non-gumming gun/reel oil to your guns.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Worst yet, the additives will themselves slowly dry and form a sort of 'varnish' on the metal.

That gummy stuff is perhaps THE greatest cause of Remington 700 safeties malfunctioning;

Sheesh...I give up! Believe whatever you want.

 

[R.W.Dale]

How is the WD40 drama a reloading myth?

 

[LiveLife]

How is the WD40 drama a reloading myth?

MYTH #3 - WD40 will remove bluing on metal.

I used WD40 to soak the stainless Lone Wolf barrels to soften the leading and wipe clean. When I posted this, many posted that it was common knowledge that WD40 removed bluing on guns.

Well, that started a long discussion which kinda ended with WD40 "may" remove light cold bluing.

I used the WD40 website FAQ "Use WD-40 to clean and protect your gun. It will prevent corrosion and it won't damage bluing." to conclusively BUST this myth.

Personally, I have used WD40 to remove light surface rust on blued rifles and pistols with no observed removal of bluing. WD40 use on several blued/stainless 1911 pistols revealed no affect on finish and no damage to alloy pistol frames like Sig. My experience with polymer frames (Ruger, Glock, M&P, Taurus, etc.) also resulted with no damage. Even on foreign blue finish pistols like Makarov, CZ-52, Tokarev, and Norinco etc. did not result in damage to finish.

 

[EddieNFL]

What are we up to, 9 or 10?

Crimped ammunition is more consistent (started by a certain die manufacturer).

 

[1911Tuner]

Jacketed bullets will wear the bores much faster than lead...but not for the popularly believed reason.

Most of the wear comes from the by-products of burning the powder. Ash and grit and unburned grains become a fine lap, and because they imbed into lead much earlier and much faster than in jacket material...they're not ground into the barrel steel as aggressively.

By and large, most barrel wear is in the first couple inches ahead of the chamber. Lead bullets imbed the grit almost as soon as it enters the rifling. Cupro nickel takes longer to imbed the abrasive stuff.