Shooting pure lead powder coated

savagelover

savagelover

Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2012
Messages
590
Has anyone tried shooting pure lead powder coated bullets in the 223 bolt action rifle. Seems at low velocity they would work.
After all think of the 22 rimfire ammo...just a thought..
 
243winxb said:
I dont PC. 22lr can be pure to 2% antimony. The scrap/pure lead is coated with a antimony type coat or other lube. This is why there is no leading or skidding. Makes surface harder.

Soft lead & Powder coat. See castboolits link.
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How about with gas checks as well as the powder coating.. reason for asking,is I seem to be able to cast better bullets with plain lead...thanks
 
My 30 caliber always had a GC. No PC.

index.php
 
Last edited:
savagelover said:
How about with gas checks as well as the powder coating.. reason for asking,is I seem to be able to cast better bullets with plain lead...thanks
Click to expand...
What's stopping you from trying. I'm watching. I have a favorite Lyman mold for that. Just needs To be stiff enough to hold the rifling
 
For my .31” rifles (.303, 7.62x54R), I powder coat and add a Gascheck to a Lee .311” 160gr PtGc from a 6-cavity mold. After PC, I can size to .314”. It allows me to run 10% below jacketed loads which gives a POI/POA closer to milspec battle sight settings.
Accuracy isn’t sufficient for 200yd matches, but greatly reduces cost of 50yd practice on a 3” bullseye.
A “mad minute” with the .303Brit cost $, not $$$ !
 
I don’t cast yet for 223, but from many hours of reading about it on multiple forums, best accuracy will be achieved with a gas check. As for hardness, I’d probably go at least half pure/half WW and powder coat to prevent skidding, depending on the velocity desired, of course. The faster you go, the less chance pure will hold up.
That’s my thinking, anyway.
 
I to do to much thinking and reading about things..some stuff I have a tough time understand it. Made up 50 powder coated red.. I hope to test in a few days, depending on the predicted snow... appreciate your post..
 
Have you tried casting at a higher temp or adding some tin to get better cast?
 
In a higher hardness maybe, but pure lead no. I have powder coated pure lead 155 grain 9mm bullets and they expand great, but are flyer past 10 yards and rifle would be worse. Maybe water quenched WW lead and a 1:12 twist barrel and smaller bullets like 55 grains. I have seen people doing that like Elvis Ammo.

What velocity are you shooting for? I ran 30-06 from 2000 - 2600 and with a 14 - 16 BHN water quenched wheel weights and the groups opened up over 2400. 223 is usually a very fast round and probably going to have t slow it down a lot.
 
archeryrob said:
In a higher hardness maybe, but pure lead no. I have powder coated pure lead 155 grain 9mm bullets and they expand great, but are flyer past 10 yards and rifle would be worse. Maybe water quenched WW lead and a 1:12 twist barrel and smaller bullets like 55 grains. I have seen people doing that like Elvis Ammo.

What velocity are you shooting for? I ran 30-06 from 2000 - 2600 and with a 14 - 16 BHN water quenched wheel weights and the groups opened up over 2400. 223 is usually a very fast round and probably going to have t slow it down a lot.
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Ain't got no wheel weight here in pa. Nobody has any. If they did they would not give out..
 
Wheel weights are impossible to find around here. If you want range lead you have to dig for it. Sometimes I just buy of box of hard cast at the gun shop and melt them back down. Or order on line. I have a lot of whatever I got from other people. No idea what it is. That's my story and I'm sticking to it...lol
 
I have used powder coated lead bullets with quite a bit of success in a .310 Martini Cadet, which is basically a 22lr scaled up to .32 caliber (including the exterior lubed heeled bullet)

As a side note, the powder coat did away with the icky exterior lube.
 
Go to Home Depot and buy a pound of lead free plumbers solder adding between 1%-10% will help your bullet fill. I prefer Silver Brite brand but you have to go to plumbing supply stores for that. Also cost more than generic lead free.
 
savagelover said:
Ain't got no wheel weight here in pa. Nobody has any. If they did they would not give out..
Click to expand...
I have a supply on the shelf running out, but I plan on mixing the first one when I can get some tin. I saved the below info and made a Excel sheet calculator to do the math.

91% pure lead, 9% tin leaves you with 10.5 bhn and water quenched maybe 14 or better. (to make 20# use 18.2# of lead and 1.8# of tin.)
Lyman #2 - 90% lead, 5% tin and 5% Antimony for a 15bhn before water quench and maybe a 21 quenched. (to make 20# use 18# of lead and 1# of tin and antimony each.)
 
savagelover said:
Well I cast up some pure lead from rotometals.. Lyman 225416. Powder coated them. Plain base. Not sure of the velocity. 4 gr of 700x. At 50 yards they shot pretty good. 10 shots. I was pleased.
Click to expand...
Dummy round on YouTube is playing with cast and 243 might be of some intrest or help in your adventures...
 
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