Coated bullets ???????

K

KEYBEAR

New member
I shoot a lot of lead last spring I bought a 1000 240gr. coated lead bullets from a supplier . The Bullets are the correct size look good and load great .
I shoot steel at my range at home and shoot mostly 50 yards .

I was finding a shot or two out of maybe 20 shells going wild . So I put some on paper and found 15/20% of the coated bullets were key holeing .

I shot the standard 240gr. lead keith style bullets and no problem .
I shot the coated bullets in two different guns both 44 mag and both key holed the same .

Anyone else have problems with coated bullets ?
 
I've only loaded/shot 148 DEWC's for 38 Special (S&S Casting). They shot nice n straight. I just don't like that smell of burning electrical insulation that they give off. For that reason, I never warmed up to them. Still have 700 or 800 of them laying around here somewhere. Will probably load 'em up, plug my nose, and shoot 'em one of these days.
 
I have gone exclusively to coated bullets (from SNS Casting- I think their coating is a polymer) and have tried ,in .40 cal,the 165,175,180 and 200 with no problems or issues. Have not seen with my loads or anyone else's with coated any such keyholing. Would be curious as to what is happening with your setup.
 
Me to ?
I am loading the 240gr. Coated bullet 10 gr. of Unique light crimp Winchester primer . The bullet is running 960 FPS . I am shooting them out of a Ruger and BFR . The BFR is a new Gun but the Ruger is an old three screw and has shot a lot of lead with no problem .

The Coated Bullets are .430 the new lead bullets I got last week are .431 ?
I have not loaded any of the lead bullets but will next week .
This is my first time loading the Coated Bullet .

Both guns shot Jacketed Bullets just fine .
 
I use a variety of moly coated lead rifle bullets, non gassed checked, have found them all to be accurate with no keyholeing or other problems. The .45 calibers for .45-70s and .458s are especially good. They are also available in numerous calibers as handgun bullets from Bear Creek Supply, tel 209-874-4322. Google Bear Creek Supply for information including some from forum members. Bear Creek actually does not have a web site. Prices are good and are sold by bulk.
 
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Generally coated bullets work great for me in .357 and .45 auto. Did you weigh any of them? Maybe some of the castings have voids.
 
.430" cast or coated is too small for any of my guns...

Super Blackhawk wants .431" cast or coated, and the Marlin won't tighten groups till at least .432"...
 
Not nearly enough info. What load, what are the bullets coated with, who made them? Seating depth, crimped how deep, all the same headstamp.

It's not hard to solve problems if we have all the particulars. Until then everybody is guessing.
 
Coated Better for Me

Coated bullets are significantly more accurate in all my guns than the same size in plain cast lead. The only brand I have tried is MBC.
 
If bullets are not the correct diameter, r u stable for other reasons (speed/twist rate) they will key hole or even come apart in some cases.

If everything is right coated will do just as well as cast or FMJ.
 
All cast bullets from all cast bullet "suppliers" are not equal. Many are not even close. Who is the mfg?

Are the two bullets coated and uncoated exactly the same other than the coating, and from the same supplier?

You already mentioned the size being different. yes, it matters.

What is bullet hardness? At 960fps most guns will do better with a 12BRN than harder, thought always the case.
 
Keybear,

It's most likely the diameter difference that is causing the problem. If the bullet, after running through the chamber throats and any constriction you might have where the revolver barrel screws into the frame, it can come out smaller than the groove diameter. When that happens it can fail to center in the rifling exactly. This cause the land engraving to be deeper on one side than the other, which unbalances the bullet and can make it spin eccentrically enough in air to loose stability. It would not be expected to happen to line up that way every time, but would do so some percentage of the time, which is what you seem to have happening.

Years ago a friend of mine bought a Dan Wesson .357 kit gun that had three barrels; 6", 4", and 2". The 2" and 6" barrel shot just fine, but the 4" keyholed everything at just 25 yards. Inspection showed the bore had been reamed a little oversize and the rifling button had gone through it off-center, so his rifling was 0.002" deep on one side and 0.006" deep on the opposite side of the bore. That was all it took to make everything fly whopper-jawed.

Then, two years after that, one of our club members picked up a used S&W m.41 at what he felt was a really good price. The reason became evident when he tested it. Every brand of .22 LR he put through it keyholed at just 50 feet. I dropped the magazine and opened the action and stuck my thumb in front of the slide and looked down the bore, and again, the rifling was unevenly deep. I suggested he send it to S&W to repair.

The bottom line is, an unevenly engraved bullet will not fly straight.
 
I have weighed a number of the bullets and can not find two the same weight .
I called the maker and was told to send them back .

I have not named the bullet maker because a lot of you use the maker .
I will be getting some replacement bullets soon .

I feel the maker to be a good honest man and this will be made right .
The maker and I do have some history as I have bought a lot of lead bullets from him . The difference between a good businessman and a bad one is how a problem is taken care off .
 
I'd like to ask something. I hate using my lubrisizer. Lee grease isn't acceptable. Coating handloads would be a great option.

I keep thinking that it would be a stupid idea. Massive headache with switching between coated and non coated, unless I handload end coat everything. I'm not sure how to avoid ruining my tumbler. Finally, I can't help wondering if the trouble and expenses would really,seriously outweigh the benefits of not having to use my lubrisizer. Thoughts? My real deal breaker will be expense. If it turns out to be unreasonably costly, I'm finished no we. I'd rather buy ready to use cast, or just go ahead lubrisizer use by hand. In money vs time I have lots of time and little money.
 
It is NBD to switch back and forth between PC and allox. I can actually make allox coated bullets faster the PC but the steps are the same just in a different order plus the PC bullets can be shot by someone else I may be shooting with if they run short and they have polygonal rifling.
 
For What It's Worth...

I use coated lead bullets from Black and Blue Bullets http://www.blackandbluebullets.com/ and love them.

I was using un-coated lead for my USPSA matches for years and dealt with a lot of lead deposits in my barrel. Since switching to the coated, I haven't had any issues and I have loaded and fired about 3,000 rounds.

Of course this is my experience and doesn't necessarily relate to you, but I love these.

Good luck,
Tony C.
Oregon
 
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