Smith & Wesson Forum

Go Back   Smith & Wesson Forum > Ammunition-Gunsmithing > Reloading
o

Notices

Reloading All Reloading Topics Go Here


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 03-10-2017, 01:25 PM
PjEagle PjEagle is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Omaha, NE
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Liked 16 Times in 5 Posts
Default Range Repot – PC vs. Blue Lube Test

Firearm – Smith & Wesson 586 with a 6” barrel. The barrel was fire lapped a couple of years ago to remove a couple of restrictions.

The test was conducted using a Ransom Rest at a distance of 100 feet. About 120 powder coated rounds were fired after securing the Ransom Rest to the bench and the firearm to the Ransom Rest. This was my first time using a Ransom Rest and I wanted to work out any bugs before testing. There was no leading in the barrel after the initial rounds were fired.

Six rounds of powder coated .357’s were fired and then six rounds of blue lubed .357’s were fired and this was repeated seven times. The highest and lowest velocities and group sizes were tossed out and the five remaining groups were averaged.

Bullets – All the bullets were cast using a Lee 358-158 SWC 2 cavity mold with the gas check shank area honed out to cast plain base bullets. The alloy was miscellaneous lead from various sources with 2% tin added. The bullet BHN was tested one week after powder coating or lubing with a Lee Hardness Tester. LBT Blue was used to pan lube the blue lube bullets. The BHN of these bullets tested 11.8. I used the shake and bake method with Harbor Freight Red to powder coat the PC bullets. The BHN of these bullets tested 11.0.

Loading – I used once fired Starline .357 brass that was all trimmed to identical length. The primers were Winchester Small Pistol Magnum. The powder charge was 6.7 grains of Ramshot Zip. Each charge metered from a Redding 10X powder measure and every fifth charge was checked on an RCBS 10-10 scale.

Results – I averaged the velocity and group size of five, six shot groups for each bullet treatment. The blue lubed bullets produced an average velocity of 1112 fps with an average group size of 2.3 inches. The powder coated bullets produced an average velocity of 1079 fps with an average group size of 2.0 inches. So, it looks like the blue lube gave about 3% better velocity and the powder coating gave about 13% better accuracy.

The only difference in the testing was the BHN of the bullets.

This year I have replaced the mold with a NOE brass 4 cavity with temperature probe and the powder coating with Smoke’s Carolina Blue. I am expecting better and more consistent results, but won’t know for another year.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 03-10-2017, 02:14 PM
mtgianni mtgianni is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SW MT
Posts: 6,687
Likes: 10,389
Liked 5,970 Times in 2,940 Posts
Default

I believe that PC will be more resilient in purging blue lube than the other way around. I would test one medium, clean even if only a few patches to see if leading is present then shoot the other. For target shooting I have seen that it can take as many as 15-25 shots to purge a lube and season a barrel to the newer lube. I feel, though have no proof, that traditional lube would be helped by this more than powder coating.
__________________
Front sight and squeeze
Reply With Quote
The Following User Likes This Post:
  #3  
Old 03-10-2017, 02:41 PM
rockquarry rockquarry is online now
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 7,552
Likes: 4
Liked 8,885 Times in 4,121 Posts
Default

From a truly technical aspect, results are skewed if you exclude high and low velocities and flyers. If you have a truly accurate load, shot-to-shot deviation (unless it's really wild) means little unless you're shooting at very long range. I wouldn't be concerned with "normal" deviation, particularly with handgun ammunition.

"Flyers" are different and more important. If you can shoot enough groups and eliminate the Ransom Rest stability or a problem with the grip inserts, then something is causing flyers. However, it depends on how much trouble you want to go to in addressing the problem. Lube purging? Might be, but isolating that as a cause would require additional group shooting.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 03-10-2017, 05:01 PM
Mikeinkaty Mikeinkaty is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 329
Likes: 6
Liked 134 Times in 64 Posts
Default

What were the diameter of the bullets?
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 03-10-2017, 09:00 PM
rwsmith's Avatar
rwsmith rwsmith is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: (outside) Charleston, SC
Posts: 30,906
Likes: 41,494
Liked 29,147 Times in 13,778 Posts
Default Coated bullets aren't......

Coated bullets aren't smoky. And cleaner to handle. That's one in favor. I prefer the Hy Tek coating.

Some coatings smell a little like burning plastic, not that good ole gunpowder smell. Some lubes smell a little rank, too so it's which one you would rather have.

I've never had a fouling problem with either, they clean up good unless you get leading, which I don't.
__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 03-10-2017, 10:28 PM
PjEagle PjEagle is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Omaha, NE
Posts: 20
Likes: 0
Liked 16 Times in 5 Posts
Default

All the bullets were sized to .358. The barrel slug measures .3516. The cylinder throats are a little larger than the barrel because the slug just passes through without forcing.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 03-11-2017, 08:34 PM
cowboy4evr cowboy4evr is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: for now ,Texas
Posts: 2,738
Likes: 185
Liked 3,297 Times in 1,523 Posts
Default

that measurement , " .3516 " sounds like the " bore " measurement , not the " groove" measurement . It's the groove diameter that is important .

Last edited by cowboy4evr; 03-11-2017 at 08:35 PM.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
A Lube to test in your lab BigBill Smith & Wesson - The Wish List 4 03-11-2014 04:42 PM
M&P 22 Range Test RPeacock1128 Smith & Wesson M&P Pistols 6 06-29-2013 09:30 PM
29-3 Silhouette range repot Falo308 S&W Revolvers: 1980 to the Present 4 03-15-2012 12:45 AM
Initial Field Strip / Clean-Lube Complete! + Range Report GKH Smith & Wesson M&P 15-22 2 09-05-2010 01:27 PM
Range Test 442 Robert B S&W Revolvers: 1980 to the Present 2 01-09-2010 10:10 PM

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
smith-wessonforum.com tested by Norton Internet Security smith-wessonforum.com tested by McAfee Internet Security

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:54 AM.


Smith-WessonForum.com is not affiliated with Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (NASDAQ Global Select: SWHC)