Im starting to reload for a H&K P-30SK .is there any difference in loading for polygonal rifling over my S&W or Browning I shoot hard cast lead . and jacketed .Ive heard you shouldn't shoot lead in polygonal/

IIRC issue with lead in poly rifling is that you can get build up in the concaveish corners. If you only shoot lead, no problems. If you remove lead residue before shooting copper jackets, no problem. JMO lead is more accurate.

__________________
Certified Curmudgeon

I think that polygonal barrels aren't as cast friendly as conventional rifled. I will shoot a couple of magazines of cast through a stock Glock barrel without a concern but I also have a cut rifled barrel and it definitely stays cleaner.

Just clean your bbl more often. I shot 1000s of cast lead in my 1st gen glock with no issues.

__________________
NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

That warning is usually from Glock guys

I know there is a Glock Stigma about shooting lead in this type of barrel, perhaps it is the shape of Glock's polygon that creates the problem with them blowing up so often.

In several decades, I have NEVER had an issue with polygonal rifling in my HKs. I have put tens of thousands of lead projectiles down range in the years I have owned these. I have never had an issue following up with jacketed ammunition, even without cleaning the gun first
BTW, I do not think I recall any stories of HKs blowing up from using lead projectiles.

I’ve stayed away from lead in my HK P7m8. It’s not just the barrel I’m worried about but the hole for the gas piston plugging up. I shoot a lot of Missouri coated bullets and am thinking about trying them in th p7.
I’m not a bit worried about my HK USP. This thing will digest about anything I put in it.

Never got a shred of lead from either my Glock 30 or CZ-82 with their poly bores.

Polygonal rifling and lead bullets?
Polyogonal Barrels & Cast Boolits

Whenever I want to know anything about lead bullets, I go here; Cast Boolits

My son has a Styer GB, poly barrel, gas delay ports, which I have loaded 124 grain hardcast .355 for. It has no leading issue.

__________________
Certified Curmudgeon

That stigma comes from H&K snobs.

Protip: a casual browsing of idjit "muh Glock dun blew up" threads reveals an interesting abundance of .40S&W and .357 Sig incidents. Huh! It's almost like the two cartridges most prone to bullet setback produce the majority of 'pressure anomalies'!

And before you retort with "Well H&Ks in .40 don't have so many accidents", remember that there are nowhere near as many H&Ks in circulation as Glocks. Of course there aren't as many bubbathreads about them.

RE: Cast bullets, I always just shot plated, but that was when I could get plated for cheap. Lately, the prices seem to have gone up, so my next bullet buy is going to have a 500 box or two of powder-coated to test. Some guys seem to shoot bare lead with no problems, others claim horrible leading. I haven't heard of anybody pitching a fit over PC'd bullets, so I figure they're worth a try. Worse comes to worse, there are a handful of S&W 39s and 59s in the family that will eat them.

SNOB? Do I know you Sir?

Well addressing your claim and not your insult, If bullet setback is the cause of all these blow ups, where is the abundance of S&Ws, SIGs, Rugers or any other brand blowing up?

Do coated bullets alleviate leading in polygonal rifling?

If not a heavy plated bullet would work. I shot some Xtreme bullets and found the quality to be excellent. Kinda pricey compared to coated though.

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"

If you are getting leading in your polygonal rifled barrel, a quality coated bullet should solve your problems

I am very fond of the X-treme products. I think that they offer a solid value for the money.

I have been loading the 165 grain RN 9MMs for quite some time now. They are awesome in the suppressed firearms. Not to mention VERY shiny

If you go that route, get on their mailing list and keep your eyes open. A couple of times each year they do a 15%-20% sale on everything with free shipping. That is when I stock up

A little humor about shooting cast bullets in an H&K P 7. A trip to the range with both of my P7 pistols and a few boxes of my reloads with 115 gr FMJ bullets. I have read the H&K instructions concerning no lead bullets, however, for some reason I had 16 rounds of hard lead cast bullets lubed with Alox stick lube left in one of the boxes, two magazines worth. My thinking, what if this is all the ammunition I had and the bad guys or the bull were coming? First magazine shot great, function and group wise, quickly fired the second magazine. Then I noticed the smoke coming from the action, it appeared the pistol was on fire! The bullet lube blew through the hole in the barrel and into the hot piston chamber and the piston itself. The lube still being in a liquid form due to the heat. Needless to say cleaning my P 7 that evening was somewhat of a chore as the bullet lube hardened and was not all that easy to remove. As for the P 7 pistols, stay with the jacketed bullets.

Snobs is plural. If I said, "from a particular H&K snob", then that would be an insult. Instead, I sort of made a baseless, unverifiable claim about all H&K owners, in much the same way as you made a baseless, unverifiable claim about Glocks. So if you'd like to take offense when I say "from H&K snobs", perhaps maybe don't do the same yourself?

But anyways, let me highlight the key line.

Simply replace "H&Ks" with any of the other brands you mentioned.

Also, "all these blowups"? Is there some epidemic going on? Unfortunately, the meatheads over at GlockTalk all seem to still have fingers. They keep typing.

Or are you just hurling random abuse at a brand you deem to be "lesser", like some kind of......

Pretty much the same boat I'm in. Even buying the X-Tremes on holiday sale. They used to do 10%+free shipping all the time, now it seems more like 5% and an increase in the base price.

Hence why I've resolved just to try out the powdercoat. I haven't heard of too many guys having problems with them--perhaps one or two that used really cheap garbage.

Shoot away. Been doing it for years with my VP9, zero issues.

Up front; I don't own a gun with poly rifling. But being a gun nut, avid reloader and curious about all aspects of shooting, I read a lot. I cast the majority of bullets I shoot and spend a lot time on cast bullet forums and read a lot of texts on the subject. I have never read of a Kaboom from "excess" leading in a poly rifled barrel, and actually have never seen/read that poly barrel leading occurred any more than in "standard" barrels. Like so much of reloading there are a lot of myths that get started with a single failed experiment, usually from a tyro on the subject (like a new cast shooter getting leading in his poly barrel pistol. Just like in any gun, new lead shooters often get barre leading). I have seen an abundance of "Bubba's uncle's brother in laws friend heard at the bait shop..." posts but not too many "factual" reports. Just like with all the "trouble" lead bullet shooters have with Micro-groove barrels, there is more to buying some generic lead bullets, stuffing them into cases and shooting them in a poly rifled gun, then expecting clean lead free barrels...

I have one pistol with Polygonal rifling .
My observation is this.
Though it may be that the poly barrels have a leading problem, for me it was more an accuracy issue.
If I shoot lead in the poly barrel gun I have accuracy issues. Every thing shoots low and left.
If I shoot FMJ it hitting point of aim.
Seems that the lead develops a different barrel pressure .
Thats been my experience.
Forget about lead in a micro groove barrel as well.
Accuracy is out the window.
FMJ for Poly and micro for me.
Happy to learn otherwise if thats the case , but I've just run the whole gamut with 2 different powders and projectiles and my experience tells me , no lead in the poly barrel for accuracy reasons , not leading.