Leading??

[Yankeetom]

I'm not sure what is going on here. This appears to be lead on the outside of my M15-2 cylinder. This is 200 rounds of Bearcreek 148 gr coated hbwc over 2.8 gr of bullseye. Looking down the barrel there is no sign of any lead, there wasn't any drop off in accuracy or any issues. The barrel/cylinder gap on this pistol is a tight .008 clean. The same day I put 100 rounds of 158 gr lrn through my M14-4 same bullet manufacture and powder with no build up on cylinder. Is this a wad cutter or their coating issue? Any ideas?
Tom

 

[Petrov]

Did you use exactly the same batch of ammo in both revolvers?
Did you use this ammo in M15-2 before with no problems?
Also in the picture it looks like just naked lead and not coating.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

Your revolver needs proper cleaning.

On the face of the cylinder is just common debris from shooting.

 

[Yankeetom]

The face of the cylinder is the 200 rounds I just ran through the gun, all my weapons are PROPERLY cleaned after every range outing

 

[Yankeetom]

Petrov it's the same lead and coating, different weight. The bullets have a very slick lubricant on them as seen in the photo

 

[Piwo]

To me, that revolver looks good for 200 rounds of lead bullet ammunition. Actually, really good...looks better than some of my revolvers after a similar workout. Really. Chore Boy on a brush would take care of that barrel and forcing cone in a few passes. The leading on the cylinder between the flutes looks normal. Hoppes#9 or Ed's red would take care of that. If not at first, let it soak overnight.

The fact that accuracy wasn't seriously affected is all I would care about. I have a few revolvers that get far more leaded after half of what you fired. I don't see an issue here. Just my opinion, but I would gladly shoot those bullets out of my revolvers.

 

[stansdds]

The same lead bullet ammo may shoot super clean in one revolver and lead the snot out of another. There are a lot of factors at play, including chamber throat diameter, forcing cone smoothness, and bore diameter. A minor misalignment of chambers to the forcing cone can also cause significant leading.

 

[Collo Rosso]

What coating is that? Years ago I remember trying some cast bullets coated with some mix of graphite and moly (?) if I remember right. That picture of the wadcutters looks like the same dull gray. S&!t got on everything.

 

[glenwolde]

Looks normal to me for lead ammo. You'll find coated bullets are a lot cleaner. Yes, the same ammo will produce different amounts of fouling with different guns. To me, an .008" gap is kind of big. You might check your throats. Clean the cylinder. Take a bullet and insert it into the throat from the front of the cylinder. It should push through with moderate thumb pressure. Inside pin gauges are better but this technique will give you an idea of where you stand.

Edit: I see you said those are coated, but they look like bare lead. What are they coated with?

 

[glenwolde]

What coating is that? Years ago I remember trying some cast bullets coated with some mix of graphite and moly (?) if I remember right. That picture of the wadcutters looks like the same dull gray. S&!t got on everything.

Those must have been the bulk Remington wadcutters. I would pour them into a towel and roll them back and forth to knock as much as possible off. Then throw the towel out. Nasty stuff. I liked the white-powdered Hornady ones better but the Remingtons shot really well. These days I've been using Precision Deltas.

 

[Model19man]

This is why I use Berry's plated wadcutters. That will clean off with a little Hoppes and a tooth brush.

 

[taz666]

To help drill down on the issue you should run the same ammo through both guns. Check cylinder to barrel gaps for both as well.

 

[Yankeetom]

Looks normal to me for lead ammo. You'll find coated bullets are a lot cleaner. Yes, the same ammo will produce different amounts of fouling with different guns. To me, an .008" gap is kind of big. You might check your throats. Clean the cylinder. Take a bullet and insert it into the throat from the front of the cylinder. It should push through with moderate thumb pressure. Inside pin gauges are better but this technique will give you an idea of where you stand.

Edit: I see you said those are coated, but they look like bare lead. What are they coated with?

Glenwolde I don't know what the coating is. Bearcreek supply in California coats em. Very messy to handle but very slick nd stays on.

 

[Yankeetom]

What I'm most concerned about is the leading on the outside forward edge of the cylinder. It comes off with hoppes and a soft brass brush. Doesn't hurt the black oxide at all.

 

[glenwolde]

What I'm most concerned about is the leading on the outside forward edge of the cylinder. It comes off with hoppes and a soft brass brush. Doesn't hurt the black oxide at all.

I have a Model 66 that does that with lead bullets. HiTek coating prevents it. I went and looked at Bearcreek's website and they don't really say what it is. You might try some bullets from SNS Casting or Acme Bullets and see if they do the same thing. They shouldn't. Those two vendor's bullets prevented it on my gun.

 

[venomballistics]

What you seem to have going on is not really leading in the true sense of the definition.
Real leading at the volume described would have given you a barrel with a crude smooth bore as it filled in the grooves.
You have something of a vapor deposit.
This seems to be a product of high temperature gasses acting upon the base of the bullet. Muzzle brakes and flash hiders collect this like hot wheels cars.
The cylinder gap is a good collection point as well.
You don't have a problem. You just might have a perfectly good load that you might not want to use at an indoor range.

 

[chief38]

My suggestion would be to thoroughly clean up the revolver and then measure your barrel cylinder gap. If it's 0.006" or under you are good to go and if over that could be one of the causes of excessive leading. The larger the b/c gap the more leading you will get. IMHO the leading in your photos does look a bit excessive to me. The rings on the front of the cylinder are normal (maybe slightly on the heavier side) and while it is not unusual to get some slight leading the front sides of the cylinder (first pic), yours definitely looks a bit on the heavy side as well.

It could also be the bullets themselves as we do not know the exact amounts of antimony and tin they are adding or how contaminated their lead mix is. What type of coating are they applying? A polymer? I have experienced bad polymer build up with some brands of bullets. Quite honestly, I do not plan on buying polymer coated projectiles after I use up what I already have. I will probably try copper plated (basically a copper wash) next.

 

[taz666]

They are moly coated fellas. Website has all the info on the bullet(s).

 

[rays44]

Looks normal to me for lead ammo. You'll find coated bullets are a lot cleaner. Yes, the same ammo will produce different amounts of fouling with different guns. To me, an .008" gap is kind of big. You might check your throats. Clean the cylinder. Take a bullet and insert it into the throat from the front of the cylinder. It should push through with moderate thumb pressure. Inside pin gauges are better but this technique will give you an idea of where you stand

I agree completely. Fouling looks normal and acceptable.
Taking the path of matching bullet diameter to chamber throats as well as using the correct bullet hardness for the load fixes most leading problems. Again, I don't think you have much of a problem here.

 

[venomballistics]

They are moly coated fellas. Website has all the info on the bullet(s).

Man ... I didn't think anyone did that anymore.
it's mostly hitek or powder coating lately, where the only pitfall seems to be cut corners in the oven cure time.
For a time in the late 90's into the early 2K, moly was all the rage till folks discovered rust pitted bores from the stuff. Otherwise, the stuff worked.
It goes along with my vapor phase deposit theory. it doesn't protect the base of the bullet like plating or current poly coatings. Nor does it dilute the vapor deposit in sludge like traditional lubes did.
I'd say the stuff is doing it's job, despite the pitfalls of the system