muddocktor
Member
I recently ran into a leading problem with some SNS Hi-Tek coated 125 grain 9 MM bullets in my Beretta M9 (civilian version of the military handgun). I had loaded these up pretty hot, using 5.3 grains of WSF and loaded to an OAL of around 1.130. I had brought those loads to the range with my other Beretta, which is a P4X Storm subcompact with a 3" barrel (versus the 4.9" barrel of the M9) and had no leading issues in the Storm even after running a few hundred rounds through it about a month ago. So on another range visit I brought a couple hundred rounds and ran them through the M9. Towards the end of shooting it that day, it seemed like accuracy was going away and I quit shooting that pistol after running 4 boxes of these reloads through it and shot my 357's instead.
When I got home that evening and started cleaning pistols, I found the M9 barrel to be severely leaded up towards the end of the barrel. It took a hell of a lot of brushing and cleaning to clean out the lead from the barrel and I decided then and there that I was going to back down the powder charge when reloading with this powder/bullet combo combo in the future. There were no obvious overpressure signs on the cases and the cases resized normally when reloading them. For testing purposes, I backed the powder down 1/2 grain to 4.8 grains and tried them out in both the M9 and the Storm sub. They shot well and I saw no leading issues in either the 3" barrel of the Storm or the 4.9" barrel of the M9. Testing these on the M9 was done yesterday at an indoor range I belong to. I had run 100 rounds through the M9, breaking it down and looking for leading after each box. I saw no leading issues after 100 rounds. And in my car, I had found 1 mag loaded with the original 5.3 grain load left over from the range visit where I leaded the barrel so badly, so I then shot that mag of 15 and rechecked. After just that 1 mag of 15 rounds, I saw slight leading in the last 1 - 1 1/2 inches of the barrel.
The point of this thread is discuss a few things.
One is the bullet design of the SNS bullet I am shooting. This is their new offering, which has no traditional lube groove in it and it looks much like a FMJ bullet. This is a link to the bullet. Do you all think that the lack of a traditional lube groove makes these more susceptible to leading issues when pushing velocities?
Another issue is the fact that while I saw severe leading in the M9, which has a 4.9" barrel, I saw no leading in the P4X Storm sub, which has a 3" barrel length with the 5.3 grain loads. And the leading I saw in the M9 was more towards the end part of the barrel. I know that it is 2 different pistols (and designs), but they are made by the same manufacturer and the fact that the leading I saw looked to be toward the end of the longer barrel is telling me that I was seeing a breakdown of the Hi-Tek coating as speeds got higher in the longer barrel. Has anyone ever seen this in pistol range velocities with Hi-Tek coated bullets? Do you think that SNS might be doing something wrong with their application of the Hi-Tek coating?
One other thing I did notice when using these bullets and the WSF powder. WSF is a new powder to me, so I am not familiar at how cleanly it burns. But they seemed to be kind of smoky at both the 4.8 and 5.3 grain loadings. The pistols themselves didn't seem extraordinarily dirty after shooting them, but they definitely leave a bigger cloud of smoke than say, Longshot. So, is the smokiness from breakdown of the Hi-Tek coating or is it just the way WSF burns?
And I just ordered a Lewis lead remover kit for myself in case I run into leading problems in the future. I hate scrubbing lead out of barrels and I have been switching all my range ammo to coated lead recently to keep costs in check.
When I got home that evening and started cleaning pistols, I found the M9 barrel to be severely leaded up towards the end of the barrel. It took a hell of a lot of brushing and cleaning to clean out the lead from the barrel and I decided then and there that I was going to back down the powder charge when reloading with this powder/bullet combo combo in the future. There were no obvious overpressure signs on the cases and the cases resized normally when reloading them. For testing purposes, I backed the powder down 1/2 grain to 4.8 grains and tried them out in both the M9 and the Storm sub. They shot well and I saw no leading issues in either the 3" barrel of the Storm or the 4.9" barrel of the M9. Testing these on the M9 was done yesterday at an indoor range I belong to. I had run 100 rounds through the M9, breaking it down and looking for leading after each box. I saw no leading issues after 100 rounds. And in my car, I had found 1 mag loaded with the original 5.3 grain load left over from the range visit where I leaded the barrel so badly, so I then shot that mag of 15 and rechecked. After just that 1 mag of 15 rounds, I saw slight leading in the last 1 - 1 1/2 inches of the barrel.
The point of this thread is discuss a few things.
One is the bullet design of the SNS bullet I am shooting. This is their new offering, which has no traditional lube groove in it and it looks much like a FMJ bullet. This is a link to the bullet. Do you all think that the lack of a traditional lube groove makes these more susceptible to leading issues when pushing velocities?
Another issue is the fact that while I saw severe leading in the M9, which has a 4.9" barrel, I saw no leading in the P4X Storm sub, which has a 3" barrel length with the 5.3 grain loads. And the leading I saw in the M9 was more towards the end part of the barrel. I know that it is 2 different pistols (and designs), but they are made by the same manufacturer and the fact that the leading I saw looked to be toward the end of the longer barrel is telling me that I was seeing a breakdown of the Hi-Tek coating as speeds got higher in the longer barrel. Has anyone ever seen this in pistol range velocities with Hi-Tek coated bullets? Do you think that SNS might be doing something wrong with their application of the Hi-Tek coating?
One other thing I did notice when using these bullets and the WSF powder. WSF is a new powder to me, so I am not familiar at how cleanly it burns. But they seemed to be kind of smoky at both the 4.8 and 5.3 grain loadings. The pistols themselves didn't seem extraordinarily dirty after shooting them, but they definitely leave a bigger cloud of smoke than say, Longshot. So, is the smokiness from breakdown of the Hi-Tek coating or is it just the way WSF burns?
And I just ordered a Lewis lead remover kit for myself in case I run into leading problems in the future. I hate scrubbing lead out of barrels and I have been switching all my range ammo to coated lead recently to keep costs in check.
