Draw your own conclusions....

[Ben]

As promised , I went to the range to test the smooth sided ( no lube ring ) 103 gr. cast bullet out of my T/C Contender , 32 H & R Mag.

I used my " control load " that I have great faith in.
Any ( conventional lube ring ) cast bullet ( 90 grs. - 110 grs. ) with 2.8 grs. of Bullseye in new or once fired 32 H&R brass.
This load , on any day, can literally " chew a hole ."

I fired 20 rounds at 25 yards off of sand bags.
The good part of the experiment was that the 2 coats of BLL left the barrel mirror bright without a trace of leading.







Here is 10 rounds with the NOE , 103 gr. SWC, same powder , same charge weight, also fired at 25 yards , same rest, but quite different accuracy.

 

[sundog]

Ben, glad you posted that. I just prepped a hundred or so 356402 with a double dip (ala Ranch Dog - dip just the bearing surface) of BLL, 24 hours between dips. They look good, dried nicely. I'm going to shoot them unsized (.357+) in 9mm Lugar, and I've been pondering the leading issue. If it works out with accuracy and no leading, great. Beats sitting there pullin' the handle on a lubrisizer! This bullet has always worked well in the past, but I've never prepped them like this before.

I've also got several hundred of the Lee 124 TL ready to go, too, prepped the same way. Also have some RD 135 GC TL ready to go same way, but had to run them thru a Lee size die to seat/crimp the check, Will try some of each and report back (if I remember).

 

[Ben]

Keep us in the loop.

Ben

 

[35 shooter]

I believe BLL just works on whatever you put it on for one conclusion!

As far as the accuracy, i believe smooth side bullets create more friction in the bore(more bearing surface)than a grooved bullet.

Might take a different load than a grooved bullet to do it's best?...or not.
Also makes me want to try a smooth side bullet in a rifle just for kicks.

 

[Ben]

Buddy you may be ( forget the pun please ) right on target !

 

[freebullet]

Looks like you may have 10 in about the same area. I wouldn't call one better.
For the low velocity stuff it appears to work well.

 

[Brad]

I would be happy with either one. The slab sided bullets would be easier to cast but I'm not sure how well they would respond to sizing if it was required.
I wonder how the slab sided bullets do at higher pressure and velocity.
What do YOU think Ben?

 

[yodogsandman]

I'd think that the slab sided bullets would need to be sized close or at bore size to reduce the amount of lead displaced from engaging the lands from flowing to the base.

 

[fiver]

I'd be happy with handgun groups like that.
I think the one bad thing about slab sided boolits is that the lead has no where to go when displaced by the lands and when being swaged down into the barrel.
the ones I swage has a bunch of tiny rings similar to the LEE t/l boolit but much, much smaller.
it might be the difference between them shooting well and them not doing so good.

I have an old mold for the zinc washers [I have the washers too] and could duplicate these tests fairly closely
but it's something I just don't have the time to do right now.
heck I can't even get within 5 feet of my casting stuff right now, and won't be able to for the better part of a month.
I have a 41 mag test with long-shot powder I wanna get to next, but it has to wait until I can get to the lubesizers.

 

[Ben]

I would be happy with either one. The slab sided bullets would be easier to cast but I'm not sure how well they would respond to sizing if it was required.
I wonder how the slab sided bullets do at higher pressure and velocity.
What do YOU think Ben?

Brad,

I sent the results ( same details and photos that all of you saw ) to the owner of the mould and said, " If you ever get it to shoot well, please share your results with me."

I wondered about high pressure but I figured that with the load I used today it would shoot well, ........However , in my opinion , it didn't .

I'm not a powder coat fan, as far as I'm concerned, I can see absolutely no advantage in me owning a mould like that.

Ben

 

[Brad]

I kinda wonder if relief grooves would make a difference? But then We essentially are back to BLL on a traditional cast bullet, aren't we?
I think some mentined similar results with the Hi-tek coating and slab sided bullets. They shot OK but not as good as the traditional groove bullets.

 

[Ben]

Brad,

I'm old and set in my ways.
Think I'll stay with the " old ways " of doing things.

Ben

 

[Brad]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it?
I tend to agree to a large extent.

 

[Ben]

Sometimes being on the cutting edge of things doesn't work out so well, especially if there is a tall brick wall out there.

Ben

 

[KHornet]

Ben, "Old and set in ones ways" is an attribute that I agree with along with "If it ain't broke don't fix it". Both are attributes that I sort of live by.~

 

[Dale53]

Ben;
Good shooting with the RCBS 98 gr. SWC. It hardly gets any better than that. I hope to have my .32's running at the range before the week is out. It is supposed to warm up a bit this coming weekend. If so, I may get outside.

FWIW
Dale53

 

[Ian]

I'd be happy with handgun groups like that.
I think the one bad thing about slab sided boolits is that the lead has no where to go when displaced by the lands and when being swaged down into the barrel.
the ones I swage has a bunch of tiny rings similar to the LEE t/l boolit but much, much smaller.
it might be the difference between them shooting well and them not doing so good.

Bullet has to stretch as it engraves if no lube/displacement grooves are present. Wide lands in 2-groove Springfield and 4-groove Swedish Mausers are hard on bullets that require a lot of metal being moved. Choosing an alloy that extrudes easily has shot better for me in the Swede, within a very narrow window of powder burn rate that matches the alloy's needs.

I would bet that with a different alloy, i.e. air-cooled low-antimony with minimal tin, those slab-sided bullets would group better with slow pistol powder.

 

[Ben]

Maybe.

I've officially disenfranchised myself from this project.
The owner of the mold is no " on his own.
I wish him well.

 

[fiver]

I sometimes wonder how a rifle would shoot with a tapered throat,
one with no rifling for the first half inch or so just a tapered cylinder like the revolver uses.

 

[35 shooter]

Ben

It was a neat test and i was sure interested in the results. Glad you took the time to do it.

It told me more about BLL for sure. I "thought" i knew what the outcome would be, but you never know for sure till that trigger is pulled.