Henry Rifle Forums

I have tried a lot of different coated bullets over the last several years. I have noticed a big difference in the robustness of the coatings, and the look as well. I don't care much about the look, but the durability definitely matters. I have two revolvers that both are very prone to leading in the forcing cone. Jacketed and plated run fine, but with coated, it depends on the coating.

I have a bullets supplier that has excellent prices, and the cast for my 1911 are excellent bullets. When he got into coated, I ordered some for both the 1911 and the .38s. The coating looks a little rough, but they shot fine except for one thing. The smell when shooting. At the range they would give off a really strong, acrid odor. So much so that the Pup asked me not to use them anymore.

Fast forward to last week. I still have some of these coated around, and wanted to use them up, so loaded up some for the outdoor range with my buddy last week and shot some. No smell, but then it was outdoors. Yesterday I tried a small handful at the indoor range, and neither I, nor the Pup detected any odor at all. I ended up shooting a couple dozen with no issue.

The only thing I can think of is that the coating finished curing, or off gassing during the 6 months to a year sitting in the box. I'm going to try the .38 wadcutters I still have on hand, and if they are OK, I will order another box of them to try. If they smell bad, I will let them sit and try again after they sit a couple months.

I use the Missouri bullets in .44 caliber that use the Hy-Tech coating and whatever they use doesn't seem to give off an odor.
But then all my shooting is outdoors. Guess you could try a small batch again that you let gas off and a batch right out the box for another test.

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Coated by what method? Powder coated I would expect not to stink if they were fully baked. Painted would likely stink until the paint cures.

clovishound wrote: ↑

Wed May 22, 2019 12:14 pm

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They are supposed to be Hi tek coated. They look like it.

Some of the other coated bullets I have tried had a little of a burnt insulation smell. Nothing like these, however.

Going to pick up a fresh bottle of Trail Boss today, and load up a batch of the ones that have been sitting a while.

I love Trail Boss, and considering the price difference, it is still economical to use, but it seems like a bottle runs out pretty quickly compared to Universal. And yes, I know it's only 9 ounces as opposed to a full pound.

interesting, looking forward to following responses to this issue .... a while back I got on a kick of trying to find cheaper, coated bullets for punching holes .... fired several different brands in both 44 & 45 caliber .... I don't recall ever noticing a smell like the one you have described

Well I braved the heat in the shop and loaded up a hundred of those bad boys.

Hopefully it will be comfortable enough at the indoor range to go and try them on Tues. I'll report back with the results. It would be nice to be able to order the bullets for both calibers from the same company, and at a savings compared to some other companies.

When I competed in PPC with a revolver, I fired 15,000 to 20,000 rounds per year. I competed with a revolver for over 14 years and learned a lot through trial and error, mostly error. Most of the ammunition I fired was reloaded using lead bullets. I don't think that using coated bullets completely eliminates the possibility of leading. The same powders I use for jacketed bullets are not suitable for some of my lead reloads due to powder burn rate.

The faster the powder burn rate, the more likely you will see leading at the forcing cone of a revolver when shooting lead bullets with light to moderate charge weights. Some of the faster powders cause leading regardless of charge weight. SNS Casting placed a note, and a link to a powder burn rate chart, on their website for this reason. https://snscasting.com/

Well, I've used fast, slow and medium speed powders with these two revolvers. I have even tried Trail Boss which is supposed to be the consummate bare lead powder.

clovishound wrote: ↑

Mon May 27, 2019 1:28 am

Well, I've used fast, slow and medium speed powders with these two revolvers. I have even tried Trail Boss which is supposed to be the consummate bare lead powder.

Trailboss is actually one of the fastest powders available, the only difference to other fast pistol powders is its density makes it more suitable for light loads in large cases.
If they were hitek coated I would say they werent baked properly in which case I would also expect to see leading.

Yeah, I know it wasn't a slow powder, although it is slower than WST or Titegroup. Still, it's supposed to play better with lead than most any other powder. I'm sure burn rate isn't the only issue.

I have tried rolling my shop bought lead cast and lubed bullets in Lee liquid Alix and allowing it to dry. I have not noticed any smells or lead deposits in my Henry BBB .44 mag. I also used to use the same lube on my as cast Lee 405 gn hollow points for my Marlin 45/70 no sign of smells or leading there either

I've done the liquid Alox before. Did not have great results. In all honesty, I was still new to casting. Had issues with the tumble lube mold bullets tumbling. Had issues with the Alox building up in the dies, as well as leading issues. Don't remember how the smoke compared to conventional wax lubes.

For .38 special wadcutters, I use Winchester 231 and Unique. I use the same powders for .45 ACP 185g lead SWC bullets. Faster gunpowders would cause leading issues in my 1911, L Frame and K Frame.

For 9mm 147g lead target loads, I use WSF for my 1911's.

Actually, 231 is fairly far up the burn rate list. Unique is in the middle.

Again, I have had good luck with Trail Boss and lead. It was made for bare lead.

I've shot about 10k hy-tek coat bullets. I will get a bit of leading after 300 round or so (one range session) on the forcing cone. For lite loads I run 8.5gr of unique. I get no barrel leading but then I have opened the cylinders to .4525" and fire lapped the barrel. A really easy trick to clean the lead is wrap your bore brush in part of a copper chore boy. I use only chore boy because some off brands are stainless coated in copper. Even if you have a badly loaded bore this will chew right through. To hit the forcing cone I push the brush through and then pull back and spin it. Easy work.

For the forcing cone, I have found that a .30 caliber tornado brush works well. I push it through the barrel, and when the end pokes through, I push the end gently down towards 6:00 with my finger and give it a couple strokes. I repeat at 9:00, then 12:00 and 3:00. Run a patch through and then examine with a bore light to make sure there aren't any stubborn hangers on. Since it's a little smaller than the bore, and a tornado brush, I don't have any issue with backing the brush up while part is still in the barrel.

I suspect that I have tight cylinders in both revolvers. I can't seem to find a decent gunsmith in the area that can address the issue.

Clovis. Look up Fermin Garza (2dogs) over on single-action forum and he can take care of the throats for you for a reasonable price. You only need to send the cylinders so it's easy to do. Between opening the throats and fire lapping if you have thread choke you'll be in great shape. It seems like work and it is a bit but the results are well worth it.

clovishound wrote: ↑

Wed May 29, 2019 7:03 pm

Actually, 231 is fairly far up the burn rate list. Unique is in the middle.

Again, I have had good luck with Trail Boss and lead. It was made for bare lead.

I've loaded tens of thousands of rounds with Winchester 231. Winchester 231 works well with .38 Special 158g RNFP and 148g HBWC projectiles and I have not had any issues with excess leading. I have not had the same luck with Trail Boss, but I do use it for rifle calibers.

My PPC load is 3.2g Winchester 231 with a Remington 148g HBWC and a Winchester Small Pistol Primer. The brass is crimped enough to allow the cartridge to easily enter the cylinder from a Comp III speedloader on my revolvers. The load will easily shoot 6 shot sub 2" groups at 50 yards (off the bench of course) when fired out of my L-Frame and K-Frame. I have managed to shoot 720/720 with a high X count with my revolvers on several occasions with the load. The load groups reasonably well when fired out of my EMF Hartford Model 1892 .38 Special/.357 Magnum lever action.

I use a lot of Trail Boss when loading target loads for 30-06 and 8mm Mauser. Lead loads will group well at 50 meters and FMJ loads will group even better. Trail Boss is my fall back powder for light 45-70 loads that I shoot out of my 1888 Trapdoor. Trail Boss is very good powder in my opinion.

I load coated 148 grain wadcutters with 2.1 grains of Trailboss. That is not a typo, 2.1 grains. Very accurate and extremely soft recoil.

I also use TB in .45 ACP under a 200 grain commercial cast SWC. Also very accurate and mild recoil. Very minimal leading.

I have tried the TB with 30-06. It is very accurate in my old Mauser, this rifle is very inaccurate with normal power loads. Not so accurate with my Weatherby, that ironically does well with full power loads.

Thanks for the Trail Boss recipe Clovishound. Are you using a DEWC or HBWC projectile?

2.1g of Trail Boss does not sound like too light of a charge to me in a .38 Special cartridge if it groups well. One of my M24/47 Mausers has a rough bore and I load Trail Boss with a lead bullet way below the recommended charge weight minimum at 6.2g.