Lubing big bore slugs?
- Thread starter ChuckHunter
- Start date
Indeed. This is a good thread.
I’ve used the Kleenbore cloth but it freaked me out because no matter how many times you run it through the barrel it comes out black. But it did noticeably reduce or eliminate the lead in my big bores. No fear now.
I still like the RC shock oil. I shot about a hundred .257 bullets out of the Texan on the bench the other day. Was trying to get a bell curve by varying power wheel. I ran a wet patch after shooting, the a couple swipe of a brush then three more patches until the barrel was clean, followed by a single patch using 10 weight RC shock oil. Way different than the first few post shooting sessions where I did not use shock oil. Those were hour long cleaning sessions.
I’ve used the Kleenbore cloth but it freaked me out because no matter how many times you run it through the barrel it comes out black. But it did noticeably reduce or eliminate the lead in my big bores. No fear now.
I still like the RC shock oil. I shot about a hundred .257 bullets out of the Texan on the bench the other day. Was trying to get a bell curve by varying power wheel. I ran a wet patch after shooting, the a couple swipe of a brush then three more patches until the barrel was clean, followed by a single patch using 10 weight RC shock oil. Way different than the first few post shooting sessions where I did not use shock oil. Those were hour long cleaning sessions.
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I have let my silicon spray lube dry on them and it seems to work just as well as using them wet lubed rolling around in the tin. The wet pellet may have a slight advantage in that as it speeds down the bore molecules of lube is drawn back and between the pellet and bore. But as stated by others, the disadvantage of wet lube is that it easily picks up debris and that is not good for the bore in the long term.
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Great tips. I've used several different drying bicycle chain lubes as well. Dry is a relative term. While they aren't oily like FP10, they are still sticky and will attract and hold debri more than a totally dry pellet. I would never go back to non-lubed pellets though. With non-lubed barrel cleanings are something that needs to be done regularly and accuracy suffers between cleanings.
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Salisbury S99 Salcon silicon spray lube is a pure silicon spray lube that dries slick to the touch and leaves no oil or residue that will pick up debris It is made for the power line maintenance industry to lube rubber hoses that go on power lines to protect workers from incidental contact. It generally has to be ordered from an electrical contractor supplier like J. Harlen, but can be found in major cities at electrical contractor's supply stores and warehouses also.
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I mentioned it earlier and thought I'd expand on that.
I first tried it as per directions and got OK accuracy, enough for hunting. But not as good as other bullet coatings. Was talking with Dyotat100 and he said he'd tried it but got poor accuracy because it gave a wide ES.
So I looked at what was going on and thought it might be because the coating was too thick. The next batch I tried I used more solvent and made a thinner coat and the accuracy got a bit better. I was still doing two coats so I dropped to one and the accuracy improved more.
I shoot with the rifle clamped in a rest where it can't move at all, all that is touched by me is the trigger to take the human element out if it and only test the rifle and bullet. I did not try coating swaged bullets like the NSAs, but the cast bullets I used for these tests were inspected and weighed and were as close to perfect as I could get (cast over 400 bullets to get 50 for the test). After coating, I sized some to .357 and some to .358. the rifle I used is a Cobra regulated FLEX that shoots the 147gr bullet at 920 FPS for over 260 FPE. It is a very accurate 1/2 MOA rifle. The barrel is a 24" Green Mountain 20" twist that has a collet tension system instead of the circlip usually used and so can be tensioned much more than usually seen in airguns (20 foot-pounds).
With only one thin coat, even though I used Zombie Green you can barely see any color, but it's was keeping the fouling down and the selected bullets gave the accuracy the gun is capable of. I had coated a bunch of the not 'perfect' bullets too and shot over 200 of them and although there was some slight fouling that I think might have been traces of Hi-Tek, I did not see any leading.
Note that this particular bullet casts at .359 so it's not getting a lot of sizing and the thin coat stayed on the bullet just fine. I have not tested it on a bullet that gets a .003 or .004 reduction. I did use the thin one coat on some .25 bullets that sized from .254 to .251 and they kept their coating and shot well.
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I have a Texan SS 45 caliber. I use Lee Liquid Alox. Dries to a waxy dry finish. Never had a leading problem since I started using it.
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+1. Jim from W.A.R recommended I lube my pellets/slugs with FP10 for his TJ barrels for the Flex. I had such great results with them I now apply FP10 everywhere. My FX Impact, Marauders, etc... all shoot FP10 lubed ammo now. Not having to clean the barrels is a huge +.
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Because bench shooting allows for a cleaner environment than hunting I have been experimenting using wet slugs (of various grain weight and styles from 800 FPS to over 1000 FPS) with 100% pure silicon lube made by 3in1, by rolling the slugs around in a pellet tin with oiled foam. This "wet" experiment has shown the most promise after trying both dry slugs and then dried silicon lubed pellets as well. After thoroughly cleaning and polishing the bore I've ran several hundred rounds through there and there's not a sign of any streaked lead anywhere. The bore scope told the tale first, but I had to pull a tight dry patch through by a string to verify what I was seeing. It showed minimal lead darkening to the patch, which was basically residue from microscopic lead particles filling in imperfections to the bore.
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I'm big in the rc game and getting my foot in to pcp,anyway I wonder about the shock oil thickness I have everything from 10k to 50 million, that's basically a putty of silicone that I use only in my differentials to lock the 4wd. I wonder how thick you could go to help seal the lands and slug
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I too have been using FP10 for years after I wash my pellets, dry them, then put 8-9 drops in a zip-lock bag and move them about for 4 minutes or so for every tin. Thus far I have yet to clean my barrels....
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Funny to see this post.
I shot an airgun silhouette match yesterday at OKC Gun Club. While I shot only small bore with a .25, they were passing around and discussing a powder coating that they had done on some .30 bullets. I'm not sure what the product was that they were using. They are using a section of 4 inch PVC pipe with end caps. The raw bullets and powder are placed in the tube and shaken or tumbled where the static charge is built up, causing the powder to adhere to the bullets. They are removed and baked at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes (don't quote me on the time and temp). Once cooled they run the coated bullets through a sizer to finish. I didn't notice any damage from being shaken in the tube and they said they had not experienced any coating flaking or coming off when ran through the sizer. The bullets looked pretty good.
I shot an airgun silhouette match yesterday at OKC Gun Club. While I shot only small bore with a .25, they were passing around and discussing a powder coating that they had done on some .30 bullets. I'm not sure what the product was that they were using. They are using a section of 4 inch PVC pipe with end caps. The raw bullets and powder are placed in the tube and shaken or tumbled where the static charge is built up, causing the powder to adhere to the bullets. They are removed and baked at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes (don't quote me on the time and temp). Once cooled they run the coated bullets through a sizer to finish. I didn't notice any damage from being shaken in the tube and they said they had not experienced any coating flaking or coming off when ran through the sizer. The bullets looked pretty good.
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Wow that's a truly beautiful powder coat slug selection... I can't find any negative s of powder coating over naked lead slugs... Keep up the good work
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