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Posted: 12/28/2023 11:39:00 AM EDT
[Last Edit: shotar][Edited]
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I have a CVA mag hunter bolt in .50 cal. Some years ago I got fed up with the cost of powerbelts and started casting my own lee real bullets. Typically I'd use bore butter in the lube grooves. It worked and I got decent accuracy. It is however messy. I powder coat all of my pistol bullets, so I got the idea why not ML bullets too. Much cleaner, no leading. Has anyone else tried this? I guess I'll find out today as the plan is to head to the range to zero a new scope. Caveat for the purists. I've enjoyed tradtional or semi traditional ML over the years purely as a hobby. My desire to do it comes and goes. This gun and setup is for the singular purpose of killing a late season deer. The big buck I missed is still showing up on the cams. I have a doe in the freezer from gun season but I'd like one more. |
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| I used 100gr loose 777. Yes, they are 250gr. The 3 above the main group were controls firing non PC bullets. The flyer in the main 5 shot group was actually my first shot after bore sighting the new scope. I also noted on cleaning that there was no crud ring, and I used only 3 patches soaked in water to clean, then 3 dry patches. Eezox threatment when everything was dry. Cleanup was considerably easier than with lubed lead. Honestly going forward the only use I can see for bore butter is on the threads of the breach plug. I also see no further use for store bought ML bullets. |
Trusting your life to the benevolence of an armed criminal is not a strategy, it is stupid!
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@shotar Have you shot any deer with your cast bullets? Did the bullet stay together or come apart? Every deer I’ve shot with conicals or powerbelts (copper plated conicals) ended up with lead particles all over the place. For me I just switched to .452 250gr XTPs in black MMP sabots for my 50s with twist rates in the 1:24-1:28 range. Absolute hammer on deer and they stick together from the pair I’ve recovered. Attached File Been awhile since I bought supplies but I remember it was less than half of powerbelts. |
| I have not shot one with them yet. My gun season deer was with my 350 legend. Pass through bullet not recovered deer staggered about 10yds and dropped dead. Next weekend is ML season, I hope to shoot one with one of these. The buck I missed on a running shot is still showing up on the trail cams. |
Trusting your life to the benevolence of an armed criminal is not a strategy, it is stupid!
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Originally Posted By shotar: I have not shot one with them yet. My gun season deer was with my 350 legend. Pass through bullet not recovered deer staggered about 10yds and dropped dead. Next weekend is ML season, I hope to shoot one with one of these. The buck I missed on a running shot is still showing up on the trail cams. @shotar Did you get a chance at a shot? |
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If the powder coating is applied correctly, there should be no exposed lead even if the bullet expands. Us powder coaters use the "hammer test" and flatten PC'd bullets to test the coating. All bets are off if the bullet is too brittle and breaks apart. |
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Originally Posted By KB7DX: If the powder coating is applied correctly, there should be no exposed lead even if the bullet expands. Us powder coaters use the "hammer test" and flatten PC'd bullets to test the coating. All bets are off if the bullet is too brittle and breaks apart. For these I use dead soft lead. |
Trusting your life to the benevolence of an armed criminal is not a strategy, it is stupid!
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Originally Posted By shotar: For these I use dead soft lead. @shotar I've cast 250 REALs for a while. My sidelock hated them. My new inline loves them. I've PC'd my 9mm for years. I'm curious about PCing REALs for this inline. I've seen powder coat increase the OD of my 9mm castings by up to .004". Naturally, i resize those. Do you have to resize PC'd REALs? |
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Originally Posted By Flysc: @shotar I've cast 250 REALs for a while. My sidelock hated them. My new inline loves them. I've PC'd my 9mm for years. I'm curious about PCing REALs for this inline. I've seen powder coat increase the OD of my 9mm castings by up to .004". Naturally, i resize those. Do you have to resize PC'd REALs? No. Just load as normal.no lube. |
Trusting your life to the benevolence of an armed criminal is not a strategy, it is stupid!
| Thanks for the write up. If I can find a .58 REAL mold, will try these in my Navy Arms Buffalo Hunter on some pigs. |
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Training&Trigger Time are more important than chasing a hardware Holy Grail
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Originally Posted By shotar: No. Just load as normal.no lube. Originally Posted By shotar: Originally Posted By Flysc: @shotar I've cast 250 REALs for a while. My sidelock hated them. My new inline loves them. I've PC'd my 9mm for years. I'm curious about PCing REALs for this inline. I've seen powder coat increase the OD of my 9mm castings by up to .004". Naturally, i resize those. Do you have to resize PC'd REALs? No. Just load as normal.no lube. Thanks. My inline loves pure lead 250 REALs as cast. I really need to try some powder coated ones. |
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I am assuming you have a 1 in 28 twist? This is exactly the info I have been looking for, Been thinking about picking up a CVA and wanted to know if I could use the same polycoated bullets. Apparently that is a big yes. Thanks OP. |
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