9mm Reloading Wisdom Needed

[LKLive13]

I recently purchased a Lone wolf extended barrel for my glock 17. The barrel has 2 vertical ports and i'm getting some shaving when the bullet goes through the 2 comp ports. Accuracy has dropped a good bit as i am not stacking rounds at the 1 and 15 yard line like i did with the factory barrel. I use Berry's Plated 115s over 4.9 of WSF. Does anyone have any suggestions about why i might be getting the lower accuracy? If so can you recommend an adjustment that might help with my accuracy issue? I found that federal white box groups well but having a light striker spring in my Glock i get a bunch of light strikes on factory primers. Any thoughts?

 

[noylj]

Do you feel any roughness/burrs when you run a patch through the barrel? Can you see any copper particles in the barrel after shooting? Do you get any BLUE patches when cleaning the bore with an ammonia bore cleaner? Can you see any problems inspecting a clean barrel?
Run a plated bullet through the bore and see if the ports damaged the plating.
Get some real (jacketed) bullets and see what you get.
Contact Lone Wolf and ask them if they would inspect the barrel and see if there is a problem.

 

[LKLive13]

None of the above. I tried the federal FMs and accuracy was much better. That's why i posted in this section. i don't think there are any problems with the barrel at this point i'm More concerned that my plated bullet load is either too light or there is some other problem and was wondering if anyone might have any thought as to a direction to try going in.

 

[Dr.Zubrato]

put everything you took out of the glock, back in. see if you can get your money back for the barrel and light striker spring.

lol, it wasn't broke until you fixed it buddy

if youre dead set on the new barrel..
for the shaving at vertical ports, check to see if the plating is too thin, or if you're pushing your bullets to jacketed velocity with the extended barrel. I've heard of ports clogging up with lead, but not copper. You may need to switch to FMJ

light striker spring? if you were stacking rounds at 15 yds...

 

[LeonCarr]

Listen to The Doctor .

Also, the load you are shooting is on the light side (Minimum load per Winchester Book/Hodgdon Data Website is 5.2 grains) and slightly bumping up the powder charge might help your accuracy and might actually reduce the plated bullet fouling by helping the bullet obturate into the rifling better.

Please verify loading data and follow safe handloading practices.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

 

[Taurus 617 CCW]

I had a customer with a S&W model 41 that had a ported barrel. The lead build up was so bad I couldn't get it all out without getting really aggressive. Those were exposed lead bullets though. If you are shooting plated bullets I would switch to Remington FMJ, Magtech FMJ, or Hornady XTP's and see if you get a different result. I generally avoid porting because it creates its own set of issues in and of itself.

 

[LiveLife]

Lone wolf extended barrel ... glock 17 ... 2 vertical ports ... Berry's Plated 115s ... getting some shaving when the bullet goes through the 2 comp ports.

If you are using regular plated Berry's bullets, try using thicker plated bullets. Berry's MFG makes 115 gr thicker plated RN hollow base bullets which has worked well for me.

RMR sells thicker plated 115 gr RN with .012"-.014" copper plating which is almost double the thinner plating of some bullets. They are rated to 1500 fps and priced at $78/1000 - http://www.shop.rmrbullets.com/9mm-...-Plated-1000-Count-9mm-115-RMR-HC-RN-1000.htm

BTW, RMR offers 5% THR discount with thehighroad5 code.

If you still get shaving with thicker plated bullets, then you need to use jacketed bullets. RMR sells new 115 gr FMJ seconds for $83/1000 - http://www.shop.rmrbullets.com/9mm-115-Grain-FMJ-New-2nds-1000-Ct-9mm-115-FMJ-2nds-1000-Ct.htm

And pulled 115 gr FMJ with hollow base for $81/1000 - http://www.shop.rmrbullets.com/9mm-...ose-PULLED-1000-Ct-9mm-115-FMJ-HB-RN-1000.htm

Accuracy has dropped a good bit as i am not stacking rounds at the 1 and 15 yard line like i did with the factory barrel. I use Berry's Plated 115s over 4.9 of WSF

Hodgdon lists 4.9 to 5.7 gr as start/max charge for 115 gr FMJ at 1.169" COL. Not sure what OAL/COL you are using but with slower burn rate powders like WSF, I get more consistent powder burn and chamber pressures (which translates to accuracy) at high to near max load data. Also, using shorter 1.135" results with more of bullet base seated inside the case neck for improved neck tension and initial chamber pressure build, especially with 115 gr bullet with shorter bullet base.

Try shorter 1.135" length and higher powder charges and see if that improves accuracy.

Keep in mind that with regular plated Berry's bullets, my accuracy started to fall when I used more than mid range jacketed load data so if you want to keep using regular plated bullets, you may need to use W231/HP-38 or faster burn rate powders which will produce accuracy at lower powder charges. If you want to stay with WSF, you may need to use thicker plated or jacketed bullets.

Keep us posted.

 

[joem1945]

I had really bad leading of the ports using lead and AA # 2 in a .41 mag. When I switched to AA #9 problem went away. Guess #2 was too fast for my gun.

 

[GLOOB]

Some plated bullets are dead soft lead.

Pull some of your assembled ammo and check the diameter of the pulled bullet. If you are swaging the bullet, it won't be accurate. This is fixed by using a properly sized expander plug for the bullet, about 0-2 mils smaller than the bullet. The softer the bullet, the closer you want to get to -0.

 

[gamestalker]

Do you have some pics or measurements of the crimp? If those rounds are over crimped, you could be breaking through the plating, and also deforming the bullet some, thus causing them to shave in the ports.

If it were me, and it isn't, I would try running a few through with little, to no crimp, and see what happens. Try lightly chamfering the mouth to avoid shaving during seating also, this could be what is breaking through the plating in the first place, if this is the case.

GS

 

[tom_nightkiller]

you might try the plated bullets from rmr instead as the plating is a little thicker? I also wonder if you could put a light chamfer on the inside of the ports?