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Lead bullets (coated) in M1 carbine?

snert

Silver $$ Contributor
I have a pile of light, 115 grain round nosed lead, coated bullets that are appropriate for the weight class of the M1 carbine. I tested ten and they fed like prunes thru a toddler...

Ok, you lead loading guys, help me out... I have only loaded lead for 38 Special light loads, not something that is going to go 1800 FPS. Should I worry about leading? The gas port? I do not have gas checks...

Thanks in advance

Snert
 
What powder?
I shoot 110gr copper plated swaged M1 Carbine bullets through my 30-30 and 308 guns. Approx 13gr Unique or Universal, has them cooking at ~1800.
No leading issues whatsoever.
 
I don't recall what powder...I'd have to go unlock the gun room.

It was spherical, cause I recall it went thru the Redding thrower really nice.

These are not plated bullets...they have that red lipstick like covering...powder coat I think
 
I shot tons of the old valliant 115 lead lubed bullets through all my carbines over the years, never had a problem or malfuntion. I used 2400 iirc or some 4 number imr powder. they shot well.
Now powder coated IDK if that coating will gum up and clog up the piston. FYI I never cleaned my piston, just the bore.
 
Is this a "correct" USGI war- issued M-1? My answer might change if it is.

I was using H110 with jacketed.



 
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A good coated bullet should be no problem at all. Sometimes the gas port or imperfect bore can shave some of the coating or lead, but that’s not the fault of the bullet.

Someone made a mistake and sent me some 125 coated cast one time to test ;) . My first inclination was to find the upper limit of the bullet.
Velocity and estimated pressures are listed with the Bullets. This was a 1/10 twist, 12" long barrel.
B6F65CAB-913A-427C-B34B-6A08FF0E5C32.jpegthere are a couple things going on there. Pressure, overall velocity and starting pressure/velocity. Note the 1900fps bullet looks near perfect. The 2300fps bullet has a problem.
2CE5249D-1C4F-4A1A-B8EA-D10D7DE39DC6.jpegIf you look close at the start of the land mark on this bullet you can see it’s straight for half the length of the bearing surface before it stars to spin. Basically enough velocity and pressure to push the bullet across the lands. The major diameter of this bullet after firing is .2995"

Overall velocity was not a problem as I later shot the same bullets to 2400fps with no damage to the bullet or coating in a longer barrel with the same or faster twist using a slower powder.

Matching bullet size, hardness, velocity and pressure is probably more important than the coating, but for the most part they should hold up fine, unless you really load it well past what a normal person would do.
 
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Powder coating is better than most non-powder coated shooters think. I've shot a bunch through.357 mag rifles and have never had a leading problem. Just make sure they are sized properly as the coating can add a thousandth or so and chubby bullets don't fly well.
 
I think the powder coated crowd generally uses the data for copper plated bullets. In the end, though, you're max velocity is going to depend on the coating that's on your bullets (how thick, how hard, and how well it's adhering, and such.)

I wouldn't think you'd have much of a problem with leading until you strip the bullet through the rifling.
 
11.0 grains of Accurate #9 with 121 grain powder coated bullets.
11.5 grains of Alliant 2400 with 121 grain powder coated bullets.

Shooting powder coated bullets in my .30 U.S. M1 Carbine has not raised any issues with barrel leading or gas port fouling.
 

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