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Old October 27, 2014, 04:05 PM   #1
GWS
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Harvey's Prot-X-Bore Swaged Bullets?

Has anyone heard of this 1950's idea to make lead bullets out of pure soft lead that won't smear lead all through a bore? http://www.hawkbullets.com/Prot-X-Bore.htm

It appears that Hawk Bullets, champion of soft thick annealed jackets over soft lead cores, is resurrecting the idea, of "sherardizing" rifling with zinc, that in turn supposedly prevents leading of plain lead bullets even driven at magnum speeds in pistols.

Myth? or Worth looking into?

It would seem to be a much simpler less messy way to make "boolits." Rather than casting and lubing, you cut lead wire, place a zinc "washer" and swage.
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Old October 27, 2014, 06:59 PM   #2
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I suspect that if it was a good as they claimed, it would have caught on back then, and everyone would be doing it now.

If it died out over the last 60 years, I imagine it was for a good reason
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Old October 27, 2014, 08:21 PM   #3
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looks interesting, and the dies are super reasonable. but ill let you buy them and tell us how they do.
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Old October 28, 2014, 08:38 AM   #4
Jim Watson
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I once got a large supply of Prot-X-Bore bullets along with a gun trade.

They leaded badly.
I concluded that either the zinc washer did not seal the bore (Hawk mentions that.) or that the lead was too hard (Hawk says tin-antimony alloys are a last resort.) or both.
I got some Corbin Dip Lube and later some Kal Gard moly coat and buttered them up to get some use out of them.
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Old October 28, 2014, 08:58 AM   #5
jaguarxk120
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I used the zinc based swaged bullets in a TC 44 magnum, 10 inch barrel.

Shot well and what ever leading (?) fell out with one swipe of a bush.
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Old October 28, 2014, 01:51 PM   #6
GWS
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I imagine like most things there are different experiences. Quite often it depends on how well directions are followed. Of course if the company screws up like Jim experienced what do you do? You try something else.

jaquar's experience would seem to bare out the premise that lead and zinc don't mix and "sherardizing" rifling with zinc prevents lead from sticking to barrels.

The wrong sized zinc washer would be disastrous and buying the product when they screwed it up is very bad timing, and may account for the market turning away from the idea.

My biggest complaint (and I haven't tried it yet) is that there are no dies for .40 S&W. I may try it in my .357 though.

My plans were to wait for retirement to get into another branch of the hobby (bullet casting) that takes a lot of time I don't currently have. This process simplifies and speeds it up to the point that if it works...I wouldn't even notice the extra time it takes away from the time I allocate reloading in general. I'm really interested in the possibility of swaging with little mess and no lead vapors to breath. Wearing gloves around lead is simple.

Last edited by GWS; October 28, 2014 at 02:15 PM.
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Old November 3, 2014, 01:00 AM   #7
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A friend of my has bought a die kit, zinc washers and some lead wire. He has swaged a bunch and shot them. This is his report...I don't think he will mind me sharing!

Quote:
I finally swaged and loaded up roughly 200 pure soft bullets with the zinc washer gas checks I got in last week. I shot 100 or so through a glock factory barrel and about the same through a LWD barrel. The first 20 to 30 rounds in each barrel were all over the place as far as accuracy goes but the more I shot the better the accuracy became. I really impressive thing to me was I ran a Lewis lead remover screen through both barrels and found no lead build up in the barrels. The only thing I found in the bore was the usual powder fouling and that was easily removed by running a couple of patches through the bores. Another really cool thing about these bullets was when I dug a few of them out of the dirt berm they had expanded to look like a mushroom and were easily identified by the zinc washer still attached. I kept digging around and found 165 of the 200 or so that I shot. Now I can melt that down and reuse the lead in the core mold I bought with the dies. Yes I know that takes me back to casting in a sense but now all I have to worry about is pure soft lead. No more mixing or heat treating the casting for the right hardness

As the claims said, the bore gets coated with zinc and the lead won't stick to it. I did play with the adjustments on the dies as well. I made bullets from 110 gr up to 145gr just by changing the length of the swaging chamber.
I am very anxious for the up coming IDPA match next week so that I can try these out in competition. If all goes like the first 200, my shooting expenses and time to reload may go down even more and if they work good at the match they will become my new everyday carry ammo.
Personally I think this has merit....especially for the mushrooming ability of pure lead. Cheap but effective "carry" ammo?
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