Patches coming out purple

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  • Last Post 11 August 2013
Michael K posted this 10 August 2013

This afternoon while running a few patches through my 308 after a trip to range the patches were coming out purple. I was shooting 4759 behind a Lyman 311041. Last week I was shooting 5744 behind the RCBS 30-150-SP. Both were sized .309, gas checked, WLRs and LBT Blue. The odd thing is last week the patches looked like any other patch and the RCBS bullet holds a whole lot more lube than the Lyman. I was swabbing out with Shooters Choice. The barrel was thoroughly cleaned previously so copper fouling is not an issue. Even a heavily fouled barrels have not caused this level of coloration. For a brief moment I thought I hearing “Smoke on the Water” when I first seen the patch.

Two things come to mind. 1. The lube is causing the coloration, but I have never seen this occurring in several thousand CBs lubed with LBT over the years.
2. 4759 is the cause.

Has anyone seen this before?

Many thanks,

Michael

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onondaga posted this 10 August 2013

http://www.castbulletassoc.org/view_user.php?id=3427>Black and Blue

Sizing .309 would only make sense if your chamber throat verified by chamber casting at .309 or even .3085", That would mean your chamber throat is out of the SAAMI spec of .310” and would be very unusual for any custom or production .308 Win. that was quality checked properly.

If you get your cast  bullets  to fit the throat with a snug drag while chambering and you can just chamber because the fit is good, your bullets wont leave any leading or excess lube in your barrel; then with such a good fit, lube has much less importance and your rifle will shoot better also.

Some shooters try to convince their rifles that some miracle lube will compensate for bullet size. Your rifle just gave you the answer on that question. You got stuff in the barrel to prove it. The reason you are seeing this now is that there is some other reason your other previous shooting experiences did not cause the coloration with small bullets. Possibly your other experiences made the bullets obturate more and sooner in the barrels.

It really is very unusual that cast bullets sized less than .310” don't cause problems in a .308 Win. Their SAAMI chamber throat spec is .310". Cast Bullets sized .309” for a 308 Win should be expected to cause problems no matter what your previous experience is, you finally ran out of luck in my opinion.

I size gas checked cast bullets .3105” for 2 production .308 Win rifles. both were verified at SAAMI throat size of .310". Neither one leads up at all , neither one leaves excess anything in their bores and both shoot cast much cleaner than jacketed. I lube all cast bullets with 45:45:10. One rifle is an older 1960s SAKO Sporter and the other is a recent Savage 11/111.

Gary

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Little Debbie posted this 10 August 2013

I've spent the last several weeks shooting Lyman 311334 bullets in my 308 and 30/06 rifles using a lot of them lubed with LBT Blue and 4759 . I shoot alot of 4759 in a lot of CB and never see anything odd. I use Ed's Red and patches only to swab out bores. My patches come out black, I assume from powder fouling. Any chance your solvent has gotten contaminated? I havent used Shooters Choice for years and don't know what a bore brush dipped would do to the solvent. I once had a team mate contaminate a bottle of Sweet's 7.62 by dipping his bore brush in the bottle. ( Yes he pried the squeeze top from the bottle) I use nail salon nail polish remover dispensers now for my Sweet's and Ed's Red. One push wets a patch up to about .35 caliber. No waste and they seem impervious to Ed's Red and Sweets.

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cityboy posted this 10 August 2013

I have shot a LOT of 4795 and it does not turn patches purple.

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Michael K posted this 10 August 2013

Gary,

The bullets that was/am shooting were cast up and sized several years ago before joining CBA and this forum. So they will get shot. The 30 cal. bullets that I have cast up within the last year or so have been sized .310 or larger.

That being said, I don't see a problem, accuracy out of my sporter weight ADL with the better loads and .308 dia slugs are sub 1.5” at a 100yds. H-ll some jacketed bullet loads won't shoot that good. Granted larger bullets may shoot better.

None the less I am still puzzled by the purple patches. Maybe a glass of fresh beet juice before going to the range will change the color of what comes out when the day is over.

Michael

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TRKakaCatWhisperer posted this 10 August 2013

My guess in chemical interaction between primer residue and bore cleaner.

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RicinYakima posted this 11 August 2013

Use a brass brush or cleaning rod jag? Used the same rod with copper fouled barrel without cleaning?

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LWesthoff posted this 11 August 2013

I use Ed's red for bore cleaner, and a lot of my patches come out sort of purple. What color is Shooter's Choice?

Wes

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Michael K posted this 11 August 2013

Shooters Choice is an amber or golden color. This is the only time I have seen this and I have been using SC for years, along with WLRs. Brass jag, no brush. Even then the coloration from a brush or copper fouled bore is a bluish-green.

There was nothing different yesterday than any other day. Did the same thing that I did last week and any number of times in the past, the patches were their usual black.

One of life's mysteries I reckon.

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highstandard40 posted this 11 August 2013

If your cleaning method did not change, then something you used had to change. Same lube, same powder, same solvent, should equal same results. Did you change patches? Could there be some type of residue or treatment on the patch that reacted with the solvent.

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Michael K posted this 11 August 2013

That's the weird part, the only voluntary change was the powder and why would that do it. No change to the patches. My wife buys cotton flannel in 25yd for bolts on Black Fridays at JoAnns. She is a whizz with her rotary cutter and cutting mat and ruler for her quilting stuff, be it for a .17 Fireball or a 50-90.
Come to think of it, some chocolate chip cookies sound good right about now.

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