Need some insight for vaporizing bullets

[olivera10]

While at the range recently shooting some tried and true loads out of my .204 ruger my tiny groups stopped printing.
I am shooting 39 gr blitzkings with .5 grain less than hodgdon's max charge which I have worked up to as the most consistent and accurate out of my remington 700 heavy barrel.
What was even more strange was after I noticed no more holes appearing in my target, I decided to shoot at the dirt 25 yds in front of me( which is very dry and dusty) and there was absolutely no part of the bullet contacting the dirt.

I stopped shooting and inspected my cases, zero signs of pressure, and my barrel which had a thin layer of lead fragments protruding from the muzzle.

So my question is can a jacketed fragmenting bullet completely turn to dust before leaving the barrel?

Keep in mind there were no pieces hitting the ground just an abnormally large dust cloud.

Any input is appreciated and I will try to reply as quickly as time allows.
Thanks,
Dave

 

[RHunter]

In your case I'd say that is what's happening.

There are a lot of things that can be at play here, new powder lot pushing them too fast, bad batch of bullets from the manufacturer, fouling in the bore causing too much friction and heating the bullet excessively... It is odd that even the jacket is vaporizing.

I'd clean the bore, back down your charge a bit for a few test rounds and then see what happens. If they stay together then work up again. Figuring out what is happening could just end up being a process of elimination.

 

[40xs]

Before you do anything drastic shoot a piece of paper close enough to tell what the bullet is doing. It is either; twist to tight. velocity too fast. bullet is definitely too fragile for your recipe as is. Early in the f/class days guys were having their 6.5/284 bullets not making it to the target and found out that the early 6.5 bullet manufacturers were making them too fragile for the velocities attainable in the 6.5/284. changes had to be made in the bullet making process.

 

[mdmp5]

Twist is too fast, velocity is too fast, bullets too light, bullets too soft, or a combination of these.

 

[olivera10]

Before you do anything drastic shoot a piece of paper close enough to tell what the bullet is doing. It is either; twist to tight. velocity too fast. bullet is definitely too fragile for your recipe as is. Early in the f/class days guys were having their 6.5/284 bullets not making it to the target and found out that the early 6.5 bullet manufacturers were making them too fragile for the velocities attainable in the 6.5/284. changes had to be made in the bullet making process.

This is a good idea on the paper I will try that this weekend to see what happens.
The twist is 1in12 the velocity is averaging low 3800's. I think I will also pull several bullets and weigh them to see where we are currently and compare that to some still in the box. I'm leaning toward a discrepancy in the manufacturing process.
Thank you

 

[BuzzBoss915]

I know a master shooter that told me, (I know nothing about it) barrels go bad during competition due to the rifling washing out, not because of the load or components. I assume this is due to high volume, and high pressure in any combination. He didn't act like it was particularly unusual in service rifle competition. So, this is hearsay, but fits the situation. BB

edit: also, I have had bullets blow up, vaporize, whatever you want to call it. I developed a load for my new 22-250Ackley with 55 gr. Bergers and had them at 4400fps before I backed off a grain. These bullets printed VERY well at 100 yards. Then, I took a shot at a coyote at about 250 yards and he just looked at me. Two more shots and I put the gun away until I was able to get to the range and find out the problem....which turned out to be the Berger bullet. Somewhere past 100 yards, they were blowing up, so it was a borderline situation since most blowups occur much sooner. (I think?) I switched to a heavier bullet, (65gr.) and never had another problem; and that was ten years ago. BB

 

[Thumper580]

I saw this with a wildcat cartridge. Over 4000fps or more. At about 75 yards you would see a copper or orangish puff cloud. The bullet would vaporize. I'd say at least slow it down and try again.

 

[Bill Larson]

usually a ruff throat is the cause.......

 

[AZ.noob]

I saw this with a wildcat cartridge. Over 4000fps or more. At about 75 yards you would see a copper or orangish puff cloud. The bullet would vaporize. I'd say at least slow it down and try again.

Yep. Those little screamers can approach 200,000 rpm (yes, that's two-hundred-thousand) and simply can't hold themselves together at that rotational speed