Many bullet casters use a case filler of some sort in rifle cartridges, and in my opinion there are many who don’t who would get better results with a filler. I have had best results using granulated plastic shot buffer. It isn’t expensive, nor cheap, and most casters have to order it, or don’t want to spend the extra coins to use it, preferring to live with lesser performance to spending a few cents on filler. Plastic granulated filler has one drawback also, if a lot of case is filled, in that it becomes a solid hard piece of plastic under the pressure of powder gasses. This hard plug collapses as the bullet exits the barrel and can mess up accuracy. I’ve never heard of it being a problem if the filled portion isn’t too large.
Enter a customer who told me that he was getting excellent results with USED COFFEE grounds. He picks up all he wants for free at the local coffee shop, café or whatever, dries them in a kitchen oven, and they are ready to go.
The results he told me he was getting sounded similar to what I’ve gotten with granulated plastic shot buffer. So, I’m recommending my readers to experiment with it, as I know it cannot do any harm, and has very high potential, in my opinion, because I don’t believe it can form the hard wad like plastic, when a lot of it is used. I could be wrong as coffee grounds are similar to wood in that both are vegetable, and wood will form into bakelite under heat and high pressure. It was a very popular thing to use in many auto parts, toys, electronics etc before plastic.
So, I’m asking all who will to try it and give a report. I’ll delete this immediately if feedback proves that it doesn’t give improvements similar to granulated plastic.
I have a notion that fresh coffee may not work well due to the oils it contains, whereas used grounds have most of it removed. On the other hand, the coffee oils may be a benefit. It’s cheap enough to use fresh if you buy a cheap brand. Hopefully a few of you are as crazy as me and will wring it out and report. I just don’t have the time to mess with it and won’t for the foreseeable future, so am making this unusual request. --- I have a rule that I don’t write any recommendations to customers until I have proven it and know all the issues for a fact. This post is an exception, with a clear statement that I haven’t proven it.
I’ve written previously about using case fillers but will explain a few important benefits here, and things to do or don’t do.
1. The primary reason most shooters use a filler is to get better powder ignition, by confining the powder. -- Any filler does this, and when they are compressed, pressures will be quite a bit higher than an unfillered load. So, if you are shooting a load without filler that is fairly high pressure, reduce the charge a little, then work up to safe pressure with filer.
2. A second reason for using granulated plastic filler, and coffee grounds, is to sweep the barrel of any leading, thus allowing one to load a given alloy to higher velocity levels. Or to shoot plainbase at higher velocities than normally possible,
3. I suspect that coffee will sweep lead from the bore better than granulated plastic, allowing higher speed before accuracy goes away. The reason I think so is that it is less slippery than plastic.
4. Be sure you dry the grounds very well before use. If you want to store them for a while, seal them in a glass jar with good seal. If there is a long lapse before using the stored material, dry it again before use. We want NO moisture in the case as it will kill powder if enough is present.
5. Always compress the load. We want the powder to stay next to the primer and don’t want the grounds to get mixed up. Compression will keep them separated so each can do their own thing without interference.
