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plated bullet load data
khornet
Member Posts: 117 ✭✭
do you use cast bullet data for loading plated pistol bullets
Comments
"Lead bullets and copper plated lead bullets yield very similar pressure and velocity results, so when the weights are the same, the same data may be used for each."
http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/reloading-education/tips-and-tricks/which-data-do-i-use-when-my-specific-bullet-not-listed
You may also go to the manufacturer's site or call them for load information.
Question: Do you have load data available? COL or OAL?
We do not research or publish the load data. Please consult load data books or your powder manufacturers' website for load information. You can use published load data for lead/cast bullets or low to mid-range FMJ data, as long as it is the same weight bullet. Berry's offers our standard plate bullets which can handle velocities up to 1,250 fps and 1,500 fps for our Thick Plate (TP) versions.
For SAAMI MAX COL specs or OAL of the bullet please click HERE.
We recommend a light crimp on the bullet, just enough to put pressure against the bullet without denting or deforming the plating. If you were to pull the bullet out of a case with the proper crimp you would find no more than a scratch on the surface of the plating. If you are denting or deforming the bullet, your accuracy will suffer and the bullet may start to tumble before it hits the target.
Per Rainier:
Load Data
Rainier recommends using commercially published jacketed bullet load data when loading our projectiles. There is no need for adjustment when using jacketed bullet load data. Our bullets are completely encapsulated in copper, creating a "Total Copper Jacket" (TCJ) through a specialized electroplating process, and are softer than traditionally jacketed bullets.
We recommend a starting powder charge between the listed minimum and maximum load found in various published and reputable reloading manuals.
A slight taper or minimal roll crimp may be used with our bullets. Over-crimping plated bullets may result in decreased accuracy, and can result in the fragmentation of copper plating.
{Ed: I consider their advice dangerous. To even suggest starting loading between the START and MAX load is truly bizarre, much less using jacketed data and starting at the mid-range load is practically begging to be sued. Any one following this: lots of luck)
X-treme says:
Load Info
Our Copper Plated Bullets can be run at mid-range jacketed velocities or higher end lead velocities. We recommend keeping velocities to less than 1500 FPS (Feet Per Second) and using only a light taper crimp
Any velocities over 1200 FPS we recommend either our Heavy Plate Concave Base or Hollow Point products for superior accuracy. We recommend keeping velocities to less than 1500 FPS (Feet Per Second) and using only a light taper crimp
{Ed: I consider their advice dangerous. To even suggest starting loading between the START and MAX load is truly bizarre, much less using jacketed data and starting at the mid-range load is practically begging to be sued. Any one following this: lots of luck)
Sorry, but the 'MINIMUM' load is rarely the 'starting' load, although it can be.
I just went through this with a buddy that is reloading 45 ACP. While all those around him were saying '185 gr SWC over 5.1 gr' (for his powder choice) he decided to load at the 'start' (MINIMUM) point of 4.0 gr. Oddly enough his 1911 wouldn't cycle w/ that load.
My objection is the START load is where you always START load development. You should NEVER just start at the mid-range load. Differences in powder lot numbers, bullets, COL, primers, and maybe even cases can effect the pressure. You can see this simply by looking at different manuals where the max loads are all to about the same maximum average pressure, yet the max loads can vary by HUGE amounts such that one manual's start load can be above another manual's max load.
So, to even suggest that you should start loading plated bullets, which have always been loaded like cast lead bullets, at the mid-range load for jacketed bullets is truly crazy.
Besides, you can miss a lot of very accurate loads by NOT loading from the start load.
The question of whether to treat cheap plated bullets like cast OR jacketed is kind of silly. Looking at Lyman, one of the few sources of both cast and jacketed loads, you will see there is a tremendous overlap. The industry starting load is typically an arbitrary 90% of maximum (although Lyman will start you out much lighter in some cases.) Does it matter whether I start at 90% of 5.0 grains or 90% of 5.2 grains? Actually, if it is a caliber and gun I am familiar with, I have no worries starting at 95%. Or 85% when trying to minimize recoil in a heavy caliber.
I have a chronograph, have had since the primitive Oehler Model 11 first generation Skyscreen about 1978. If I can get one string to go Bang, I know where I am with my components in my gun. I can then adjust to get the velocity I want. Either power factor for IPSC and IDPA competition or factory equivalent for weapons practice. I don't do +P - just cut back a JHP load that came out faster than I expected - and seldom load Magnums.
I hear and read of more problems with plated bullets than cast, coated, or jacketed. I have done ok with Berry's and Xtreme, but Rainier and a product relabeled by a local dealer were pretty sad... in my usage. You might be the other way 'round, I was just yesterday discussing a shooter's Xtreme keyholes.
Dear papernicker: I think I made myself clear. You don't start at the mid-range for jacketed bullets, so why would you start at mid-range jacketed data for plated? Does that make sense to you? You always start at the start load. Finally, for a bullet that has always been loaded using lead bullet data, why would it make sense to start at mid-range jacketed data? Does any one else recommend that?
PS: been reloading for more than 40 years.