so far it seems that the only 40 cal bullets out there are plated and my understanding is that they dont have a thick of jaket ... what are your opinions and how well do they perform mind it that its mainly for plinking and self defense ammo .... i got a shit load of 40 cal brass that i want to reload...
- Thread starter colscar
- Start date
For IDPA and USPSA I use "Berries" plated bullets quite a bit and just use the reloading specs for a non-jacketed lead bullet and you're good to go. They shoot as accurate as jacketed bullets and don't foul the barrel any more. I don't hand-load for self defense so I can't comment there.
I ran tens of thousands of them for IDPA at 740 fps. It's not just the thin jacket, they're a swaged lead bullet underneath which is dead soft.
Berry's says they're good to 1200 fps. You're not going to get there with a 180 in 40 S&W.
They didn't work well in a stock Glock barrel, but were great in the aftermarket rifled ones. Easier on barrels than jacketed. Not quite as accurate as premium jacketed, but not any worse than cheap jacketed.
You need to be extra careful the first few times you load them because it's easy to pierce the plating. Good flare on the case mouth before seating and don't overdo the crimp. Maybe make a couple dummies when you're starting and knock them apart to check that you're not cutting the plating. Measure the bullet diameter before and after as well to make sure the taper crimp isn't resizing them. I used 0.020" flare and 0.001" over the case diameter at the bullet for the crimp.
I shot a bunch of the 180gr rainer in a 10mm pushed pretty hard. Shot better than I would expect. My brother has a G20C and not so good in his. He was getting rounds hitting all over so I stuck a piece of cardboard above his G20 and every so often he would get big chunks of lead and copper coming off the bullets.
-
Had my reservations @ 1st but after loading and shooting several thousand . The plated bullets are GTG . Never had problems shooting or loading or accuracy . Jackets come in choices of regular or thick jacket also as well as double struck & Hollow base & .336 diam. for some manufactures of plated . Nose shapes vary a little different on say Berry's & Xtreme .
The regular plating thickness of all manufactures is GTG for anything pistol Cal. you are going to shoot . Accuracy is great in my pistols & I find that the Flat points really tight out my Glock or Ber92.
.
Glock 22, 100 rounds of Rainier 165 grain flat point plated bullets, 4.8 grns 231 shot at 15 and 25 yards.
Make Right With a ".40 Lite"
Make Right With a ".40 Lite"
Last edited:
Watch the amount of crimp on the rounds. Too much can cause tumbling. I shoot them from time to time but prefer the coated bullets instead from SNS or Precision.
I shot a lot of 40 cal, 9mm and 45 cal Berry's I have never had issues and I can not say they are more or less accurate than other bullets. Watch your crimp and you should be good to go.
I have shot thousands of plated bullets in 9mm, .40, and .45 for matches. If you watch what you are doing you can get some pretty amazing results. If you just take the lead load data and run with it you will get a nice plinker load. I have run them pretty hot in Glock barrels with no issues.
Guns
Guns
I too have shot a couple down range at USPSA matches out of a 40. First used 180 Rainier's before the 165 was available and then ran that after. Never had any reason not to use them in any of my 40's, 9’s or 45’s including glock's with stock barrels. At the time I was shooting 3-5 hundred hard cast during the week and about 100-150 plated at the matches on the weekends. They seemed to shoot a little better than hardcast (accuracy wise) but not quite as tight as jacketed name brand bullets. Clean up is easy and best of all you didn’t clog up your nose breathing in all the wax smoke in the air like with hard cast.
As for defense... I wouldn't. I loaded some in a 357 that were hollow pointed for a friend and when we recovered a deer he had used them on they did not appear to expand. IIRC, we were running them well above 1200fps... closer to 1500 in the 357. Now we use Hornady's XTP or Speer's Gold Dot for things calling for expansion. But for matches and/or plinking they do well.
As for defense... I wouldn't. I loaded some in a 357 that were hollow pointed for a friend and when we recovered a deer he had used them on they did not appear to expand. IIRC, we were running them well above 1200fps... closer to 1500 in the 357. Now we use Hornady's XTP or Speer's Gold Dot for things calling for expansion. But for matches and/or plinking they do well.
Last edited:
I've shot a lot of plated bullets in .45 over the years and treated them just like regular jacketed. Same powder charge gave the same results. Never gave thought to the plating coming loose from the bullet and have never seen any evidence of it.
No worries guys, they hit steel and go through paper targets just like the regular jacketed ones for a bit less money and way les smoke than lead bullets.
Ran a bunch of Montana Gold 165g JHP and 180g JHP, they aren't plated, and made major power factor. Also used Berry's for plinking/practice.
I'll leave the HD/SD argument alone for someone else to debate.
I'll leave the HD/SD argument alone for someone else to debate.
I love taking them to the range. Make nice cheap plinking ammo. 4.1gr of W231 behind a 180gr Berry's RN works just fine in my 40 S&W.
Can't speak for plated but have been real happy with Montana Gold for the .38 Super. They have good stock for 10mm/.40 right now if you want to go jacketed.
I like 165 plated over 4grs of Bullseye or Titegroup @ 1.150" OAL. It barely runs the Glock (@800 FPS) but is pretty accurate.
