Trouble with West Coast bullets and Glocks

sgremmel · January 9, 2006, 01:32 PM

Has anybody else had trouble with West Coast brand 9mm bullets and Glocks? I had experience a problem with many bullets tumbling from my 9mm Glock 34. For a long time I didn't know what was causing the problem. I first thought it might be a crimping problem. Finally, a friend said the West Coast bullets have a very thin copper coating and the Glock has very sharp rifling in the barrel. The copper coating would peel as it was discharged from the barrel and, therefore, the bullet would tumble. I did some fun with a friend of mine when I exchanged bullets with him. It was great fun watching him almost miss the paper from 30 feet. Has anyone else experienced this problem and what might be a better bullet to use that isn't too expensive?

Superhornet · January 9, 2006, 01:40 PM

Never seen a Glock with sharp rifling. Poly shaped rounded over. Shot a lot of copper coated, Rainer, with no trouble in 9mm, 10mm and 45 acp. Midwayusa site has loading data for the Rainer bullets.

Poodleshooter · January 9, 2006, 01:49 PM

Try crimping much less-just enough to remove the flare from belling. An excessive crimp might be tearing up the plating. As mentioned above, the polygonal rifling of the Glock probably isn't to blame.

azredhawk44 · January 9, 2006, 02:47 PM

I've shot several thousand rounds of Rainier and Berry's plated bullets thru my Glock21 in .45acp or .400corbon.

I've even retrieved some and the jacket/plating was not torn at all.

They are as accurate as I can make them be. Mind the crimp, like others have suggested.

Also, copper plated does not equal jacketed. There is special loading data on Rainier's site for their copper plated bullets. You treat them more like lead than jacketed.

HSMITH · January 9, 2006, 06:10 PM

You must be overcrimping the snot out of them or have an FCD with a tight ring on it. While not a great bullet the West Coast bullet isn't a bad bullet either.

Rivers · January 9, 2006, 06:12 PM

Haven't done a cut-down myself, but others have posted that the plating on WC bullets is thicker than either Berry's or Rainier's. I agree that you're probably crimping too much. All you need to do is remove the bell. You don't want the case mouth to dig into the plating at all.

January 9, 2006, 01:32 PM	#1
sgremmel Junior Member Join Date: October 30, 2004 Posts: 5	Trouble with West Coast bullets and Glocks Has anybody else had trouble with West Coast brand 9mm bullets and Glocks? I had experience a problem with many bullets tumbling from my 9mm Glock 34. For a long time I didn't know what was causing the problem. I first thought it might be a crimping problem. Finally, a friend said the West Coast bullets have a very thin copper coating and the Glock has very sharp rifling in the barrel. The copper coating would peel as it was discharged from the barrel and, therefore, the bullet would tumble. I did some fun with a friend of mine when I exchanged bullets with him. It was great fun watching him almost miss the paper from 30 feet. Has anyone else experienced this problem and what might be a better bullet to use that isn't too expensive?

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January 9, 2006, 01:40 PM	#2
Superhornet Senior Member Join Date: March 24, 2005 Location: florida Posts: 292	Never seen a Glock with sharp rifling. Poly shaped rounded over. Shot a lot of copper coated, Rainer, with no trouble in 9mm, 10mm and 45 acp. Midwayusa site has loading data for the Rainer bullets.

January 9, 2006, 01:49 PM	#3
Poodleshooter Senior Member Join Date: August 7, 2000 Location: Floating down the James River in VA Posts: 2,599	Try crimping much less-just enough to remove the flare from belling. An excessive crimp might be tearing up the plating. As mentioned above, the polygonal rifling of the Glock probably isn't to blame.

January 9, 2006, 02:47 PM	#4
azredhawk44 Junior member Join Date: September 28, 2005 Location: Mesa, AZ Posts: 6,465	I've shot several thousand rounds of Rainier and Berry's plated bullets thru my Glock21 in .45acp or .400corbon. I've even retrieved some and the jacket/plating was not torn at all. They are as accurate as I can make them be. Mind the crimp, like others have suggested. Also, copper plated does not equal jacketed. There is special loading data on Rainier's site for their copper plated bullets. You treat them more like lead than jacketed.

January 9, 2006, 06:10 PM	#5
HSMITH Senior Member Join Date: June 21, 2002 Posts: 2,019	You must be overcrimping the snot out of them or have an FCD with a tight ring on it. While not a great bullet the West Coast bullet isn't a bad bullet either.

January 9, 2006, 06:12 PM	#6
Rivers Junior member Join Date: November 5, 2005 Posts: 670	Haven't done a cut-down myself, but others have posted that the plating on WC bullets is thicker than either Berry's or Rainier's. I agree that you're probably crimping too much. All you need to do is remove the bell. You don't want the case mouth to dig into the plating at all.