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Old April 15, 2010, 07:16 PM   #1
spacecoast
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What application for plated HP bullets?

Does anyone used plated HP bullets for a particular purpose, or just for target practice? Do they have any expansion potential? If just for targets, then why shoot them vs. plated RN bullets?
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Old April 15, 2010, 10:08 PM   #2
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I do not -- if I had to make a WAG, I would say they make them so that you can re-create practice ammo that loads and shoots closer to what you buy in a defense round? To make a similar bullet weight with a similar profile, you need to kind of copy the bullet you intend to mimic.

I think you've come up with a good question, and that's the first guess I could think of.
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Old April 16, 2010, 08:22 AM   #3
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I think the Speer Gold Dot HP is a plated bullet. Folks like those for more than plinking and target practice.

From Speer's web page:

Using our exclusive Uni-CorĀ® process, we bond the jacket to the core one molecule at a time.
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Old April 16, 2010, 08:41 AM   #4
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Yeah, but that's a premium plated bullet. I think we are talking more about the budget, sell 'em by the 250 piece lot kind of plated bullet.
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Old April 16, 2010, 09:39 AM   #5
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I think we are talking more about the budget, sell 'em by the 250 piece lot kind of plated bullet
Sevens -

That's correct. I have been using some 125 gr. Berry's for .38 special that I bought because they were the same price as the FPs, but can't think of a reason they would be offered, other than that people buy them. Rainier and RMR sell'em too, and probably others.
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Old April 16, 2010, 10:22 AM   #6
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The reason you flipped is a pretty good one, actually. Lee will tell you that they sell case length gauge/shellholder (trimming tools) for all the popular handgun rounds, too. And most seasoned reloaders will tell you they never trim handgun brass, especially semi-auto brass where there's no worrying about uniform length for roll crimping.

Lee's answer for why they offer them? "Because people request them." They don't see a real need for them, either, but they still sell 'em.

This goes right along with my idea the Glock needs to do whatever it is they have to do to make their .380 chambered pistols meet import requirements to be brought in and sold in the U.S. My reason? It's not because a Glock .380 offers anything to anyone here that can't already be done just as well or better with other pistols (or other Glocks). My reason is simple: Stamp "Glock" and ".380" on the same handgun and it will sell like hotcakes.
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Old April 16, 2010, 10:49 AM   #7
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I guess their best use would be making practice loads to duplicate SD ammo. I have tried the .230 gr. Plated HP from Ranier in .45 ACP to duplicate the same weight Gold Dots. They do not expand however in my experience, even with plain water jugs.
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Old April 16, 2010, 11:33 AM   #8
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Plated HollowPoints vice Jacketed HP

Another thought:

Even if the Plated HP expanded -- one of the things that the jacket on more expensive HP does is to keep the bullet together [wide, but together] so that it has enough weight to penetrate.
The copper on the Plated bullets is too thin to do that.

I ordered a few plated HP bullets when I started trying plated bullets, but as I was loading them -- I thought ....
what am I trying to accomplish with Hollow Point bullets that are supposed to loaded like lead bullets?
Nobody, that I know of produces lead HP, and if they did, they would probably have to pushed so fast they would lead up a barrell.

I'll reorder plated Round Nose and Semi-Wadcutters, I like those; but I won't bother with the Plated HP.
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Old April 16, 2010, 12:45 PM   #9
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cwok -

One note about what you said, Berry's FAQ says to load its plated bullets like low to mid-level jacketed bullets. I've pushed them quite a bit harder than I would run lead bullets and never had a problem.
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Old April 16, 2010, 03:25 PM   #10
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Quote:
Does anyone used plated HP bullets for a particular purpose, or just for target practice? Do they have any expansion potential? If just for targets, then why shoot them vs. plated RN bullets?
I have heard that some guns shoot HP's better than other style bullets because of the weight distribution of the bullet. That may be why they offer them even though they dont expand anymore than round nose rounds.

VL
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Old April 16, 2010, 03:33 PM   #11
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I'm shooting some Berry's 158gr plated Hollow Points right now in .357 mag - in a variety of .357 mag revolvers and a Henry Rifle ......

I bought them because they were cheap ....strictly target practice .....
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Old April 18, 2010, 11:01 AM   #12
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some of us

Offered the Rainier plated 'HEX' HP in certain SD loadings.
Chosen for its terminal performance.
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Old April 18, 2010, 09:40 PM   #13
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I don't load them, but someone should get some milk jugs,fill them with water, line them up, and shoot them and see what kind of expansion there is. I'd like to know.
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Old April 18, 2010, 10:38 PM   #14
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I have shot Ranier and Berry's 125g .38 and 230g .45 HP's and RN bullets at paper, snowmen, clay pidgeons, water jugs, bowling pins, and various fruits and vegetables at velocities between 800 and 900 f/sec......

Recovered .38HPs (water jugs) expanded, but not much. I recovered a perfectly mushroomed .45 Ranier HP from the backside of a bowling pin. HPs tended to split the backsides of the jugs, RN made holes in them. Holes in paper are neater with HPs, but not as neat as semi-wadcutters. Clay pidgeons and small fruits (wild plums, apples)did not show a lot of difference. Large vegetables (overipe cucumbers, butternut squash, watermelons) disintegrate with fewer HP hits. Bowling pins have to be just about hit dead center with a RN ro keep the bullet from glancing off and knocking the pin over sideways-ish..... Exit holes in snowmen are larger with HPs than RN, but for reliable destruction, you need a light (110g Rem Semi Jacketed HP worked best) HP in .357 loaded to max velocity .... YMMV, just my experience.
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Old April 18, 2010, 11:07 PM   #15
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Quote:
Exit holes in snowmen are larger with HPs than RN, but for reliable destruction, you need a light (110g Rem Semi Jacketed HP worked best) HP in .357 loaded to max velocity .... YMMV, just my experience.
Testing in snowmen? Couldn't help but chuckle reading that. I grew up in South Texas, snowmen are rare here and probably protected by local ordinance.
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Old April 18, 2010, 11:41 PM   #16
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I'm going to order 1000, 165 grain .40 bullets soon and I believe I'm going to try the Ranier plated bullet. My reloads pull duty as field loads too, which means anything from little garden thieves through groundhogs, coyotes and maybe a deer under ideal circumstances. I'll no doubt shoot some water jugs & wetpack when I start loading them and I'll post an update when it's done.
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Old April 19, 2010, 12:08 PM   #17
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I like to shoot

I like to shoot them into sand or gass beading material.
This is an easy way to recover the bullets and see the expansion.
even the 30-06 is recoverable with lust 7 or 8 inches of material.
gives great mushrooms of the bullet.
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