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Old January 17, 2013, 03:50 PM   #7
Sevens
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Join Date: July 28, 2007
Location: Ohio
Posts: 11,756
Quote:
Seems to be worth the "only a little bit more" than lead which might not be as good on the barrels.
Just want to clarify this statement...you may have meant something a bit different than what you actually said, but it's worth mentioning that lead is the BEST favor you could ever do to handgun barrel. It's arguably harder to work with and can be dirtier and is not allowed on many indoor ranges and there's a laundry list of reasons -NOT- to use lead and all the reasons have a certain amount of merit. But...being kind to a barrel is not one of them. Lead bullets exclusively in handgun barrels make handgun barrels last FOREVER.

A couple tips with plated bullets:
Most makers of these bullets recommend you keep them under 1,200 FPS and this is a good idea. For the calibers you listed, all are safely under that thresh hold. Although, you listed .45 ACP twice, not sure if you meant something else.

Point is, they definitely work better and are recommended for the chamberings you listed, and not so much for .357 Mag, .38 Super, 10mm, .41 Mag, .44 Mag, etc etc. And to be even more specific, heavy recoiling revolver rounds like the .357, .41 and .44 Mag really benefit (and often require) a solid or even heavy roll crimp, and a solid roll crimp is like kryptonite to a plated bullet. A roll crimp easily cuts through the plating on a plated bullet.

These are NOT copper jacketed. They drop lead slugs in to an electrically charge acid bath and copper particles are attracted to the slug and adhere to the bullet. The plating you see that may look like a jacket is ultra-thin. Screw one in to a vise to quickly see how thin the plating is.

The manufacturers of these slugs often recommend that you load them to "mid range jacketed data" but my experience can be summed up in two strict terms:
1) don't -EVER- baby these bullets and use data for light cast lead bullets or you run the very real risk of sticking them in a bore

2) use full-bore jacketed or NEARLY full-bore jacketed data to load them, but only in chamberings where the muzzle velocity is clearly well under the 1,200 FPS thresh hold. I tend to keep my plated bullets at or under 1,000 FPS, depending on the chambering.

I am certain that I don't know more about them than the manufacturer does... but I am simply sharing my experience with MANY of them down range. I prefer Berry's to the others.
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