Berry 180 grain

[Micro man]

Checking frequently for bullets to reload with the current shortage. Saw a site where Berry 180 gr. 45 acp were in stock, they are hollow base RN swaged and plated.

Never reloaded hollow base bullets before, anything different that members do when reloading this type of bullet?

Thanks in advance for the knowledge.

[Nick_C_S]

I'm on their site. Did you mean 185 grain?

I didn't even know there was such a thing as a hollow base 45 ACP bullet (not surprised though). So it follows I have no experience with them.

I do have experience with hollow base wadcutters in 38 special. The general rule - and it likely applies to these 45 ACP jobbiedoos - is to not drive them too hard. i.e., keep the peak pressures down.

The purpose of the hollow base is for it to expand ("obturate") around the inside of the barrel, creating a tight seal to minimize gas blow-by and leading (applies to a lead bullet). It works; however, overdriving them will defeat the purpose. Put succinctly, they are purposed target bullets.

[Aguila Blanca]

I load those bullets. I like 'em.

Good luck finding load data for them. Remember, the hollow base adds volume under/behind the bullet.

[Unclenick]

Originally Posted by Aquila Blanca

Good luck finding load data for them. Remember, the hollow base adds volume under/behind the bullet.

It does if you are trying to match the seating depth of another bullet. But if you match the COL with that of another of Berry's bullets that has the same weight and a flat base and the same nose profile, then there is no significant net volume difference as all the core metal displaced by forming the hollow base has added to the length of the sides of the bullet. Thus, matching the COL, the hollow base's seating depth is greater but the extra space the seating depth would otherwise take up is equal to the extra space in the hollow base. It isn't quite exact because the hollow base has more surface area for the less dense copper plating, but it comes close enough to make no difference in the load.

[Aguila Blanca]

Unclenick, I was going to dispute that, but I should have known better than to question your wisdom. Berry's does offer both a hollow-base round-nose and a flat-base round-nose in 115-grain 9mm. And you're right, the hollow-base bullet is longer.

Unfortunately, it breaks down when we get to .45 ACP, because the hollow-base round-nose is a 185-grain projectile, and they don't offer a comparable flat-base round-nose in that bullet weight. And Berry's offers a round-nose flat-base bullet in the 230-grain weight ... but there is no hollow-base version in the 230-grain weight.

I load both the 185-gr RNHB and the 230-gr RNFB. Load data is NOT easy to find.

[Unclenick]

I think the reason there is no flat base 185 is just that it would be so short in the bearing surface there wouldn't be for the case to hang onto. However, if you pick shapes for which both base forms are available, the length difference will tell you what the equivalent flat base would be if it could exist. Unfortunately, that's little help in finding published flat base equivalent loads when nobody would seat a bullet as shallowly as that would require. You can, however, find other 185-grain load's seating depths and plug the impossibly short one into QuickLOAD to get a sense of the relative effect. If you want to bother, that is.

My take is, knowing this is a hollow base that will blow open to resemble the skirt of a badminton shuttlecock if you have too much muzzle pressure, I would just assume one had to stay with relatively fast powders in small doses to keep the muzzle pressure down, and would just pick target loads in that vein. Fast powders usually manage to burn fairly well even with excessive volume. The old 185-grain target loads of 3.8-4.2 grains of Bullseye or its equivalent in another fast powder would be a place to begin. You could start at 3.8 grains and work up until the muzzle velocity was in the 700-750 fps range and call it good, I think. The pressure will be low at that velocity with that bullet weight; well below hardball starting load pressures. See where, in that range, the accuracy seems best and the gun still functions.

I imagine the idea behind this bullet is to provide a target bullet to those whose guns refuse to feed anything reliably but a round nose profiles.