Bevelbased Bullets

[ron brooks]

So as not to highjack KYCaster's thread what is the opinion of this group of bevelbased bullets?

It was always my understanding that the reason for the bevel was to aid in starting the bullet and seating it without shaving lead. They can be a big help in high production reloading such as Stars and Dillions.

For myself I hve never noticed any high level of leading from them but I was always shooting them in a 45acp. No problems with accuarcy either.

Others?

Thanks,

Ron

[Machado]

I had a sizer die bottom punch contoured to fit the base of RCBS's 240 gr SWC-GC bullet without the gas check. That prevents lube from reaching the gas-check indent and eliminates the mess at the base. The bullet works as a boat-tail, and I found that accuracy improved somewhat.
Best,
Antonio

[Larry Gibson]

So as not to highjack KYCaster's thread what is the opinion of this group of bevelbased bullets?

It was always my understanding that the reason for the bevel was to aid in starting the bullet and seating it without shaving lead. They can be a big help in high production reloading such as Stars and Dillions.

For myself I hve never noticed any high level of leading from them but I was always shooting them in a 45acp. No problems with accuarcy either.

Others?

Thanks,

Ron

I've done a number of tests with handguns (revolvers, semi's and Contenders) over the years and have found flat based bullets to always give better accuracy than a comparable BB cast bullet. While the BB bullet most often provides "No problems with accuarcy" it doesn't provide the "best" accuracy either. I also load a considerable quanity of cast bullets on a Dillon 550B and a Dillon Square Deal in multiple calibers. I've not found any advantage of the BB in seating if a correct flair is put on the case mouth. Perhaps in a machine bullet fed automatic press they are of benifit but I see no benifit to them in my loadings.

However, I do shoot quite a few commercial cast BB bullets, mostly handgun, becuase I run across "deals" on them that makes shooting them ok. I almost always relube them though. As an example; in my comp M1911 the difference between 1" accuracy and 2" accuracy is meaningless for practice on an IPSC target. Thus if I get 200 gr SWC for a price that is less than I can cast them for I use them. I recent got 1K of the 413 gr 45-70 bullets from Midway because the price couldn't be beat and they've proved to be good bullets. Another use for BB revolver bullets with a long tapered bevel is to seat a GC on them when relubing with Javelina. I recently did this with some 215 gr .44s (ended up at 224 gr) and was able to then push them to 1450 fps with excellent accuracy (unaltered they were not as accurate, sub 2" at 25 yards, and and maxed out accuracy wise at 1300 fps) and no leading.

As I've posted numerous times I do not find the BB to be the cause of leading. The cause of leading is most often due to a poor lube or the velocity exceeds the alloys capability. Poor lube is most often the cause of leading with commercial cast bullets using a hard wax lube at low velocity.

Larry Gibson

[Char-Gar]

having shot a bunch of both in handguns, I much favor the flat base.

[Shuz]

I prefer the flat base, and as Larry pointed out, as long as the case mouths are belled, I have not had lead shaving problems.