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Anybody shoot Berry’s plated bullets in 357 Magnum?...
I’m looking to do some shooting with jacketed bullets, even though this is a cast boolit website. Every once in a while, I still get out the copper stuff and let a few of them fly down range…
Will his plated bullets take 1300+ fps from a 357 Magnum?...
Thanks…BCB
Berry's plated is not really jacketed. Keep the crimp light and velocity below 1100 fps for best results.
This! I had plating separation and keyholing with 1400ish FPSQuote:
Originally Posted by Loudenboomer
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
None of the plated bullets companies advise over ~1200 fps for the standard plated bullets. some offer a heavy plate or concave base bullet but at that price point you may as well go jacketed.
Yea, that is sort of what I was believing too...Quote:
Originally Posted by metricmonkeywrench
I just thought I might inquire about Berry's and I got the answers I was pretty much expecting...
I used to get Remington or Winchester bulk, many many many, years ago, but I don't really see lots of bulk bullets offered except for the 223 and the 9mm...
Guess I'll look a bit closer...
Thanks...BCB
I have pushed them over 1200 and had no problems and that was in a 10" Contender barrel. Truthfully I have never had a problem with plated bullets as long as I didn't break the plating by over crimping or damage with the wrong seating stem.
I have regularly pushed Berry's plated bullets up to 100-200 fps over their published limits. You just need to realize that they publish the limits a little low so that nobody can accuse them of being unable to reach the published velocity. That's a reasonable thing for a good company to do.
What the manufacturer has to say...
Berry https://www.berrysmfg.com/faq#FAQ7
Xtreme https://www.xtremebullets.com/Bullet...nfo-s/1952.htm
I echo what others have said. My experience with plated bullets shows that they have a speed limit. You might look at Precision Delta. Great prices on jacketed bullets if purchased in bulk.
I shoot the Berry's plated DEWC and really like them, but I do so in 38 special and not at high speeds. I think if you are looking to go that fast you really need jacketed bullets.
Why not get some powder coated boolits? I was shooting some 158gr rnfp to over 1700fps in my '92 clone, with good results.
I load a lot of berrys in 38 and 357 mag,i keep them under 1250 fps,i push my pc boolits faster than the berrys
I've used the Berry's a fair bit. They work well. As mentioned, observe the speed limit with them. I've ran them in .357 to 1200fps, with decent results. I didn't push faster since accuracy was mediocre. Had much better results at .38 spl velocities. Berry's in my .30 carbines were a complete waste of time and effort.
My preferred brand of plated bullets is Rainier. I've put thousands of them through my .40s and .45s.
Try rocky mountain reloading for bulk bullets I used them for years before I started casting and coating
Berry's offers (TP) "thick plate" bullets that can be pushed to 1500 fps. These are the one I purchase for my 9mm carbine. I have pushed then to 1450 fps, without issue. Biggest problem is finding them in 1000 count boxes. Most retailers only carry them in 250 count.
I prefer the .356 diameter of the Berry's over the .355 diameter Rainier or Extreme.
Winelover
Order direct from Berry's. They have free shipping at a certain price point.Quote:
Originally Posted by winelover
I can't cite statistics to back my prejudice, but my gut feeling from my limited experience is that plated bullets do relatively better in autoloading pistols; that is, velocities below 1K FPS, than in revolvers. I have used plated bullets in .327 and a very few in.38 Special rounds, and got better accuracy from cast bullets.
For full power 357mag, you are better off with coated lead bullets IMO. Plated are for light loads, 1300fps is pretty much it. Even, most plated do not have crimp grooves.
That's what they make tapered crimping dies for. Even in 38/357 caliber..
Winelover
I used Berry's for a while but I was never satisfied with the accuracy I was getting. I switched to PowerBond and got good results, even when pushing them to 1700-1800 fps out of a '92 in .357. They had a softer core and thinner plating than Berry's and the HP's would actually expand. Very dramatic on hedge apples. Berry's plating is like armor plate - I never got expansion from them. PowerBond is under another name now, which I can't recall at the moment, but Rainier also gave me good accuracy/expansion at pistol velocities in 9mm and .45acp. They also use a soft core and thin plating which allows for some obturation and I've never had any failures that I'm aware of. One of Berry's designs that I've had decent accuracy with is the .30 cal. 150gr flat point. It worked acceptably well in .30-30 and 7.62x39 at full power, but I've only shot a hundred or so. YMMV. Plated bullets don't respond well to swaging due to the stresses involved in re-shaping the plating. The limit seems to be minor reshaping of the ogive and flattening/squaring the heel. Any more than this and the plating will crack or separate and peel. Those shards of peeled plating can be very sharp.