Bevel base pistol bullet opinions.

[Manns50]

300595
I did search this and read some discussions, accuracy and leading being the main topic. Just wanted to toss this up for some opinions if any would care to give them. I ordered it a couple years ago or better, had not used it yet, remembered it when I pulled it off the shelf. Figured they would load really easy and I'd give it a try, didn't think about some of these cons when decided upon it. Haven't shot any yet, just cast some up yesterday.

[unique]

Things don't always work out as expected once the trigger is pulled. I expected a bevel base would be prone to leading and also have less accuracy then a flat plain base. Nope, my bevel base in 357/38 doesn't leave a trace of lead and is actually a tad more accurate that flat plain base. Best to try things and let the results be your guide.

[Manns50]

Things don't always work out as expected once the trigger is pulled. I expected a bevel base would be prone to leading and also have less accuracy then a flat plain base. Nope, my bevel base in 357/38 doesn't leave a trace of lead and is actually a tad more accurate that flat plain base. Best to try things and let the results be your guide.
Great to hear, thanks for your input.

[243winxb]

45acp- The Lyman 200 gr lswc bb is my most accurate of the 4 bullets. Draw back, lube is left on the bevel when using Lyman 450. Each bullet needs wiped.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?media/casting-bullets-for-over-50-years.3532/full

[HWooldridge]

One of the theories/claims is that any burrs pushed to the rear by the boolit engraving the rifling will fall inside the bevel angle and don’t protrude past the bullet’s rear edge, so gases from the discharge tend to push evenly on the base, which in turn minimizes fliers.

It’s also a bit more difficult to damage a bevel base during handling. It’s an edge break rather than a sharp corner.

[45DUDE]

Unless you can bench 10 shots at least 2'' or better at 25 yards with 10 shots I don't see how you can tell a difference. When you look at the back of a bevel bass boolit it's not exactly round. You can run it through a sizing die and still not round. When you run a flat base through a sizing die it's round. I am in the dark as to what you are doing. Rifle-pistol? 45-70-38 special-9mm?

[243winxb]

45 acp Target loads with Bullseye, 3" @ 50 yards when working up the load, many years ago. Flat base for 357, 44 magnum loads, never tested BB, as the lswc flat base was accurate. https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?media/oven-heat-treated-test.3939/full

Rifle get a gas check.

[45DUDE]

Good shooting 243winxb.

[Manns50]

Unless you can bench 10 shots at least 2'' or better at 25 yards with 10 shots I don't see how you can tell a difference. When you look at the back of a bevel bass boolit it's not exactly round. You can run it through a sizing die and still not round. When you run a flat base through a sizing die it's round. I am in the dark as to what you are doing. Rifle-pistol? 45-70-38 special-9mm?

It's an RCBS 200g 10mm round. All of them are dropping at .401 Truncated Cone. Tried to share a pic but kept getting an error message after it tried. Verified the file wasn't too large. I dont know

[Manns50]

243winxb, you were on with those!

[Manns50]

Goin to be using PC on these, may try them with the recluse lube as well depending on suggestions.
Will have to make up another batch of the 45/45/10 anyway, accidentally pitched a little I had made up but it was pretty old, had to size some old bullets up for the 40 that need relubed.

Regardless pretty happy with how these are dropping. Weighed a few and was getting about 206.6g, others within less than a grain variance.

[243winxb]

Nice looking bullets. Had RCBS molds. They made great bullets, but wanted 4 cavity.

[Wayne Smith]

45acp- The Lyman 200 gr lswc bb is my most accurate of the 4 bullets. Draw back, lube is left on the bevel when using Lyman 450. Each bullet needs wiped.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?media/casting-bullets-for-over-50-years.3532/full

A small bullet base size piece of Styrofoam solves that problem - for about 50-70 bullets when you need to change it out for another. Drop it on the I pin and size away. (H and I dies, the H is the die and the I is the pin)

[Petander]

I have two bevel base molds and both bullets are working great.

I'm loading this Mihec 135 grn 9mm BB on a Dillon Square Deal with no extra expander whatsoever. Going really smooth. Shoots clean and match-accurate in my Tanfoglio P90.

https://i.postimg.cc/mgVqZnk0/IMG-20220526-154749-491.jpg


My other BB is a 400 grn Accurate 480 Ruger bullet which I'm shooting out of a 470 NE double Merkel rifle @ 2000 fps. I will say this is just as accurate as my previous Mihec GC bullet of the same weight, individual barrels group ~ 1" @ 75 meters. Here I'm using a NOE expander.

https://i.postimg.cc/J0cx6yB9/IMG-20220526-155646-315-2.jpg

[tazman]

This topic is always interesting to read. So many responses about possible differences that only superbly skilled shooters will notice on the target.
The most important part still gets ignored. Your handgun is a law unto itself. It may shoot really well with something that doesn't work for anyone else.
Try the boolits in your gun and see how it does. That will be your answer.

I have different handguns that prefer one style over the other. No real rhyme or reason to it. Just experiment with what you have and see how it works in your handgun. What they do in someone else's handgun has little bearing on how they work in yours.

[Rich/WIS]

My only issue was the ring of lube in the BB, so milled my Lee 68 clone to remove it. If it is any more or less accurate I can't tell, but is a bit cleaner to handle.

[45DUDE]

Goin to be using PC on these, may try them with the recluse lube as well depending on suggestions.
Will have to make up another batch of the 45/45/10 anyway, accidentally pitched a little I had made up but it was pretty old, had to size some old bullets up for the 40 that need relubed.

Regardless pretty happy with how these are dropping. Weighed a few and was getting about 206.6g, others within less than a grain variance.

A bevel that small looks fine.

[Manns50]

I have two bevel base molds and both bullets are working great.

I'm loading this Mihec 135 grn 9mm BB on a Dillon Square Deal with no extra expander whatsoever. Going really smooth. Shoots clean and match-accurate in my Tanfoglio P90.

https://i.postimg.cc/mgVqZnk0/IMG-20220526-154749-491.jpg


My other BB is a 400 grn Accurate 480 Ruger bullet which I'm shooting out of a 470 NE double Merkel rifle @ 2000 fps. I will say this is just as accurate as my previous Mihec GC bullet of the same weight, individual barrels group ~ 1" @ 75 meters. Here I'm using a NOE expander.

https://i.postimg.cc/J0cx6yB9/IMG-20220526-155646-315-2.jpg

Thats some wild looking PC, pretty cool.

[Manns50]

Thanks for all the input. Will cast some more tonight or very soon. But honestly unsure about shooing too much with the shortage of the elusive primers currently. Been reading up on the primer reloading threads. Very interesting and some awesome work by some on here.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Thanks for all the input. Will cast some more tonight or very soon. But honestly unsure about shooing too much with the shortage of the elusive primers currently. Been reading up on the primer reloading threads. Very interesting and some awesome work by some on here.

So true, primer availability/price are a much bigger concern than bevel base vs. flat base.

anyway, I'll say I like bevel base for loading semi-auto pistol ammo, but I prefer flat base for loading revolver ammo. I am reasonably sure I can't tell any accuracy difference. The only time I get lead fouling, is when there is size problems.

[rbuck351]

The only thing I didn't like about the BB is the grease ring at the BB. A star sizer cured that. They do load into a case easier than a flat base without a large mouth bell.

[lightman]

My opinion is, I don't like bevel base bullets. Part of the reason is that I spent most of my casting life using a Lyman 450 sizer and I didn't like having lube on the base of the bullet. I've never compared the difference in accuracy between bevel and flat base.

[Mal Paso]

I too started with a Lyman sizer, bought M dies and the like for loading square based bullets. Now that I have a Star sizer I still think Bevel Based bullets are an evil perversion. I'll go further and say NLG bullets are soulless and without character and any change is bad. LOL

[243winxb]

When i dug the flat base 45 acp target bullet loads out of the berm, the base was no longer flat.

The lands had pushed the lead towards the base of the bullets. The bullets were sized to .452" diameter. Perfect for my Colt GC series 70s groove diameter.

These bumps formed on the base dont appear on the BB bullets. Same diameter.
I never test bullet BHN, may have something to do with lead movement.

This is how i remember it from years ago. Needs testing today. Have same gun and molds.

[Manns50]

When i dug the flat base 45 acp target bullet loads out of the berm, the base was no longer flat.

The lands had pushed the lead towards the base of the bullets. The bullets were sized to .452" diameter. Perfect for my Colt GC series 70s groove diameter.

These bumps formed on the base dont appear on the BB bullets. Same diameter.

I never test bullet BHN, may have something to do with lead movement.

This is how i remember it from years ago. Needs testing today. Have same gun and molds.

Interesting. I think I have seen a similar thing before, never really thought about it from that perspective.
Got a good PC on these and ran a few through the sizer, they look great. Looking forward to shooting a few.
300738
300739

[dogdoc]

I think the amount of bevel makes a big difference. Some of the commercial magma type bevel base bullets have a lot of bevel and I have had accuracy and or leading problems with those especially in 357 caliber. I resorted to coating them with Lee Alox over the useless commercial lube to use them . A slight bevel like the Lyman moulds probably is fine . Brian Pearce of Handloader mag recommends keeping the commercial bevel base bullets below about 900 fps as I remember .

[243winxb]

Interesting. I think I have seen a similar thing before, never really thought about it from that perspective.
Got a good PC on these and ran a few through the sizer, they look great. Looking forward to shooting a few.
300738
300739

Nice blue color. To* beautiful to shoot.

[Daekar]

I have pretty normal bevel and flat based molds and have never been able to discern a meaningful difference. I prefer bevels when seating, but the most accurate loads don't seem to be correlated with the base. Which makes sense, in jacketed applications both boat tail and flat base bullets are used to great effect. I suspect that other factors like quality of mold fillout, flashing, or damage to the bottom edge are far more important.

I powdercoat. Maybe it matters more with traditional lube.

[Shiloh]

I had Buckshot flycut the BB off of a couple of LEE six cavity molds.

Shiloh

[popper]

Bevel are harder to cull bad bases than flat base. Bevel seats easier. Accuracy is shooter dependent. My pistols are SD so I don't care, used at less than 20 yds anyway.

[ShooterAZ]

I use the RCBS 45-185-BB in my 1911's and S&W model 25's. I find that it's a very accurate design, and I really like it a lot. Here's what I do to overcome the lube spillage problem in my LAM2. I sharpen the mouth of a 45 cartridge case with a chamfer tool, then cut some disks out of the top of a styrofoam egg carton. I place the disks on top of the LAM2 plunger, and the foam will then conform to the bevel on the boolit base. I can get at least a couple hundred boolits done this way before I have to replace the disk. Works for me...and no, I don't powder coat anything.