Powder questions

[CaptAmerica]

I am now switching to Blue Bullets with a subscription service and I was wondering is there a particular powder that seems to work well with PC Bullets? I have a lot of Power Pistol on hand and wanted to use that, but I have stopped shooting my own PC bullets and I am not sure if Power Pistol will work. I do not remember what I was using when I was shooting my on PC bullets... How much would you guys suggest backing off my jacketed load?

[Recycled bullet]

Hello Captain America I could assume what caliber, powder charge and seating depth you're shooting...or you could tell us all [emoji1787]

Power pistol is magic dust for handguns.

I've used multiple pounds of alliant power pistol with cast and jacketed bullets in 9x19, 38 special and 357 Magnum.

My pet load with power pistol is 5.5 grains with a 124 g miha powder coated cast hollow point seated at 1.085 overall length loaded in 9x19.


Sent from my moto g power (2022) using Tapatalk

[stubshaft]

Did Power Pistol work with your PC bullets? I don't back off anything between my J words and PC bullets.

[jdgabbard]

Never noticed any difference between powder coated and non-coated/traditionally lubed pills. Assuming we're talking identical boolits, they perform pretty much identical in my experience. I wouldn't use jacketed data to start with, just use case loading data. Plenty of it out there, and PC'd boolits are just cast boolits.

[gwpercle]

For powder coated ... just use the data for Cast Lead boolits .

Do not try and reduce J-Word Data ... Use data developed for lead .

The powder coating is simply the new and improved boolit lube...

Additional advice could be given ... what round and what weight boolit are you considering .
My crystal ball isn't working today ...
Gary

[fredj338]

Virtually no diff in lubed lead v PC bullets. One reason I like the Lyman manual. I know some coated bullets do not play well with TG. I suspect its because it burns so hot.

[Ia.redneck]

Alliant's website : "Sport Pistol is optimized for polymer coated bullets, whereas comparable powders can dissolve polymer coatings at the bullet base during ignition"

[Winger Ed.]

I've had excellent results going by the data in Lyman's Cast Bullet book.

There's enough of safety factors built into the system, if you stick with a data on a similar boolit,
staying real close to the same weight of one listed, you'll have a good starting point-- and you won't shoot your eye out kid.

If one powder is hard to find, they'll list a few others that also give good results.

[CaptAmerica]

So I totally forgot to check the thread for replies. I am loading 9mm 124gr, 357Sig with 124grFP, 357Mag 158gr SWC, 40 165gr RNFP and 45 230gr RN. I was not impressed with how delicate the PC was. With just a few hours of tumbling and it was coming off on the bearing surfaces and the overall color was dull compared to how they went into the tumbler. I used corn cob and Dillon Rapid polish. I did contact the mfg and they stated that no coating is meant to be tumbled for hours on end.... I seem to recall when I used Eastwood's, I had no breakdown of the coating....

[Tall]

If you are cleaning the bullets for hours on end after powder coating you are going to have trouble with a capital T. The right way to use bullets that are powder coated is to install them. Then shoot them. Same as lubed lead bullets.

[mehavey]

FWIW: Quickload says 12-13gr Power Pistol actually looks pretty good in a 45-70 for BP-like pressures/velocities
Lyman 405: PP/13gr, 12,900psi/1,200fps, 24" barrel

YMMV... so take care

[405grain]

CaptAmerica: You tumble fired brass cartridge cases in media to clean them prior to reloading. Why would you tumble bullets?? The only thing that needs to be done with the bullets is to load and shoot them. I strongly suggest that you spend some time looking at a few videos on basic reloading with PC bullets on youtube, or get a quality reloading manual like the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. You'll receive lots of good advise and encouragement on this site. I think that you might be confused about the difference between "tumbling" the bullets during the shake-n-bake method, as opposed to a case cleaning tumbler.

[Hickok]

I have used Blue Bullets in 9mm. I ordered the .356" Blue Bullets. Shot them with Unique and they worked perfectly. They make a good product.

I DO NOT tumble clean any boolits, only empty brass.

[atfsux]

Yeah, Blue Bullets is famous for the blue coming off and coloring your fingers if you handle them a bunch. From what I have been able to deduce about their proprietary coating, it is primarily a colorized epoxy-based composition that I believe is NOT baked on such as Hi-Tek, Bullet Corp or PC applications. In the few photos I've seen sneaked out of their operation, they use HUGE wide drying tables rather than ovens. And this, I believe explains why their blue is not as colorfast as other coated bullets.

When I loaded up a bunch of their 147 grain 9mm pills, I used HP38, Ramshot ZIP and CFE Pistol. With each of these powders, using data originally for wax-lubed cast bullets of same weight, I experienced FASTER velocities than cast, by about 2%. I used those powders because I have a large stockpile of them and they meter well through my Dillon Square Deal B. In almost all autoloading pistol ammo now, I tend to use CFE almost exclusively because I find it to be the most cost efficient and adaptable to multiple calibers and loadings.

[CaptAmerica]

So I tumble loaded ammo to get the case lube off them. It does not harm jacketed bullets and even the Eastwood powder coating survived. I guess I got busy and forgot about them... LOL

[fredj338]

So I totally forgot to check the thread for replies. I am loading 9mm 124gr, 357Sig with 124grFP, 357Mag 158gr SWC, 40 165gr RNFP and 45 230gr RN. I was not impressed with how delicate the PC was. With just a few hours of tumbling and it was coming off on the bearing surfaces and the overall color was dull compared to how they went into the tumbler. I used corn cob and Dillon Rapid polish. I did contact the mfg and they stated that no coating is meant to be tumbled for hours on end.... I seem to recall when I used Eastwood's, I had no breakdown of the coating....

Honestly, the BB are not the best example of coated. I am not a fan of tmubling ammo after loading it but proper coated bullets wont shed their coating. I have seen BB leave a film on finger when loading them. That tells me the coating isnt cured properly. There are now lots of vendors making coated but all coated are not the same.

[JimB..]

I’ve shot a bunch of blue bullets, in fact just got 10k in today. I’ve visited their shop, got the $0.05 tour, it’s probably been 5 years. They do indeed have a bunch of big tables.

We used to joke about having smurf fingers after handling their bullets, but they changed the coating and it sheds a whole lot less now than it used to.

[Gobeyond]

As said use cast data or start at 10% below j bullets. It’s good when you can use the powder on hand. I hope it has PP in the books. Why is that the only powder you have now? Did you take a sebatical? Woah, it is easier to but them. I liked precision bullets for red and black concave base in 40 s&w. But blue is ok.