I was out at the range Saturday and was shooting my Blackhawk when a young man (I am 65 everyone is a youngster to me) asked me how I could shoot great groups one after another. I told him that I cast my own bullets and reload them.
He commented that he reloads also but doesn't have time to cast bullets so he orders bullets from Everglades (https://www.evergladesammo.com). He said that the first ten or so shots where right where he wanted them but after that they were every where.
I ask to see his ammo, and although they were right there at Max ( 22 grains of H110) he shouldn't be getting as bad of accuracy as he was. The GP-100 with 5 1/2 barrel is a very accurate gun, so I thought there was something wrong with the cylinder, got my calipers out and no they all measured .357. Then I looked down the barrel. No lands or groves.
Then it dawned on me. I took a close look at the bullets. They were not jacketed they were plated. So having my smart phone with me I looked on the Everglades website and he picked out the bullets he had bought. In the description it said that these bullets could not be driven over 1200 FPS.
Well, we got the old range chronograph and clocked these bullets. 1477 was the average. The case ejected normally but the primers were a little flattened. Out of my Blackhawk (4 1/2 barrel) they clocked out at 1387.
I told him he either needed to back off the load he was using or get regular jacketed bullets and to go get some Bronze pads from Home Depot cause it's gunna take some work to get that stuff out of his barrel.
This is where my question comes from.
If plated bullets can't be driven more that 1200 FPS, how fast can a Powder Coated bullet go before it starts to lead the barrel?
I usually keep my cast bullets ( I don't Powder Coat yet) for my .357 at about 1000 FPS unless I am going hunting for Feral Dogs or Hogs.
ACC