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Blue Bullets and CZ AccuShadows


Nemesis Lead

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I was thinking of giving blue bullets a try.

I was going to run 147 grain 9mm bullets in my Accushadow, but I noticed that there are two different bullet profiles--Round Nose and Flat Point.

Which profile is better for the CZ AccuShadow?

Also--what is the Ben Stoeger discount code?  Anyone have it handy?

 

 

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The flatpoint will allow you to load longer OAL's than the RN. The CZ has short chambers which can make traditional seating depths when using lead based bullets too long. The shoulder contacts the rifling too soon for the case to properly headspace. I use H&Sbullets and their RN has me seating the 147 bullet at 1.100.

 

If I remember correctly, the discount code is Stoeger.

Edited by robertwyatt
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I have shot 10K+ of blue bullets (147gr, RN, Accushadow). They are okay. The coating is not as good as others. I found I need to clean the chamber more often with these bullets compared to others. I'd buy them again IF the price is good. For the same price I'd go with something else

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Go look at HSbullets.com. Their price is dang hard to beat and they use the same J&M Specialties (hi-tek) coating everyone else uses. I think they even have a sale going on right now for 5% off (September) <-- I think that's still valid till the end of the month.

 

 

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Another great coated bullet to try is SNS.  Great to load, extremely accurate, and priced right.  And they heavily support USPSA which is also a plus.

I run them in my Accu Shadow.  I load 147 rn to 1.11-1.115.  No issues at all.

Edited by JGus
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16 hours ago, ArrDave said:

Acme's (acmebullet.com) are the cheapest thing going that I'm aware of, with the discount code ENOS10

Acmes are good.  They have a 145 gr RN that MIGHT let you load longer OAL due to the profile.  

I'm not a fan of the blue Bullets. They only come in .355 and I don't like the coating.

 

 

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I have a CZ SP01 that, as others have pointed out, has a relatively short chamber. I have tried blue bullets and their diameter is .355 which resulted in decent accuracy. I next tried Bayou and they were decent, but the profile required me to reload really short. Third was the Black Bullets 125 grain which is a truncated cone profile at a .356 diameter bullet. These allowed me to load to 1.10 and they were extremely accurate. I have loaded 11,000 of these this year. I also tried very recently the 122 grain Acme and I like the Black Bullets better. The Acme were quality but the Black Bullets just work and I have no need to change. Best thing is the Black Bullets are $235 for 3500, shipping included. Buy a test pack and try them out.

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20 hours ago, robertwyatt said:

If you run the numbers, the HS bullets are 6.1¢ each versus acme which is 6.7¢.

 

I know it's not much, but it eventually adds up.

 

 

 

I looked at he website and unless I'm missing a discount pricing out the 124/125 grain projectiles Acme had them beat.  A case of Acmes with the discount code is 187 shipped. The face value of the website is $225 of a case shipped, if there was 5% then adjusting for quantity it'd be about $4 cheaper for the same quantity.  I like the profile they're showing on that website a lot, but I really do like the Acme consistency/coating uniformity.  I shot a bunch of blues and smurf fingers is a real thing.  

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The Blue Bullets 135TC is the best bullet out there for the Cz and tanfo in my opinion. The profile allows you to load longer and the same load can be used for all my 9mm guns. I load this round at 1.145OAL with 3.4gr of titegroup which gets about 134PF out of my Cz 75 sp01 shadow and it is very accurate. 

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Don't make too much of the load long, load short business.  Everyone goes through it with CZ pistols.  "OMG, this bullet only loads to 1.085 before it hits the lands.  OMG, that's short!"  Who cares?  What does it matter if you have to load a bullet to 1.08 if it feeds 100%.  If one RN loads to a max of 1.14 and the other loads to 1.06, if they both feed reliably, that 1.14 is getting you nothing extra.   Oh, but the 1.06 is so short.  So what?  There's an indirect relationship between OAL and seating depth, and you want to make sure that seating depth isn't deeper than .300 in 9mm, but other than, it doesn't matter.  

For those that worry that deeper seating = higher pressure, YES, it does, WHEN you are using the same amount of powder.  But if you are working up a load, that deeper seating depth is accounted for.  You won't be using as much powder as you would for a bullet seated shallower, which brings up an advantage to loading shorter:

Loading short is not a problem.  It's people not knowing that they need to that's a problem.  Or it's people that use other people's load data and don't know they need to reduce powder charge when they reduce OAL that are the problem.  Unless you are having OAL-related feeding problems, which in CZ pistols doesn't seem to happen until around 1.000, then loading short simply isn't a problem.  It's a consideration, not a problem.

As to Blue Bullets with CZ pistols, my max OAL with their 147 TCFP was 1.124.  My max OAL with their 147gr RN was 1.128.  Those are the lengths where the bullet is just shy of touching the rifling lands.  I actually loaded both of them at 1.12 when I used them.  Because of their different lengths, that worked out to a seating depth for the TCFP of .295, and for a seating depth of .309 for the RN.  .309 is EXTREMELY deep for 9mm.  The case walls start to thick in 9mm at .300 from the case mouth, and when you seat below that, you run the risk of swaging the bullet base, bowing out the case, or both.  The bevels on bullet bases make it possible to get a hair deeper than .300 with most bullets, and .309 was not swaging the base for me with the Blue 147RN, but it's definitely at the raggedy edge.

Another possible issue with Blue Bullets is that they size .355.  A rule of thumb is that jacketed should be sized at least .355 and many pistols benefit in accuracy with jacketed at .356.  For lead, coated lead, and plated, however, .356 is the recommended minimum, and many pistols benefit from .357 or even .358.  Some CZ users report no accuracy issues with Blue Bullets.  Some do.  I am one who does.  It's not outright bad, but it's far from great.  I don't want to bash Blue.  Blues have been one of the very best bullet manufacturers for my VP9.  My VP9 absolutely loves Blue Bullets.  And the company is a supporter of the sports and a finely run company from my interactions.  But my CZ doesn't like them.  Food for thought.  If you want to try them, maybe don't buy 5,000 right off the bat.  And you might want to .358 sized Blue Bullets.  I know some CZ shooters who have done that with great success.  If you want to do that, though, keep in mind that a larger diameter will force you to seat deeper because the shoulders will meet the rifling lands that much sooner.  This makes 147gr a bad option to go to .358 if you're shooting a CZ.  But going to .358 with 125gr RN should work fine.

The best coated lead for my money at 124gr is Bayou 124gr TCG and ACME 124 RN.  At the 147 gr level, the ACME 147 FP has been tops.  I have not shot the ACME 145 RN, but I am about to buy 5000 of them and give them a full run.  I'm that confident with ACME.  All of their coated lead is top notch. 

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On 9/21/2016 at 9:11 AM, B_RAD said:

Acmes are good.  They have a 145 gr RN that MIGHT let you load longer OAL due to the profile.  

I'm not a fan of the blue Bullets. They only come in .355 and I don't like the coating.

 

 

I loaded Acme 145 FP to 1.14 in my Shadow.    This is nice because I can use CBC and Aguila brass and still pass chamber check.

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