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H&S 230gr RNFP Hi-Tek


njl

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Anyone else using these?  I've been happy enough with their 147gr 9mm bullets, I decided to try their 230gr RNFP .45 bullets.  Using Glock and Sig .45acp barrels to chamber check the first dummy I made, I had to go down to 1.175" before it would drop in, spin, and drop out.  It gauged in my Dillon gauge at the original OAL (1.230") that I'd tried starting with, and all the way down to 1.175".  That just seems awfully short for a 230gr cartridge.

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I have used several brands of 230 grain bullets, Bayous, Blue, Eggleston, Xtreme,  and MG and never loaded that short for any reason. I would really look for pressure signs no matter the load you are using. That is putting a large part of the bullet in the brass and the shorter you go, the rise in pressure is something to be careful of. I'm not knocking H&S, but that seems really short to me.

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It's not insufficient crimp/debelling.  If it was, I can't see how seating it deeper and deeper would eventually overcome the issue.  I just measured and then pulled the dummy bullet, and was actually overcrimping just a bit.  Measured right at the case mouth, it was 0.472", and I'd just barely left a ring around the bullet.  I started with a new one, backed off the crimp die, and tried again.  At 0.474", it won't quite fully seat in the Dillon case gauge.  At 0.473", it will drop into the gauge. 

 

Just before posting last night, I emailed H&S...not really expecting to hear back until today or next week.  I got a response probably while I was writing the first post in this thread.  He said he was aware of a sponsored shooter using these bullets loaded to 1.150".

 

I plan to start with what I believe is a bit under minimum (4.2gr Promo was the planned load...and I may even go lower due to the short OAL).  Alliant publishes a max load for Red Dot and Speer 230gr LRN of 5.1gr.  The heaviest lead/coated I've used before were 225gr truncated cone, and 4.2gr Promo with those avg'd 787fps.

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Assuming the small quantity I loaded "work" and give expected velocity, I'll shoot up what I ordered and make a note not to order these again.  I'm not happy having to seat them so deep.

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I shot a little more than a mag each of these in my G21, G30SF, and P227.  I got exactly the velocity I expected.  Decent accuracy as long as I did my part.  I had one feeding jam in the 30SF (bullet nose up against the top of the chamber entrance), but it was with a mag previously marked as being unreliable with short (185gr JHP) cartridges.  I wanted to see if these would have similar issues...and it seems they do.

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  • 1 month later...

I have purchased 9mm , 40 cal and 45 cal. HS bullets and I ended up having to seat all of them with a shorter OAL than other coated bullets I've used . I expected higher pressure and increased velocity so I backed off my load some which is smart to do anytime I change bullets but found the reduced load wasn't really necessary . I found the HS bullets to be very consistent and all of them were coated nicely . Really the only complaint I've had with HS  bullets is the packaging when shipped . They came in a plastic bag which was split open with bullets scattered all over the inside of the box . The 45 and 40 cal. bullets the shipping box had been split open as well as the bag holding the bullets and I ended up short ten or fifteen bullets that had fell out of the box . The 9mm bullets had split the bag holding them but all of them made it to my loading bench. I would purchase HS bullets again as the price is very competitive if not for the packaging.

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