Plated or FMJ bullets

[Blazer]

I know that Berry's & Zero bullets are plated. What about Xtreme, Precision Delta & Montana Gold?

What gives Montana Gold bullets that "golden" color?

For those who have used several or all of the above which do you prefer?

As always thanks for the knowledge & replies. Bob

[G-ManBart]

Zeros are standard jacketed bullets, not plated. Xtreme are plated. Precision Delta and Montana Gold are both jacketed.

MG uses a bit more zinc in the mixture than traditional copper bullets. Normal copper bullets have about 5% zinc and brass cases are more like 20% zinc....so MG should be somewhere in between those two.

I've had excellent results with Zeros and MG. I've had good results with Precision Deltas, but not usually quite as good accuracy as Zeros or MGs. There are exceptions though; my M&P shoots Zero 147gr JHPs extremely well (under 2" at 25yds), but shoots patterns (8-10" at 25yds) with their 147gr FMJ...go figure.

Generally speaking, I stick to MG now. You can order from them and have them ship the same day, or at worst the next day. With Zero you'll often have to wait a long time (six months on one order) if you're not lucky. With PD the worst has been about two months delay. R,

[Blazer]

Thank you G-ManBart for the correction on the Zero bullets & the rest of the information.Bob

[Maksim]

Anyone using the MG CMJ bullets? What is your opinion on them.

getting 2 cases, one of 9mm and one of 45... but cant decide FMJ/CMJ/JHP.

[G-ManBart]

Anyone using the MG CMJ bullets? What is your opinion on them.

getting 2 cases, one of 9mm and one of 45... but cant decide FMJ/CMJ/JHP.

I've used the 115gr CMJ and 147gr CMJ...both are excellent. I prefer CMJ or JHPs regardless of what gun, because of the decreased smoke. R,

[Maksim]

Any practical difference between CMJ and JHP? Or just neater looking holes? =)

[Sarge]

Any practical difference between CMJ and JHP? Or just neater looking holes? =)

Best way for me to describe it is JHP is like a hersheys kiss. Wrapped from the bottom and tucked in on top in the HP. More or less.

CMJ is wrapped from the top down and a gas check is put on the bottom to eliminate any exposed lead. Hence a complete metal jacket.

By design the JHP will be inherently more accurate but whether the average joe would notice it is debatable.

My personal experience in my gun is that MG FMJ's are more accurate than CMJ's so I use them. There is just a wisp of smoke since I use N320. Virtually no smoke at all with a CMJ or JHP.

Like GMAN said it is all about availability. You can generally order and have bullets in a week from MG.

Edited September 18, 2010 by Sarge

[Steve J]

Plated bullets suck. They are softer than cast lead bullets. You can't over crimp. You can't drive too fast. Hell, with the wrong die you can't even seat them without ruining the super soft plating. Avoid Ranier, Xtreme, even Berry's double struck like the plague.

Zeros are excellent jacked bullets and not over priced. Montana Gold are excellent jacked bullets, but overpriced. Winchester, Hornady, etc, etc are just way too over priced.

[blaster113]

Montana Gold makes a good product at a fair price. Shipping is always quick. I've used the MG CMJ, JHP and FP in my .40 and .38SC pistols; the bullets are accurate enough and feed well. The CMJ's seem to be more accurate than the JHP's out of my .40

[G-ManBart]

Zeros are excellent jacked bullets and not over priced. Montana Gold are excellent jacked bullets, but overpriced.

That's not always the case....sometimes it's the reverse (depends on the exact bullet). Right now 9mm 115gr JHPs from MG are $75.50/K and Zero 115gr JHPs are $88.50/K (both case prices). In similar fashion MG 124gr JHPs are $80/K and Zero 125gr JHPs are $88.50/K. R,

[Dacsoft]

I have used the Xtreme 115 RN and the MG 115 CMJ RN. My favorite is the MG 124 CMJ RN. I have tried the FMJ, by my Springfield seems to be more accurate with the CMJ. But that is probably just my personal perception - all are probably more accurate that I am.

[njl]

Pricewise, I don't see any real difference between plated and jacketed.

For targets where jacket separation/ricochet is a concern, are plated any safer than jacketed?

One of the ranges I use won't let you shoot steel with jacketed ammo. I don't know if they'd allow plated. I know lead is allowed. It's got me wondering recently about Precision or one of the other makers of lead bullets with a coating that's supposed to avoid leading the barrel. I primarily shoot Glocks...so lead build-up (or tearing up the film coating) in the polygonal rifling is a concern.

[PJ BAD]

I've shot both Montana Gold JHP's and CMJ's out of my Bedell open gun in 38 Super and found no difference in accuracy. I've stuck to the CMJ's because after I tumble my reloads for a couple of minutes to clean them off I don't have to pick tumbling media out of the hollows.

[lcs]

Pricewise, I don't see any real difference between plated and jacketed.

For targets where jacket separation/ricochet is a concern, are plated any safer than jacketed?

One of the ranges I use won't let you shoot steel with jacketed ammo. I don't know if they'd allow plated. I know lead is allowed. It's got me wondering recently about Precision or one of the other makers of lead bullets with a coating that's supposed to avoid leading the barrel. I primarily shoot Glocks...so lead build-up (or tearing up the film coating) in the polygonal rifling is a concern.

Precision mollies are an excellent molly bullet. My understanding, mollies are quite safe in a glock.

[jmurch]

'Plated bullets suck. They are softer than cast lead bullets.'

Really? I do not re-load 9mm yet so I bought 1/k of plated reloads. I have shot several hundred round and have several hundred more. Should I be worried shooting these out of a factory Glock barrel?

Jeff

[aztecdriver]

'Plated bullets suck. They are softer than cast lead bullets.'

Really? I do not re-load 9mm yet so I bought 1/k of plated reloads. I have shot several hundred round and have several hundred more. Should I be worried shooting these out of a factory Glock barrel?

Jeff

I would say they suck more for reloading than if you have commercially loaded rounds.

[Poppa Bear]

Pricewise, I don't see any real difference between plated and jacketed.

For targets where jacket separation/ricochet is a concern, are plated any safer than jacketed?

One of the ranges I use won't let you shoot steel with jacketed ammo. I don't know if they'd allow plated. I know lead is allowed. It's got me wondering recently about Precision or one of the other makers of lead bullets with a coating that's supposed to avoid leading the barrel. I primarily shoot Glocks...so lead build-up (or tearing up the film coating) in the polygonal rifling is a concern.

I use the 185's in my G35. They shoot pretty well but their downside like all Moly bullets is the smoke factor. If someone did not know what you were shooting they would think your powder is very dirty.

It has only created a problem for me once. We shot a COF that required using a port at ground level. With no breeze, I was shooting through a smoke screen which obscured the targets.

[chbrow10]

I have shot thousands (10k?) of 147 gr Berry's plated out of a Glock loaded to 950 fps. I have shot thousands (20-30k?) of Berry's plated (185 gr, 200 gr, 230 gr) out of a 1911 loaded to 780-800 fps.

I disagree with all the negativity posted about Berry's. I can't speak for the other brands, but I would have no hesitation loading Berry's plated out of MY Glock barrel and my 1911 barrel.

Edited September 30, 2010 by chbrow10

[njl]

I use the 185's in my G35. They shoot pretty well but their downside like all Moly bullets is the smoke factor. If someone did not know what you were shooting they would think your powder is very dirty.

It has only created a problem for me once. We shot a COF that required using a port at ground level. With no breeze, I was shooting through a smoke screen which obscured the targets.

What powder were you using?

[sdwilliams]

I've had excellent results with Zeros and MG. I've had good results with Precision Deltas, but not usually quite as good accuracy as Zeros or MGs.

Though I am using Precision bullets (lead with a solid dry film lube, similar to "moly" coat but stated to be tougher), I heard the same thing here locally as what G-Man said above when I was asking around. I chose Precision however because it was more cost effective for me and they work great in my gun.

Sherry

[Justsomeguy]

I have shot thousands (10k?) of 147 gr Berry's plated out of a Glock loaded to 950 fps. I have shot thousands (20-30k?) of Berry's plated (185 gr, 200 gr, 230 gr) out of a 1911 loaded to 780-800 fps.

I disagree with all the negativity posted about Berry's. I can't speak for the other brands, but I would have no hesitation loading Berry's plated out of MY Glock barrel and my 1911 barrel.

Like chbrow, I have shot thousands of Berry's and Rainier plated bullets with no problems in my 40's, 9mm's, and some 45's too! They used to be quite a bit cheaper than jacketed bullets, but now jacketed are closer in cost. Mainly I just shoot lead now for practice instead of plated (though I still have thousands on hand and do use them) and save the jacketed for more demanding tasks. Proper reloading techniques which would be necessary to ANY bullet will yield good results with plated bullets. NO bullet should be over crimped as it destroys accuracy. The internal diameter of the case is what holds the bullet from moving in normal handling and use, not the taper crimp... at least for auto pistols. The crimp should only return the mouth of the case to a proper case diameter for feeding and headspace on the case mouth. As to driving them too fast... that is not mainly what we do here. I'm sure that some Open Division shooters may push a bullet faster than plated are supposed to go, which is about 1200fps maximum, but otherwise there is no reason to worry. Revolvers are a different matter as they use a roll crimp to keep bullets from creeping out of the case in heavy recoil (auto pistols have magazines which contain the cartridge and the bullet cannot creep out) and plated bullets are not good for roll crimp as it cuts the plating and when fired the plating will pull off the core.

[G-ManBart]

I disagree with all the negativity posted about Berry's. I can't speak for the other brands, but I would have no hesitation loading Berry's plated out of MY Glock barrel and my 1911 barrel.

You can disagree, but there have been many folks that have had posted about having problems with them over the years, and some of them are experienced reloaders that know what they're doing. R,

[Mokken]

I've loaded and now shot a 1000 rounds of MG 180FMJ's through my new STI Edge.. I like the bullets.. Will continue to use MG going forward.. Can't beat the price or the time to your door.

[m134b]

Just interjecting my .02 here, but if you run a taper crimp for RIFLE (.223/5.56 in my case) You CAN undercrimp. was testing a new lot of brass I'd purchased, The brass was just a TAD shorter than what I normally run and the taper crimp didn't hold the bullet as well.. had one scoot out and cause enough pressure to jam up the magazine.

So, it can happen, but it shouldn't if you watch what you're doing.

Ken

[G-ManBart]

As to driving them too fast... that is not mainly what we do here. I'm sure that some Open Division shooters may push a bullet faster than plated are supposed to go, which is about 1200fps maximum, but otherwise there is no reason to worry.

Virtually all Open shooters are shooting a bullet faster than 1200fps. There might be a few (I only know one) folks using heavy bullets (like 147gr), but they are in an extremely small group. The most common weights are 115gr, 121gr and 1224/125gr. The slowest you can make major with 125s is about 1325fps. My load with a 115gr bullet is at, or slightly above 1500fps. R,