Precision bullets

[njl]

I recently bought some 200gr round nose flat point coated bullets from Precision. I loaded two dummies and 50 test rounds the other night. My first dummy round was loaded to 1.210" and after test chambering it in a G30, G21, and 1911, I noticed that something had cut apparently though the coating just above the case mouth. I then decided to go a little shorter, and loaded the rest closer to 1.200". I don't think I can go too much shorter without losing the bearing surface under the case mouth, which I'm guessing is not a good idea. While loading those 50, I came across 3 bullets that were either damaged in shipping or production, where the coating on the bearing surface was either scuffed up or just not at all smooth looking.

From my 1911, those might not be a big deal, but my reason for buying these was to have bullets for my Glocks for ranges that don't allow jacketed bullets. I'm guessing if the bearing surface coating isn't perfect, I don't want to put those bullets through stock Glock barrels. Is this common with Precision, and is it as big a deal as I'm thinking it might be? My test batches, I loaded with 4.5 and 4.7gr WST. I'm hoping to get somewhere in the low to mid 800s FPS out of these.

[GForceLizard]

I have never noticed a problem with the coating not being complete on a Precision Bullet. Without pictures I can't be sure if the "perfect" surface is a problem or not on your bullets. I'm always careful to have enough bell on the case when loading. Too little bell and you cut the coating. I also measure my crimp to be sure I'm using only as much as necessary. Too much crimp on a moly can cut the coating. Yes, they are more sensitive than jacketed bullets.

[GregJ]

I've run a bunch of these through my Kimbers, IIRC I used an OAL of 1.200 RE the coating on the bearing surface, if you dont have a generous bell and ensure the bullet is straight when seating, you may shave off some of the coating. Look at the shell plate to make sure there are no slivers of the cloating laying around.

[njl]

Here are some pics I shot of the "reject" bullets and the dummies. You can see on the left dummy, the cut in the coating one of my guns gave it while chambering or extracting.

Looking at them again today, I kind of wonder if I was being too critical when I set these aside as rejects. Just to clarify, these didn't get torn up loading them with insufficient bell. I noticed the surface imperfections on these when I picked each of them up from the bullet tray, and they never met a case mouth.

Edited March 23, 2012 by njl

[gordonm1]

It may have been 2 years since I last bought another 2k of the prec 200gr rnfp but my xd45 tactical barrel required I load them at 1.200" COAL. They could have changed there bullet making methods by now.

Your bullets look a little rough but shootable. Second photo bullet on the left looks like seater stem put a circular dent above the case. To me, that's a possible sign of wrong stem being used or too much bell being taken out while seating or maybe the bullet just got started into the case a little crooked.

I only saw one other mark probably from chambering. These bullets are not durable enough to load and reload a bunch of times in a weapon. I read they are swaged lead.

I've gotten a few rejects that seem to have missed the swager. They are just moly coated bits of lead wire.

Edited March 24, 2012 by gordonm1

[CocoBolo]

The marks are typical of an OAL that is too long. The surface imperfections look bad with the bullet blown up 400 times its size, got to love these new digital cameras. These bullets rode in a run down mail truck with a flat spotted tire and got tumbled in the box. Again normal.

A Manson reamer can provided more head space or just shorten them down till they fit. Adjust powder charge accordingly.

I've shot a lot of them, they are good bullets, don't OCD it till you shoot them.

I prefer the SWC 200gr which load at 1.260. My OAL on these RN are 1.200 in a Caspian, and that is a tight fit. .

[njl]

I hadn't even thought about drop checking these into the various chambers. The OAL is so much shorter than what I'd done with 230gr FMJ that I didn't think being too long was possible. I'll check that and see what I find.

I don't think I can use the SWC. From what I've read, G30s and SWC don't play nice.

As for the huge blow-ups...believe it or not, those are iphone4 pictures.

The rings a little more than half way up the visible portions of the bullets are from the Dillon FMJ seating stem. My only other choice would be to flip it and use the SWC side, but that seemed an even worse fit.

[njl]

I just tested dropping some of the loaded rounds into the G30, G21, and 1911 barrels. In all, they dropped in, shook around, and dropped out. The cut in the coating seems to be something done by the right side of mouth of the 1911 chamber. It's far enough up the ogive that I don't think it'll be an issue as far as leading goes.

[noylj]

It must be me, but those don't even look like Precision Bullets to me--or at least not like any I have have ever used.

You can always do the unthinkable--load 'em and shoot 'em and see if your concerns have any merit.

This isn't brain surgery or rocket science...

[Scootertheshooter]

I have gotten thousands of them and did not look like your pics. They do look shootable. On my crimp I crimp just enough so they drop in the case gauge easy and I'm done.

[njl]

It must be me, but those don't even look like Precision Bullets to me--or at least not like any I have have ever used.

You can always do the unthinkable--load 'em and shoot 'em and see if your concerns have any merit.

This isn't brain surgery or rocket science...

I've loaded and shot a few small batches for chronograph/short range accuracy testing (target at 7yds, chronograph between me and the target). So far, they've shot great (very accurate), but I haven't shot enough of them to know if leading is an issue.