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Plated bullets


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Okay I have gone through a few thousand coated bullets and have had issues with rounds not chambering. I am convinced it is the bullets so I ordered a box of plated bullets from extreme. I loaded 20 rounds to test all of them fit my EGW gauge and all cycle smoothy through the gun. The one thing I am seeing is the bullets will setback 0.001"-0.003" after cycling though the gun from the magazine the first time and even more the second time. I have used plated bullets exclusivly in my 9mm for the past year and don't seem to notice this issue with them. I do not want to overcrimp the rounds so I am wondering if I should try a U die to add more neck tension or if this amount of setback is normal?

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I don't see it but others have reported various degrees of setback when chambering. I've probably loaded 20-30k plated bullets from Xtreme, Berriers, and Ranier and I chambered a couple rounds 10 times and got maybe .002. The folks that do report it normally report more than what you are seeing. I probably wouldn't worry about .001-.003. I get that much variation in just the bullets themselves.

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You may want to crimp just a little more. I do a push test when a am setting up my dies to run a load. I take a finished round in my hand and push it against my bench with moderat pressure and see if the bullet moves.. Like DR said .003 is not much to wory about....

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Yeah I was going to say just a hair more crimp. Loaded up 500 of the Xtreme 200 grn plated and didn't have any problem with them seating back. I also check when first setting up that i have enough case tension.

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I check my headspace with barrel in hand rather than a cker. Just me. Try pulling a few bullets and watch for a a ring. If you have one you have too much crimp for a plated. I get by if there's a faint mark or if there's not any at all. Less is better with plated.

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Edited by grouptherapy
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Personally, I don't stress too much about crimping. I have shot tens of thousands of plated rounds with various degrees of crimp - mostly with lots of crimp so that it marks the plated head. The effect on accuracy has been zero. Ever.

I would rather avoid setback - which is potentially life threatening - and "overcrimping" seems to have no negative consequences in my CZs. So I crimp quite a lot.

The important thing (as far as I'm concerned) is to make sure you don't buckle the case by overcrimping, and that the mouth of the case can still headspace in the chamber (it must not be pushed too far into the bullet head)

As long as you meet those requirements, you should be good to go. Try it and see what works for you.

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Personally, I don't stress too much about crimping. I have shot tens of thousands of plated rounds with various degrees of crimp - mostly with lots of crimp so that it marks the plated head. The effect on accuracy has been zero. Ever.

That's good to know. I noticed that there was a ring around my plated bullet after crimping and I didn't see any difference in accuracy so good to know I am not the only one. Only difference is it makes the OAL about .005-.010" longer due to the changing of the nose but it's not a problem with my mags either.

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If the case is sized and belled properly you need very little crimp from my experience. I did crimp too hard when I started and learned that a hard crimp on a plated bullet is not my friend an not needed if everything else is set correctly. I save a hard crimp for my jacketed stuff Just me.

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Edited by grouptherapy
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Mine aren't over crimped at all. They are .422-423 at the crimp. I know guys going down to .420. Using the EGW U Die I noticed that with the case sized down that much more that just the seating and standard crimp can effect the bullet with the ring on the tip. Even with my standard sizer i notice it.

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