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Blue Bullets


zhunter

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Anybody loaded the 147 gr RN (without grooves) in the 38 Super? I searched but didn't have any luck. I'd like to try them in my Kimber using 231, WST, Bullseye, or Titegroup. Plenty of 9mm loads but almost nothing for the Super. Something around 900 - 950 fps for fun...

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Don't know if it's the bullet shape or Blue Bullets in particular, but check fit in your barrel before you load too many.1.15 OAL works great in my gun for RN and HP plated bullets, but hangs up with the BB flat point 147 grain bullets. For some reason, no problems with the first set of 20 that I loaded to test velocity and accuracy. The run of 200 that I loaded now are too long. Need to push the slide against something hard to get it to retract with a bullet in the chamber. Did the plunk test, and they all seem to be doing that. They stand out about 1/8 inch from where they should be. I had run them all through the case gauge without a problem but it never occurred to me to try the plunk test with my barrel. This is with an M&P pro 9mm w/ 5" barrel.

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Well, I guess I'll get the ball rolling and load up some test rounds for the Super! Can't shoot major loads all the time!

147grBlueBullet.jpg

Bullet: Blue Bullets 147 gr. RN Coated
Powder: Alliant Bullseye 3.8 grs.
Primer: CCI-500
Case: PMC .38 Super +P
LOAL: 1.260
Recoil Spring: 10 lbs. (With Buffer)
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I've gone through thousands of those 147gr round nose under 3.0 grains of Bullseye in my Glock 34. That's pretty much all I've shot since about October, and probably won't change through the rest of this year.

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Shooting the 147gr flat point out of my M&P pro and not at all impressed with the accuracy using Titegroup. With both 2.8 and 3.1 grains, very accurate at 12' over the chrono, but groups open up to 4-5 inches at 30'. A friend mentioned that I may get better accuracy with a different powder. I have both Power Pistol and ETR-7. Any recommendations?

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Shooting the 147gr flat point out of my M&P pro and not at all impressed with the accuracy using Titegroup. With both 2.8 and 3.1 grains, very accurate at 12' over the chrono, but groups open up to 4-5 inches at 30'. A friend mentioned that I may get better accuracy with a different powder. I have both Power Pistol and ETR-7. Any recommendations?

With powder charges that low (3 and under grains), some powders do yield rather erratic results, both with accuracy and velocity. For instance, VV N320 will yield erratic results with powder charges in the low 3's, but get it up to the mid to upper 3's with 147's and you will find the sweet spot. At those low charges - 3 and under, you have a lot of empty case between the powder and bullet. How the powder is sitting in the case with that much empty space can have an effect on both accuracy and velocity. Slightly slower powders such as N320 and WST, perhaps even WSF, will fill up more of the case volume, leaving less empty space under the bullet. That is what I meant by try a different (slower) powder. It may also depend on your gun and barrel and its particular "likes". I was at 3.6 or 3.7 grains of N320 with a 150 grain lead 9mm bullet and around 4 grains of WST with a jacketed MG 147.

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Thanks Whitefish. Do you shoot at ARPC?

Yep, if you want to call what I did on Saturday at the points match actually shooting. I thought I owed you a better explanation than what I gave you outside the club office on Friday. As I said, it is not so much the powder as it is the very low charge weights you are using that are causing the erratic accuracy. I'll bet your velocities vary widely as well. That is why I said you might try something like WST or N320 that requires a higher charge weight and fills up the case more. Titegroup probably feels good with that bullet, but those charge weights are very, very low for best results.

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LOL - after I thought about your comments, looked closer at your screen name, and then at your Avatar, the light bulb came on and I realized who you were. Considering the powder I have on hand, I'll try a few Power Pistol loads and see how they work. I came up with 3.8 and 4.1 grains at a 1.08 OAL. If they don't work out, not a big deal as I've still got plenty of titegroup and 125g hp plated bullets left, and that combination is working well. If a certain bullet combination isn't going to work with my gun, I'll just move on and concentrate on the real goal - shooting more and trying to not suck as bad!

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Shooting the 147gr flat point out of my M&P pro and not at all impressed with the accuracy using Titegroup. With both 2.8 and 3.1 grains, very accurate at 12' over the chrono, but groups open up to 4-5 inches at 30'. A friend mentioned that I may get better accuracy with a different powder. I have both Power Pistol and ETR-7. Any recommendations?

Loading the blue bullet 147 for my M&P i found groupings didnt do well when using WST at 3.6gr but the 124 at 4.0 shot one hole at 50' talked to S&W there twist rate is not good for the really heavy 147. so i bought a storm lake barrel and they work pretty well now. but now i shoot the 147 in my marauder and my steel master and they love them.

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LOL - after I thought about your comments, looked closer at your screen name, and then at your Avatar, the light bulb came on and I realized who you were. Considering the powder I have on hand, I'll try a few Power Pistol loads and see how they work. I came up with 3.8 and 4.1 grains at a 1.08 OAL. If they don't work out, not a big deal as I've still got plenty of titegroup and 125g hp plated bullets left, and that combination is working well. If a certain bullet combination isn't going to work with my gun, I'll just move on and concentrate on the real goal - shooting more and trying to not suck as bad!

M&P's don't get along with heavy bullets
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Yesterday I tried them in my Glock 17L with it's Lone Wolf barrel and I was impressed again. I've never been too happy with lead bullets in the 9mm but this load changed my mind. Got results just like those in my .38 Super.

9mm147grBlueBulletRN.jpg

Bullet: Blue Bullets 147 gr. RN Coated
Powder: Alliant Bullseye 3.25 grs.
Primer: Winchester Small Pistol
Case: Federal
LOAL: 1.145
Recoil Spring: ISMI 13 lb. recoil spring and Jager Polymer Guide Rod
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Shooting the 147gr flat point out of my M&P pro and not at all impressed with the accuracy using Titegroup. With both 2.8 and 3.1 grains, very accurate at 12' over the chrono, but groups open up to 4-5 inches at 30'. A friend mentioned that I may get better accuracy with a different powder. I have both Power Pistol and ETR-7. Any recommendations?

3.5 of ETR7 is working good for me with coated 147's. But as was stated above some M&P's don't like heavy bullets in 9mm.

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M&P 4.25 and 5" have two barrel types

Older have a 16:1 twist, not too friendly with 147s

Newer have a 10:1 twist, should be more friendly with 147s

Telltale is one or two dots punched on bottom of barrel

Problem with new barrels, at least the one I have, is a short leade.

Had to do a lot of plunk testing on previous loads and reload redevelopment

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Shooting the 147gr flat point out of my M&P pro and not at all impressed with the accuracy using Titegroup. With both 2.8 and 3.1 grains, very accurate at 12' over the chrono, but groups open up to 4-5 inches at 30'. A friend mentioned that I may get better accuracy with a different powder. I have both Power Pistol and ETR-7. Any recommendations?

I've been shooting the 147gr FP's out of my M&P using Power Pistol - mostly just out of necessity as that's all I could find for a while.

My recipe has been 4.0gr of Power Pistol at an OAL of 1.10". It's been working reasonably well, though when I can find it I much prefer to shoot Bullseye. Haven't had a chance to work up a load with Bullseye & the blue bullets though.

This is out of the old type barrel (my gun was made December 2010).

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I'm probably sounding like a broke record but yesterday I got carried away shooting fast with my 17L. Just blasting away having fun when I decided to check how hot the barrel was getting. I touched the barrel through the slide port and got two burnt fingers (not smart!). Still had no leading...

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Finally had a chance to chrono some loads with Power Pistol. 1.08 OAL seems to work well with the 147g flat nose in my M&P pro. This is the newer, 10 in 1 twist rate, 5" barrel. At 4.0 grains, made 930 ft/sec avg, for a 137 PF. 2" accuracy at 12' over the chrono and 3" at 30'. At 3.7 grains, made 889 ft/sec for a 131 PF. Had 1 1/2 " inches over the chrono and 2" at 30'. I can live with that.

Shot up the rest of the ones that I had made earlier with TiteGroup. Pretty smokey. Someone mentioned that it's probably because of how fast and hot TG burns combined with the lead.

Just for fun, I ran some Freedom Munitions reman 147g round nose over the chrono. 137 PF and very accurate at 30'. Was getting 1" groups. When I have the time, will get some plated 147g RN from X-Treme and see how they work out with different powders.

Edited by PiratePast40
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Just received my case of 124rn blue bullets and loaded some up last night.

My oal for my czs turned out 1.120 which is a little shorter than all my plated 124grn rn which 1.135. I load BBI 125gr to 1.110.

Coating seems tougher than the hitec.

I hear the range calling and can't wait to see how accurate these are.

I used 7625 but have BE, WSF, WST, CFE and universal so if anyone has the 124gr with these powders listed I would be interest.

Edited by GJGary
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I bought 750 147grn 9mm blues and like what I've tested so far. Soft shooting at 4.2 grn of Accurate no. 7 and little to no smell indoors. Just need to test accuracy and I'm good to go in bulk.

Question for you on the Blue Bullets and Accurate Arms #7 powder. I thought I was the only one that used that powder. Can you tell me what bullet did you use from their load data for the 147gr? I'm thinking of ordering some of the 147gr RN bullets from Blue Bullets but was trying to figure out what load data to use. Accurate suggested treating them as lead bullets but that didn't help me much and I was having trouble deciding on bullet what to use from the data and what grain powder. I thought I had it figured out for the 147gr RN would be 5.7gr of AA#7 but then I saw you were using way less powder and that confused me. The data sheet showed this for a 147gr RN (147 (P) RAIN TRN 5.7gr) I'm still new to reloading. Did some like 10 years ago and picking it back up now and trying to get my load figured out. Any ideas or information you can share?

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I just picked up some 9mm blue bullets. 115gr and 147gr to try out.

Currently I'm using

Power Pistol 4.4 grs with an Xtreme 147gr Bullet

Power Pstol 5.8 grs with an xtreme 115 gr Bullet

Where should I start out with these Blue bullets? Will the load change alot? I do not have a Chrono and not looking to make any PF's just some plicking

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