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Giving black bullets a try


shooterDrew

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I've been reloading for a few years but ramping it up toward the end of last year and into this year. So far I've reloaded some hard cast .45s from Missouri Bullet co. They seemed solid. That was pretty slow reloading time for me and I had no bad issues with them. Next I moved on to xtreme bullets in 9mm and 40. (Soon to try .45) They were good. No issues there either. Now I've found black bullets international. Ordered a 500 rnd box of 147gr FP to try out. I was able to get 100 loaded up tonight. So far they seem like a decent bullet. Obviously putting some down range will tell, but at $43 shipped for 500 147s (and considerably less if you are buying in bulk) its something to consider. I'll follow up with some thoughts once I shoot these side by side with my extreme bullets....

And just fyi what I've been loading is 3.2gr of bullseye with 147 gr at 1.135" ... Was making just shy of 130pf

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My buddy and I have been using the BBIs for a few months in 135 and 147 with good results. Very consistent results with 3.1gr Titegroup at 1.080 OAL, making a shade over 130 PF.

How is the smoke situation with the combo of TG and their new coating??? Old coating & TG = lots of smoke,

Too much for indoors or the wrong conditions outdoors.

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I shoot a lot of BBI bullets, I like them. I haven't tried TG and the new coating yet, but plan to in the next few months. N320 is my go to powder for 9mm 147FP BBI bullets and I will run out this year if I don't find some. I have however, been seeing a lot of TG on the shelves.

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If you are looking for good value, no smell, try Blue Bullets. Been shooting these for about 10k rounds no problems, group well and clean barrel. Work great in my 40 cal. Sight Tracker AET barrel. Also used in my 45acp and 9mm.

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I am also testing BBI moving from Xtreme. My only challenge others than the smell and smoke is that they don't gauge in my Dillon case gauge if they are longer than 1.10 (trying 1.14 now). Worked fine for Xtreme.

Anyone else notice this issue? What do you use to gauge your 9mm BBI loads?

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BBI RN bullets have a huge bulbous nose. They must be loaded considerably shorter than other bullets to fit my XDM. I can't explain why they won't fit in your gauge as they fit my gauges perfectly even when waaay too long. Case gauge should only be checking the case not the bullet.

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Put about 90 through my M&P9 pro and Kimber 9mm today. Had a few issues with feeding, however, I was experimenting with some recoil/striker spring combinations. That only lasted about 10-15 rounds and once the factory springs were back in the M&P fed them fine.

They seemed accurate, I didn't sandbag it and really go for accuracy, but was able to ring some B/C sized steel at 50 yards.

There was definitely some heavy odor with these bullets. I was outdoors and it was immediately noticeable. Not unbearable, but might be a different story at an indoor range.

I was loading bullseye powder, 3.2gr, and did not notice any smoking at all. I will be switching to Titegroup when this pound of powder is gone so I'll have to reevaluate once that happens.

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Got out and did some comparison over the chrono with xtreme 147s and BBI 147s. Over the same load (3.2gr bullseye) BBI were avg 917fps - 134pf and the xtremes were avg 886fps - 130pf. I guess I'll back the powder off another tenth or two and chrono again and see if I can keep them around 128pf or so. I can deal with the smell and the rest seemed positive so I'll probably pick up a case of them for my next couple / few months of shooting.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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Update.. After going through 500 BBI 147gr 9mm I actually gave Bayou Bullets a try. I've read a lot of threads where people have great things to say so I figured why not. In the pic, bayous in the red(ish) and BBI in the black (obviously). Hard to tell much difference in the bullets side by side. And performance on paper seemed pretty similar. Only thing I did notice was no odor with the bayous. I have switched to Titegroup and the 147gr bayou over 3.0 grains making minor PF with no real smoke that I notice while shooting. Overall I'd be happy with either bullet, slight edge to bayou on the chemical-odor free shooting experience. For now I intend on blasting away with bayous this season.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I tried to like them but man, they smell like cancer after you shoot them.

This made me laugh as I too had a problem with the smell of BBI bullets. I switched to Blue Bullets, they load and shoot the same as BBI and that funky smell is no more. Pricing is close to the same as well.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I load the BBI bullets in WST in 40 with 180g - no smoke or odor noticed at all.

I do like Xtreme with TiteGroup.

Another bullet to try is Acme - tried some in 9mm 147g and found them accurate and no odor with W231.

Right now price is more my guide than any change in performance.

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