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Thinking about going coated...


IGOTGLOCKED

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18 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

Flat-nosed bullets (obviously) tend to be shorter and fatter in profile. That means that in many firearms you'd have to load a 147 very, very short. Makes like CZ or Smith M&P come to mind, which have very short chambers. A Glock will certainly still take them out to 1.140 or 1.150" OAL and perhaps even longer, so I do not think it matters too much.

Right, my recipe now is an x-treme 147 RN with 3.2 gr Titegroup behind it @ 1.160 and is the most accurate load I've shot so far :-)

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On 10/13/2016 at 4:20 PM, MemphisMechanic said:

No, nothing on YouTube. Only things to do different:

Any time you change bullets, make sure they pass the "plunk and spin" test.

Bell the case mouth a bit more so that no coating is scraped off.

Crimp just until the case wall is no longer flared. Then pull a bullet and verify that the coating is not being cut, nor the bullet accidentally resized during crimp. You should barely be able to see and feel a line on the bullet where the case mouth was.

"Crimp just until the case wall is no longer flared"

Consequently if I measured the mouth of the case right after the sizing die this should be a good start as to enough crimp?

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Here is what I have gleaned so far in regard to switching from plated to coated:

* Open case mouth a little more to avoid scraping coating

* Reduce charge by 10% to begin with

* Do plunk & spin test as usual with any bullet change

* Use taper crimp (which is what the Dillon 650 crimp die is)

* Crimp just until the flare is taken out / crimp just until it plunks in my barrel then pull a few and check for scraping

I don't want to wait much longer to order what I need as I think "things" are going to tighten up pretty soon if SHE whose name cannot be mentioned has anything to do with it:angry:

Any other advice?

Thx!

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That looks good.  I have never pulled a bullet.  If loading a bullet with the high-tek coating you will see it shave off in the seating station if you dont have enough flare.  I personally use the redding competition seating die.  I find it seats more consistent and I like the fine tuning.  Trying to adjust the dillon dies with the nut is a PITA.  I use the dillon crimp die and a redding dual ring sizing/decap die.  I forget who makes them but you can get a set of lock rings with a set screw so you can remove your dies without losing their positioning.  This is important if your only running one tool head but multiple calibers.  

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If you get 147s I'd stick with 3.2 of TG worked great in my G17 @1.14 with Blues and Lucky13.

Bore remained virtually spotless in excess of a thousand rounds. Crown would have a little blue to it when shooting blues. Any residue just wiped off/out.

I loaded them with Lee dies using plenty of flare, and minimal crimp, though at the time I was using a FCD, so probably more crimp than necessary.

RN vs FP, whichever feeds and is most accurate, I like FPs for a slightly sharper hole in paper.

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On Thursday, October 13, 2016 at 3:23 PM, IGOTGLOCKED said:

Thanks Intel6, I suspect the natural progression after transitioning to coated would be casting my own, and that is definitely something I'd be interested in! I'd guess one just puts them in an oven to "bake" the coating on? If so we just replaced our kitchen appliances and I could install the old oven in my reloading area - hmmm... Whoa, one step at a time!

Cheers!

You might want to do your casting and baking outside.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Don't know if what I attempted to post sent or not...

Received my Acme coated 145 gr RN & 147 FN. Below are picts. How does the crimp look? Too much or not enough?

Also the side of the bullet where it meets the bottom is scraped a little as seen in the pict below.  No scrapes on side though...

Resized case is 1.373 & belled case is 1.390. It plunked tested fine.

Thanks in advance fro IGG!

belling.jpg

crimp and  scrape.jpg

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1 hour ago, Steve RA said:

Check the inside of the cases, if they have a shoulder in them, sell for scrap.  Many people had case separations at the shoulder.

I went and checked, no shelf/ledge. All were same head stamp for as much consistency as possible.

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2 hours ago, 1sickPuppy said:

I get those same marks at the bottom of the bullet. I'm wondering if it's something inside the case itself. Maybe the case has a shelf of something that marks up the bottom of the bullet seating it that deep.

Nope, and I am belled 17/1000s over the resized case...

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2 hours ago, 1sickPuppy said:

I get those same marks at the bottom of the bullet. I'm wondering if it's something inside the case itself. Maybe the case has a shelf of something that marks up the bottom of the bullet seating it that deep.

Those marks are from the bullet bouncing back up and smacking the brass in the kinetic hammer.

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I may disagree with the others - if there's nothing there that you can feel by touch, that might be okay.

But that's absolutely the most crimp I'd want to use on any bullet type, including FMJs. We don't want any deformation or inadvertent resizing on the surfaces of the bullet that engage the rifling.

As long as they case gauge or chamber check, you're crimping enough. But it's also likely that most reloaders are crimping too much. And you might be - try a bit less and see how it looks.

(as the others said, your bullet drops into the hammerhead of the puller then bounces back up into the case mouth and your find that mark on it. Ignore those.)

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Not sure what press you are using, but I set my expander to the specs Dillon listed in their 650 manual and I get no shaving with coated lead. There is just enough bell to not allow the bullet to fall over when you set it on there. I can basically only feel the bell but it is really had to see the bell. Don't make it harder than it needs to be, and you will be fine.

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I bell about as much as yours in the picture.  If you want to bell less but not shave the bullet the MR bullet feeder funnel/expander works well.  I go down in crimp until they will consistently plunk.  I have never pulled a bullet and mine are more accurate then me.  

put the press all the way in the down stroke and then thread the crimp die down until it touches the case.  Raise the handle and lower the die a little more.  Rinse and repeat with lowering the in small increments until the rounds plunk consistently.  It may be a situation where in order to get the round to chamber in your gun you do need that much crimp.  

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13 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

I may disagree with the others - if there's nothing there that you can feel by touch, that might be okay.

But that's absolutely the most crimp I'd want to use on any bullet type, including FMJs. We don't want any deformation or inadvertent resizing on the surfaces of the bullet that engage the rifling.

As long as they case gauge or chamber check, you're crimping enough. But it's also likely that most reloaders are crimping too much. And you might be - try a bit less and see how it looks.

(as the others said, your bullet drops into the hammerhead of the puller then bounces back up into the case mouth and your find that mark on it. Ignore those.)

Thank you Memphis, makes sense. The light really came on when you said "We don't want any deformation or inadvertent resizing on the surfaces of the bullet that engage the rifling." Just never thought of it that way...

Also regarding the plunk & spin test. Trying to achieve the longest coal, which indicates what?

Won't plunk = crimp

Won't spin = coal

Or?

Thx!

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