Thinking about going coated...

[SCTaylor]

Glocked - I see you were at 1.16 with the Xtremes. In my experience, plated and coated are very similar in charge weights. 3.2 grains of TG w/ a 147 coated is a solid minor PF load AT 1.10".... With your load a 1.15 it should still be safe to run 3.2. But you really, really need to get on a chrono to verify.

Where are you located? I'd be there is someone near by that will help. 

Edited November 4, 2016 by SCTaylor

[CrashDodson]

I am sure I will get heat for saying this but I wouldn't worry too much about the details unless it just interest you.  People make reloading more difficult and scary sounding then it needs to be.  I have a lyman book I have never opened.  I shoot .40 with 180 grain bullets and 4 grains of ramshot comp powder with an OAL of 1.2.  I went to the ramshot website and found their load data for 40 with comp.  I also found what others where shooting in my OAL range.

180 (P) RAIN RNFP
Start 3.0 727
Max 3.6 818
OAL 1.120

I picked a bullet profile that was close to mine.  Took the max and backed off .2.  Worked up 20 rounds from 3.4 - 4.0 until I reached the powerfactor I was looking for.  Would you run 4 grains of this at 1.120...probably not recommended.  but at 1.2 its fine but your not going to find that information in any book.  

Edited November 4, 2016 by CrashDodson

[CrashDodson]

1 minute ago, SCTaylor said:

But you really, really need to get on a chrono to verify.

Where are you located? I'd be there is someone near by that will help. 

If you dont have a chrono or access to one I would stop messing with loads until you do.  Its pointless. 

[e4effort]

Running ACME 125gr with a minor load and they feel great considering I was shooting x-treme 147s right before I changed. Can't argue the price either!

[IGOTGLOCKED]

On 11/4/2016 at 0:04 PM, SCTaylor said:

Glocked - I see you were at 1.16 with the Xtremes. In my experience, plated and coated are very similar in charge weights. 3.2 grains of TG w/ a 147 coated is a solid minor PF load AT 1.10".... With your load a 1.15 it should still be safe to run 3.2. But you really, really need to get on a chrono to verify.

Where are you located? I'd be there is someone near by that will help. 

Yuppers, convinced on having a chrono now...

[IGOTGLOCKED]

On 11/4/2016 at 0:07 PM, CrashDodson said:

If you dont have a chrono or access to one I would stop messing with loads until you do.  Its pointless. 

Understood and thanks!

 

On 11/4/2016 at 9:01 PM, e4effort said:

Running ACME 125gr with a minor load and they feel great considering I was shooting x-treme 147s right before I changed. Can't argue the price either!

What made you switch from x-147 to A-125..?

[jeffroberdo]

On 10/30/2016 at 6:50 PM, 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.

The marks like that on the bottom of the bullet are from pulling the bullets with a hammer style bullet puller.

 

[72stick]

I've been reloading for several years and this will be my first attempt at casting & coating my own bullets. I picked up a used Magma Engineering Master Caster set up with several molds for different calibers and a Star Lubesizer before the election. The Master Caster is awesome! It's the Dillon press for casting bullets. Depending on the caliber, you can cast 500 to 800 bullets an hour.

I built a new reloading bench to start casting just before I had support hand surgery on the 18th. The hand is coming around now and I ran off a couple hundred 147g cast bullets.  The casting set up also included 3 different 1 lb. bottles of powder coat and several toaster ovens. The powder coat process is crazy easy. I made a wire basket for the bullets to ride in the oven and heated the bullets up to about 140 degrees for 5 min. I dumped them and a generous amount of Harbor Freight red power coat into a plastic container with a lid and gave them a good shake. I put them back in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 min. They're not quite as pretty as the Hi-Techs from the commercial caster/coaters, but the coating doesn't come off after running the bullets through the Star sizer or reloading. It's so cheap and easy it's nuts.

I loaded up some test rounds and pulled several bullets to check for crimp rings and to see if the coating came off. They looked perfect. I can't wait to see how they shoot in my STI Edge 9mm. I'm planning on this being my 3gun ammo first, and then I'll switch molds to try working up my .40 load to shoot USPSA.

Edited November 26, 2016 by 72stick

[IGOTGLOCKED]

4 hours ago, 72stick said:

I've been reloading for several years and this will be my first attempt at casting & coating my own bullets. I picked up a used Magma Engineering Master Caster set up with several molds for different calibers and a Star Lubesizer before the election. The Master Caster is awesome! It's the Dillon press for casting bullets. Depending on the caliber, you can cast 500 to 800 bullets an hour.

I built a new reloading bench to start casting just before I had support hand surgery on the 18th. The hand is coming around now and I ran off a couple hundred 147g cast bullets.  The casting set up also included 3 different 1 lb. bottles of powder coat and several toaster ovens. The powder coat process is crazy easy. I made a wire basket for the bullets to ride in the oven and heated the bullets up to about 140 degrees for 5 min. I dumped them and a generous amount of Harbor Freight red power coat into a plastic container with a lid and gave them a good shake. I put them back in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 min. They're not quite as pretty as the Hi-Techs from the commercial caster/coaters, but the coating does come off after running the bullets through the Star sizer or reloading. It's so cheap and easy it's nuts.

I loaded up some test rounds and pulled several bullets to check for crimp rings and to see if the coating came off. They looked perfect. I can't wait to see how they shoot in my STI Edge 9mm. I'm planning on this being my 3gun ammo first, and then I'll switch molds to try working up my .40 load to shoot USPSA.

Awesome, looks great, let us know how they shoot!

[72stick]

I tried shooting my home grown cast/powder coated bullets through the STI Edge and JP PCC today. The hand isn't quite ready for competition yet and there's a price to be paid for working it too hard, but I figured it would hold up for a couple shots. 

All I can say is Wow! I had know idea cast bullets could make this much difference in accuracy. I can't get a full grip on the pistol with my support hand yet, but I got a couple good ones off at 25 yards before it fell apart. The PCC was much easier to hold. The thing that I find the most interesting about these cast bullets is that they work better in either gun than any factory ammo I've tried or my hand loads with jacketed or plated bullets. I haven't even tuned this load yet! I just used the recipe from the previous owner and if it's not perfect, it's a really good one.

 

[IGOTGLOCKED]

On 11/7/2016 at 3:42 PM, IGOTGLOCKED said:

Understood and thanks!

 

What made you switch from x-147 to A-125..?

Apologies I missed this... I went from x-147 plated to Acme 145 as opposed to the 147 because this is what their competition team shoots. Plus it's a RN vs: FN which I can't help but believe loads easier and they are much less expensive...

Cheers!

Edited November 28, 2016 by IGOTGLOCKED

[IGOTGLOCKED]

2 hours ago, 72stick said:

I tried shooting my home grown cast/powder coated bullets through the STI Edge and JP PCC today. The hand isn't quite ready for competition yet and there's a price to be paid for working it too hard, but I figured it would hold up for a couple shots. 

All I can say is Wow! I had know idea cast bullets could make this much difference in accuracy. I can't get a full grip on the pistol with my support hand yet, but I got a couple good ones off at 25 yards before it fell apart. The PCC was much easier to hold. The thing that I find the most interesting about these cast bullets is that they work better in either gun than any factory ammo I've tried or my hand loads with jacketed or plated bullets. I haven't even tuned this load yet! I just used the recipe from the previous owner and if it's not perfect, it's a really good one.

 

Glad to hear you are so pleased!

[IGOTGLOCKED]

So I posted my interest in going coated just about two months ago. Since that posting I have gone 100% coated (obviously with the exception of EDC) and have shot several thousand rounds. So now I wondering why I didn't go coated sooner?!!!

If anyone else has thought about it and has not yet tried coated, I'd encourage you to seriously give them a shot!

 

[Darrell]

Here is some of my load data with chrono and accuracy test with Bayou Bullets 9mm bullets. I haven't updated it but the 124 TC likes and OAL of 1.070-1.080. Best accuracy so far has been with 3.5 gr of Bullseye, I haven't added that load yet to my spreadsheet, but out of my ransom rest the 10 shot group was 1.09" in my Accu-shadow. 

Darrell's Load Data.pdf

[IGOTGLOCKED]

20 hours ago, Darrell said:

Here is some of my load data with chrono and accuracy test with Bayou Bullets 9mm bullets. I haven't updated it but the 124 TC likes and OAL of 1.070-1.080. Best accuracy so far has been with 3.5 gr of Bullseye, I haven't added that load yet to my spreadsheet, but out of my ransom rest the 10 shot group was 1.09" in my Accu-shadow. 

Darrell's Load Data.pdf

Sweet!