Moving to coated bullets - need suggestions

[olstyn]

On 6/13/2018 at 8:01 AM, bowenbuilt said:

The only problem i see is the OAL you are looking for. The new 124 grain bullet from ACME that was redesigned for a longer OAL might get you there but i do not believe you will get that with any of the other of the makers. The  new ACME bullet was designed to address the short OAL in CZ's and other short chambered guns. You might want to get a sample order from each of the ones named above to find out which one works best for you.

 

Yeah, their old 124-grain round nose did not work out for me.  I ordered a 500-round pack from Acme to try out last summer, and in my guns (Walther P99 and P99c), I could not get rounds loaded any longer than 1.037" to pass the plunk test.  A few weeks ago, I put an ad on my local forum trying to get rid of the almost complete package at roughly $0.05/bullet, but no takers so far - I think I might have to call it a loss.  :(

 

If they've changed to a more short-throat friendly profile, I may give them another try at some point, but I did just buy a case of blues (125 TC), and they happily load at 1.12" for me, so maybe I"ll just stick with them.  Once bitten, twice shy and all that.

[IDescribe]

The problem with his 1.15 OAL is that his gun does not love 1.15 OAL.  His gun might do well with that bullet he uses at that OAL, but the gun couldn't care less.  Remember that OAL is the distance from the head stamp to the nose, and the nose never actually touches the pistol.  How far the nose is from the headstamp has no ballistic effect whatsoever.  What he needs to do is learn how to determine OAL for his CZ, then buy good bullets and load them to an OAL best suited for that pistol, and 1.15 won't be it for most bullets.

 

[Jollymon32]

7 hours ago, IDescribe said:

The problem with his 1.15 OAL is that his gun does not love 1.15 OAL.  His gun might do well with that bullet he uses at that OAL, but the gun couldn't care less.  Remember that OAL is the distance from the head stamp to the nose, and the nose never actually touches the pistol.  How far the nose is from the headstamp has no ballistic effect whatsoever.  What he needs to do is learn how to determine OAL for his CZ, then buy good bullets and load them to an OAL best suited for that pistol, and 1.15 won't be it for most bullets.

 

So the gun(s) have shot OAL’s from 1.09 to 1.15.  I seem to get the best accuracy from 1.15 albeit sooty cases.  At 1.09 I get clean cases but a wider spread.

 

l know how to plunk test a round, that is how I came to the 1.15 size - looking for the max size to see if accuracy is increased.

 

The reason I brought up size was for the exact information provided, input on people’s experiences.

 

Thanks everyone for the input!

 

[IDescribe]

What I'm saying is that the 1.15 you have found best accuracy with is only for bullets you have tested that with, and it will vary bullet to bullet.  

 

It might be accurate to say that your gun likes 1.15 with Bullet X.  But it's entirely inaccurate to say the gun likes 1.15.  That OAL will work best for some bullets, and not for most others.   And you shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that somehow that OAL is right for the pistol, regardless of bullet choice.  There are plenty of bullets that won't even seat that long in your pistol.  All of the ballistically relevant measurements you might make can be similar or exactly the same at a wide variety of OAL measurements. 

 

If, for example, your bullet does especially well with bullets seated exactly .010 outside of rifling engagement, or with the base seated exactly .230 into the case - - two ballistically relevent measurements - - that can happen at OAL 1.15 or 1.10, entirely dependent on bullet profile. Im not saying those are the keys to accuracy, just that they are ballistically relevant and entirely independent of OAL across a spectrum of bullet profiles. 

 

Another way to put it - - whatever makes Bullet X do so well at OAL 1.15 has nothing to do with OAL.  It has to do with other  variables that are not OAL dependent and will be achieved with various OALs with different bullets. 

 

The reason I addressed it is because you said your pistol loved 1.15, and people started to discuss bullets that might load that long, and you shouldn't be basing bullet decisions on such a data point. It doesn't matter. 

[4n2t0]

4 hours ago, IDescribe said:

What I'm saying is that the 1.15 you have found best accuracy with is only for bullets you have tested that with, and it will vary bullet to bullet.  

 

It might be accurate to say that your gun likes 1.15 with Bullet X.  But it's entirely inaccurate to say the gun likes 1.15.  That OAL will work best for some bullets, and not for most others.   And you shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that somehow that OAL is right for the pistol, regardless of bullet choice.  There are plenty of bullets that won't even seat that long in your pistol.  All of the ballistically relevant measurements you might make can be similar or exactly the same at a wide variety of OAL measurements. 

 

If, for example, your bullet does especially well with bullets seated exactly .010 outside of rifling engagement, or with the base seated exactly .230 into the case - - two ballistically relevent measurements - - that can happen at OAL 1.15 or 1.10, entirely dependent on bullet profile. Im not saying those are the keys to accuracy, just that they are ballistically relevant and entirely independent of OAL across a spectrum of bullet profiles. 

 

Another way to put it - - whatever makes Bullet X do so well at OAL 1.15 has nothing to do with OAL.  It has to do with other  variables that are not OAL dependent and will be achieved with various OALs with different bullets. 

 

The reason I addressed it is because you said your pistol loved 1.15, and people started to discuss bullets that might load that long, and you shouldn't be basing bullet decisions on such a data point. It doesn't matter. 

 

I thought I had it covered, lol.

 

On 6/13/2018 at 1:43 PM, 4n2t0 said:

New bullet, new OAL. Your gun only "loves" the current OAL because the barrel/bullet/powder combination works. Since one of those factors are about to change you can ditch the idea of needing to keep the OAL the same.

 

Change is good...............lol.

 

Edited June 18, 2018 by 4n2t0

[jlo86cj]

I would recommend Gallant 125's sized to .356 min. I have two Accushadows that the barrels slugged .356, so I buy them sized to .357. Gallant has proven to be more consistent in weight and coating for me.

[Adamj]

I have loaded bayou, blue, and fmjs in my atlas titan, glock 34, CZ 75, and numerous revolvers with great success.