Coated Bullets (Ex. Blue Bullets) Help me understand why coated is better than plated please

[Sigarmsp226]

I am an old fart that has reloaded for about 40 years and of course when I started the primary handgun shooting sport was PPC (Not PCC) and I loaded and shot thousands of rounds of 148 HBWC over 2.7gr. Of Bullseye For my 38Spl S&W revolver......In fact I still have several thousand rounds of Zero and Hornady bullets in my reloading inventory...
 

Today related to pistol I mainly load plated bullets for match's and practice.....I read so much about build up in pistol and PCC compensators and muzzle breaks (and I currently load and shoot PCC on a regular basis) so in laymen's terms can you help me understand the advantage of a coated bullet like Blue Bullets over a completely (lead based is not exposed) plated bullet....I ask because it would seem to this simple minded guy that a plated bullet would leave much less residue in a pistols comp or a rifles muzzle break than would a coated bullet because I would think that the “coating”  on a Blue Bullet type bullet would leave more residue....

One guy I shoot with every month at a local Steel Challenge match shoots a GMR-15 and only shoots Blue Bullets...He is always talking about having to “chisel”  (his word not mine) out the build up in his comp every so often....

 

My hope is no one will bash me for asking what may be a stupid question but this one has me wondering why coated bullets have become so popular and what have I missed that I need to learn more about....Thanks in advance...Mark

Edited December 5, 2019 by Sigarmsp226

[Joe4d]

various coatings were a step up in cleanliness from plain lead and lubed. and a step down in price from jacketed.
The more expensive decent copper plated were little to no savings or in fact more expensive than just buying true jacketed from Montanna or Precision Delta.
The lower priced plated had sizing all over the place and some were just true garbage only suitable for fishing weights.
Seem to be more people using some these days and maybe a few companies have improved, but only ones I have found worth a flip were Berry's but they got higher than jacketed years ago. Been bit a few times by folks like west coast, Rainer, despite some folks liking them and really have zero use for plated bullets. If I want good enough I'll buy coated. If I need super clean I will buy jacketed.
Dont seem to be many open pistol guys loading plated either.

[gerritm]

I shoot PCC along with my granddaughter. We use the same load in our PCC & pistols, and shoot thousands of rounds per year.

 

We tried Blue Bullets & SNS red bullets. Although the cost was less I was doing the same thing. Chiseling out the lead in the comps. Went to Everglades plated bullets and have not had a problem with the comp at all. 

 

Bullets are consistent and accurate. I do get some carbon build up at the comps, but easy to clean. Here is my 25 yard zero with 115gr Everglades plated RN with her PCC.

gerritm

[MemphisMechanic]

Coated bullets or FMJs with an exposed lead base will gum up your comp in short order. A few thousand rounds.

 

JHPs and plated bullets with no lead exposed to the powder, and no coating, leave it squeaky clean and are worth paying every penny for.

 

I cleaned my PCC Comp of lead and coating residue once. Don’t want to do it again. It’s not scrubbing. It’s grinding, even after an overnight soak in kroil. It packs in like concrete and I have to grind it out with a carbide burr in a dremel. Anyone who cared about keeping their comp pretty would have been sobbing.

 

Edited December 5, 2019 by MemphisMechanic

[GMP]

I like proper size coated Precisions in my S2 but not in a gun with a comp I just put together.   A barrel is enough of a PIA to clean, a comp is ridiculous.   Open base FMJs same thing, just takes a little longer.  Look at a fouled comp under magnification,  you can see how the molten lead just plated the surfaces thicker and thicker.  There is always some lead being melted/vaporized that may not be a problem with an open barrel as its mostly blown out, but trapped by a comp.  Even barrel fouling from poor fitting coated lead is more pronounced near the muzzle in my experience.  The RMR thick plate plated bullets seem to be working well.  Clean to load, shoot, accurate.

[PhotoRecon]

The Hi Tek coated bullets smoke less than lubed hard cast lead but still leave lead fouling and especially in the comp.

 

I haven't seen a brand that doesn't foul the comp nor have I figured a way to effectively clean the comp once it's fouled.

 

 

[GMP]

I cleaned mine by filling the chambers with Shooters Choice lead remover and Kroil.  Picked at it every couple hours.  Let sit overnight and was able to break out most of the buildup in a few big pieces with a small jewelers screwdriver.  A few hundred rounds of plated seemed to blow out the remainder.

[rishii]

Not all coated bullets are the same

I’ve shot thousands of blue bullets thru my open 38supercomp, there is a build up in the comp, but no way near as bad as some of the others here has experienced. The one way to minimize it in a open gun is to swab the comp with kroil after every shooting session and let it sit till the next time you shoot it. The kroil will soften and seep under the build up and the next time you shoot it the muzzle blast  will blow the crud out.

i don’t know if that would work for a PCC due to the lower muzzle pressure 

as far as the the advantages of coated vs plated vs jacketed, it really come down to cost per K in bulk

Blue bullet preform about the same as fmj thru my gun and cost a little more than hard cast lead

plated, I’ve never had any luck with Any of them and cost pretty damn close to precision delta jhp

Jacketed, again look at PD, their case price Is around $90 per k, the last Black Friday sale had them for $78 a k

[MemphisMechanic]

@rishii soaking the comp in Kroil for a few days then shooting it out does not work on a PCC, just like you speculated.

 

You have to soak/beat/scrape/grind it out.

 

So that gun gets plated bullets, and everything else gets blue bullets.  

[Yondering]

5 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

 

I cleaned my PCC Comp of lead and coating residue once. 

 

 

I know what you're talking about, but it's not coating residue, it's just a mix of lead and powder fouling. The coating itself doesn't even melt, it just burns to ash if heated enough. Those of us who use suppressors are very familiar with this lead & carbon buildup too, and it's even more of a problem if you use uncoated lead bullets.

 

The thing is - if your coated bullets are allowing lead to be deposited on the brake, the coating isn't doing it's job and is being burned through by gas cutting. Usually that's at least partly because the bullets are too small, sometimes it's a fault of poor coating as well. I have been talking about this here for a while; if you have lead smoke, your bullets probably aren't fitting the barrel throat very well because they're too small. Unfortunately that's what most of the coated bullet manufacturers sell, because it's easier to get loaded rounds to fit in a case gauge. 

 

To the OP - the big difference between coated and plated is the lead alloy, and that's a result of how they're made. Plated bullets are swaged before plating; that requires very soft lead. Coated bullets are cast (usually), and commercial cast bullet alloys are generally pretty hard. The harder alloy of these cast coated bullets grips the rifling better and holds up to higher pressure and velocity. The soft alloy of coated bullets can be a better match to low pressure loads, but at higher pressure/velocity can be prone to slumping and plating damage. 

 

It's worth noting that too much crimp is bad for both coated and plated bullets. 

[beechnutbob]

I don’t think they are better,  just cheaper and compared to cast lubed lead bullet a lot less smoke and no lead build up.  A way to make the cast bullet more acceptable to shooters and a up sell for the manufacture.

[nso123]

I shoot Berry's plated bullets in PCC and had no issues with lead or buildup in the comp.  I changed to a Wiland barrel without a comp now, so I am not sure if I need the plated bullet, but will stick with it since it shoots and loads well.

[Steve RA]

Try .358 size.  I use Precision in that size and have no problems, just clean as normal every few thousand rounds or so.

 

https://precisionbullets.com/product/38-125-rn/

[zzt]

Coated bullets have become popular because the lead barrels less than lubed lead bullets.  They should not be used in any barrel that wears poppels or a comp, ESPECIALLY an Aluminum comp.  Nor should they be used in shrouded barrels

 

Supposedly, it is safe to shoot jacketed in a short barrel with a shroud, without leading the shroud.  That comes from a shrouded barrel manufacturer.  I don't know.  I can't buy Rainier plated anymore, so I stick to JHPs.  I mostly shoot Hornady HAPs. 7000 rounds through my new Open gun and I can still see the machining marks in the bottom of the comp ports. 

[NOSHMJ]

I have been shooting Blue Bullets for 3 years now with 0 major leading issues in my open guns or either of my PCC guns.  My MPX has a Sig226 X5 comp on it, and it cleans easily with only a brass brush, after soaking it for about 45 min in a 50/50 solution of apple cider vinegar and peroxide.  The open guns, usually only have a little carbon build up, but for the small amounts of lead, I do the same.  50/50 apple cider vinegar, and peroxide.  Soak it while u clean up the gun, and use a small pick to knock the build up out.... good to go.   I also spray the comps before each match with a little Dillon case lube to help the build up from happening.  Seems to work pretty good. 

[Sigarmsp226]

Thanks to everyone that responded to my questions...This provides me a much more clear understanding of the why’s and how comes related to plated vs. coated....For 10 + years I have been buying to main bullets from X-Treme - their 147gr plated for suppressed shooting and the 124gr HPCB for PPC and handgun....With their recent changes they now charge shipping and because of their reduced discounts on Black Friday this year (10% vs. 20% in years past) my usual once a year order, this year, was sizably smaller....

 

A forum member here recommended RMR as an alternative so I have my first 1000 piece order from RMR in transit (free shipping) and I am excited to give this very affordable alternative a try... 

 

Thanks again everyone for taking the time to respond to my questions...

[GMP]

I have an order in with RMR for 2K plated 124g bullets.  Status was backorder.  Is this what you ordered and/or are you sure its been shipped?   New 115g plated may be in stock and last week I got 1K of 115g plated "seconds"  to try.  RMR is excellent with customer service and all of their bullets are top quality.  

[HesedTech]

If fouling is not an issue coated saves as much as 3 cents per bullet (maybe more). When I order 10k at a time the savings adds up. 
 

But if fouling Is an issue or you’re shooting less then buy the style which fits your division and enjoyment factors. 
 

BTW, I found accuracy was actually better with the coated Bullets I use over the plated ones I experimented with. 

[SteelCityShooter]

My cure/preventive for compensator fouling is not to have one.  For my modest PPC loads (124 gr bullets at pf of135-140) I've found the compensator does almost nothing for recoil or muzzle climb and the lack of a compensator means I can shoot any lead, coated or jacketed bullet with no serious cleanup problems.

[Laxman2809]

I am also shooting coated bullets and have noticed some build up on my comp. I am curious why no one has recommended a ultra sonic cleaner.

[PhotoRecon]

Tried soaking for 30 days...the stuff is very very hard and trying to chip it out didn't work either...going to try either my Outers Foul Out or the 50/50 dip next...don't have access to an ultrasonic to see if that would work...

[Yondering]

1 hour ago, Laxman2809 said:

I am also shooting coated bullets and have noticed some build up on my comp. I am curious why no one has recommended a ultra sonic cleaner.

 

In the suppressor world, people have experimented with ultrasonic cleaners for years trying to remove lead & carbon from suppressor baffles. Generally it doesn't work very well and mechanical removal is still necessary. I have one, and it doesn't do much to suppressor baffles. I haven't bothered to try it on a brake. 

[cecil]

I have shot over 10,000 Everglades plated 124gr bullets... no build up when my PCC had a comp..  reasonable & very accurate  .. I recently installed a Taccom ULW 5.25" barrel on both of my PCC's … no compensator .. but.. was told by Tim at Taccom not to shoot coated bullets because it coats the aluminum shroud which requires tedious removal..  

[Laxman2809]

U

23 hours ago, Yondering said:

 

In the suppressor world, people have experimented with ultrasonic cleaners for years trying to remove lead & carbon from suppressor baffles. Generally it doesn't work very well and mechanical removal is still necessary. I have one, and it doesn't do much to suppressor baffles. I haven't bothered to try it on a brake. 

Thanks for the response. I hope you try and report back

[Yondering]

1 hour ago, Laxman2809 said:

U

Thanks for the response. I hope you try and report back

 

I don't intend to. It doesn't work on suppressor baffles, no reason it'd work on a brake.