Looking for 124/125gr coated bullets in .355"

[RickT]

I have a Kimber HD Pro Carry with a Barsto barrel.  Started to handload for this gun and the leade is very short.  Irv at Barsto recommended .355.  This is not an emergency as I discoved that the last batch of Bayou 124gr are the old style; if I load to 1.125" the driving bands are essentially inside the case to the round will chamber easily.  Long term I'd like to source the correct diameter.  I've changed the crimp, tried an FCD, ....  If there is more than the smallest bit of full diameter cross section outside the case the bullet is in the lands.  Barsto can lightly ream the barrel, but I would just as soon leave unchanged since factory ammo is fine.

[zzt]

Barsto's leedes are notoriously short.  Pay a gunsmith 20 bucks to lengthen it.  I got so tired of that I bought my own reamer.

 

I can't remember the name right now, but I did order gold and green poly coated bullets from someone who offered three sizing options.  Many bullet makes will size to .355" upon request.

[rooster]

I had same problem. Any reputable commercial ammo will chamber fine. But if your going to reload your own your pretty much bound to a FMJ round with a tapered nose. No coated round nose or truncated cone will fit unless you load short and I mean oal’s to 1.050 to 1.070. I tried all the big makers. I did what zzt did. All it took was a couple of turns and I was done. But now I can load pretty much any shape bullet say from 1.100 to 1.125. No loss of accuracy was noted.

[noylj]

What does bullet diameter have to do with lede?

Lead bullets should be at LEAST 0.001" larger than actual groove diameter.

Adjust COL using inert dummy rounds and the COL that feeds and chambers 100% is your gun's COL with that bullet and you can start loading from there.

If you find that COL is too short for major, if that is your goal, THEN you can drill the throat longer.

 

[Postal Bob]

Ibejiheads has a 130gr RN BB bulllet that can be ordered in .355". I don't think the extra 5 gr weight will make much of a difference.   https://www.ibejiheads.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=29&osCsid=77d5218b268e011f775d9e7417825f83

And they do also have 124/125 gr conical bullets that should clear the chamber.  https://www.ibejiheads.com/index.php?cPath=1&osCsid=77d5218b268e011f775d9e7417825f83

[zzt]

1 hour ago, rooster said:

But now I can load pretty much any shape bullet say from 1.100 to 1.125. No loss of accuracy was noted.

 

I bought a Manson reamer, because that was what I could get at the time.  The leede on a Manson 9mm reamer is .055".  I went full depth so I could load to 1.161".

 

A couple of weeks ago I was speaking to Bob L. of Brazos Custom about Barsto barrels.  During the course of the conversation he mentioned he throats all of his barrels to .100".  He said tt seems to work better and causes no loss of accuracy.  Makes you wonder about what many bullseye shooters want, bullet touching the lands.  They are convinced that produces the best accuracy.  I'm not so sure.

 

I had fitted a Barsto bushing barrel to a competition 1911 45 I built.  I had to load short for it.  Accuracy was good, but not what I expected.  Also, it would not chamber my bullseye loads with a LSWC seated to 1.240" OAL.  So I made some dummy rounds at 1.260" and headed over to a Gunsmith.  He cut the throat so the 1.260" dummies plunked and spun while I waited.  Accuracy was actually improved with the 185gr TC plated bullets I was using at the time.  They were loaded to 1.120".  So go figure.

[bowenbuilt]

If you want your barrel lead extended send it to me. I will do it at no charge and offer a 1 day turn around. I have throated and reamed hundreds of barrels and have never seen one exhibit less accuracy afterwards. PM me when you get tired of fighting the short chamber.

[jpm2953]

I would think you would get severe leading at .355. Maybe your barrel is tight though and it won't be a problem. I would slug the barrel first.....or ream the chamber and be done with it. 

[RickT]

23 hours ago, bowenbuilt said:

If you want your barrel lead extended send it to me. I will do it at no charge and offer a 1 day turn around. I have throated and reamed hundreds of barrels and have never seen one exhibit less accuracy afterwards. PM me when you get tired of fighting the short chamber.

Very kind of you.  Through my favorite LGS I've found someone in the area whom I'm going to call.  If that falls through I'll take you up on the offer.  Between now and my March 24 class the old style Bayou 124RN will work fine; those can be loaded to 1.12+, but after the class I'll be able to send the barrel back and forth.

[RickT]

The local smith opened up the chamber based on 4 sample rounds I provided.  Interesting that a second barrel that had been installed by a differed smith back east already had the chamber reamed I suspect based on his experience with Barsto barrels.  All my test rounds plunked in that barrel as installed.  Anyway, problem solved.