Johnny_Chimpo Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 Not entirely unexpected, but interesting that some brass brands bulge so much that they will not chamber while others don't bulge at all. From my small sample size, it seems American brass brands (WIN, Blazer, Federal) don't bulge at all while SAR, Aguila, and PMC bulge a ton (to the point of being unusable). Measuring the through the flash hole there is still .25" of free height between the bottom of the bullet and the bottom of the primer pocket so probably somewhere between .15 and .20 of space between bottom of bullet and bottom of the inside of the case. I found this out yesterday when I began experimenting with seating depth for safe chambering with Blue Bullets 160 gr RN. I adjusted my seater to give a 1.15" OAL as shown in Hodgdon's reloading data. This OAL, BTW, was good to go in a Shadow 2, 75BD, Glock 17, P-07, P-09, and P-10F. Credit to the very long ogive that Blue Bullets use, which puts the full diameter way back near the case mouth. Question for anyone with experience with 160s: which brass brands have you found seem to have unacceptable bulging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jubi351 Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 CBC is the worst I found. I use Summer's @ 1.160, again long ogive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopps Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 Aguila is bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny_Chimpo Posted January 7, 2023 Author Share Posted January 7, 2023 (edited) @chopps @jubi351 I'm wondering if this path down the 160s is even worth going on. I rely on range pickup brass and don't really have time to sort. I think I'll try those same brass brands with some 147s to see if they bulge. I've been shooting 124s for several years and want to switch to heavier bullets. Edited January 7, 2023 by Johnny_Chimpo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zachjet Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 Just for curiosity sake why do you want to shoot 160s? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 1 hour ago, Zachjet said: Just for curiosity sake why do you want to shoot 160s? soft shooting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VeilAndrew Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 1 hour ago, Johnny_Chimpo said: @chopps @jubi351 I'm wondering if this path down the 160s is even worth going on. I rely on range pickup brass and don't really have time to sort. I think I'll try those same brass brands with some 147s to see if they bulge. I've been shooting 124s for several years and want to switch to heavier bullets. I absolutely love and recommend blue bullets for 147gr. I've shot thousands of them and the bullet design (as mentioned above) allows you to load long AND still work in short throat guns like my CZ Shadow 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny_Chimpo Posted January 7, 2023 Author Share Posted January 7, 2023 1 hour ago, Zachjet said: Just for curiosity sake why do you want to shoot 160s? 29 minutes ago, Sarge said: soft shooting What @Sarge said Just for s#!ts and grins I loaded five Everglades plated 158 gr RNFP 38 special bullets in 9 mm cases with I think 3 grains of AutoComp. I shot them through a Glock 19 and they were stupid soft. I can only imagine how easy something like that would be to shoot in a Shadow or some other heavy pistol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny_Chimpo Posted January 7, 2023 Author Share Posted January 7, 2023 19 minutes ago, VeilAndrew said: I absolutely love and recommend blue bullets for 147gr. I've shot thousands of them and the bullet design (as mentioned above) allows you to load long AND still work in short throat guns like my CZ Shadow 2. How much case bulging have you seen with the 147s and lower tier brass (SAR/CBC/Aguila/PMC/PMP/S&B)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VeilAndrew Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 10 minutes ago, Johnny_Chimpo said: How much case bulging have you seen with the 147s and lower tier brass (SAR/CBC/Aguila/PMC/PMP/S&B)? No noticeable bulging with PMC, CBC, or S&B in my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny_Chimpo Posted January 7, 2023 Author Share Posted January 7, 2023 (edited) 12 minutes ago, VeilAndrew said: No noticeable bulging with PMC, CBC, or S&B in my experience. Very nice BB 147s will be my backup if I decide the 160s are too much trouble. Edited January 7, 2023 by Johnny_Chimpo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 Range brass with Precision Delta 147 FMJ using 3.5 VV N320 @ 1.150 work perfectly in my un-reamed Shadow 1...super soft, super accurate. I will probably switch to a coated bullet this year for cost reasons. Solid 134 PF, day after day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmer Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 I made an adjustable inside plug gauge for checking certain brass. So far Hornaday wins as the deepest/straightest wall. I measured a Hornaday piece and then placed this piece of PMC brass on it to show the difference. As you can see it’s a fair amount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VeilAndrew Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 1 hour ago, Johnny_Chimpo said: Very nice BB 147s will be my backup if I decide the 160s are too much trouble. I load with random range pickup brass as well with 3.9gr of WAC behind it at a COL of 1.135" in an unreamed Shadow 2. I've had no issues with case dimensions. As a bonus, they're pretty cheap bullets and I always buy them in quantities of 3K at a time, and they come in nice little plastic cases. I believe we get a forums discount with code BENOS as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSteel Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 Are you seeing this bulge due to the 160gr bullet or are you also running a diameter larger than .355? I run a Bayou 160gr @ .358 for my Revo and see a bulge also but it was expected… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 18 hours ago, Farmer said: I made an adjustable inside plug gauge for checking certain brass. So far Hornaday wins as the deepest/straightest wall. I measured a Hornaday piece and then placed this piece of PMC brass on it to show the difference. As you can see it’s a fair amount. That is excellent!! Any chance you can give us a run down on the different brass you've measured? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathanb Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 My understanding is those are countries that load nato ammo so 124s. I have the worst luck with aguila in 147 blues but if I load 124s I don’t have any issues. Loading shorter makes it worse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny_Chimpo Posted January 9, 2023 Author Share Posted January 9, 2023 On 1/7/2023 at 7:12 PM, NoSteel said: Are you seeing this bulge due to the 160gr bullet or are you also running a diameter larger than .355? I run a Bayou 160gr @ .358 for my Revo and see a bulge also but it was expected… 160 gr .355 diameter Blue Bullets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmer Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 8 hours ago, zombywoof said: That is excellent!! Any chance you can give us a run down on the different brass you've measured? I’ll get right on that!! I’ve noticed differences even between the same brands. I’ll gather up what I have and make up a chart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehudge Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 I've been loading 160's for a couple of years now and have the same problem. ATK and Remington brass has about a 90% success rate. All others are relegated to the range ammo pile and about 50% of that will not chamber in my KKM barrel. However my son's Sig 320 will eat that bad batch so its a win win, I guess. Also, the ammo with the bulged cases run higher velocities. I load to floor with 2.8gr of TG for a 126 pf out of a 5 inch KKM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty_J Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 On 1/7/2023 at 2:34 PM, Johnny_Chimpo said: @chopps @jubi351 I'm wondering if this path down the 160s is even worth going on. I rely on range pickup brass and don't really have time to sort. I think I'll try those same brass brands with some 147s to see if they bulge. I've been shooting 124s for several years and want to switch to heavier bullets. This problem is the same reason I ditched 147’s years ago. Findings similar to yours. American brass = GTG. Foreign/Euro stuff is usually made with 124’s in mind… so tapered wall thickness and other such things don’t have an issue with 124 or lighter projectile sizes. Wasn’t worth it for me. The heaviest I load these days is a 127gr Brass monkey bullet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny_Chimpo Posted January 18, 2023 Author Share Posted January 18, 2023 5 minutes ago, Dirty_J said: This problem is the same reason I ditched 147’s years ago. Findings similar to yours. American brass = GTG. Foreign/Euro stuff is usually made with 124’s in mind… so tapered wall thickness and other such things don’t have an issue with 124 or lighter projectile sizes. Wasn’t worth it for me. The heaviest I load these days is a 127gr Brass monkey bullet. That sucks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tunachaser Posted January 22, 2023 Share Posted January 22, 2023 I like 135 because it doesn't have the issues 147 gr. sometimes does. My CZ's like short bullets so loading 147 or 160's long is not an option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougCarden Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 Biggest issues loading 160s is that if you don't seat the bullet straight it will bulge and then it won't gauge or chamber. You have to take more time and make sure the bullet is straight when seating. The only way I salvaged them was to run them through a LFCD and then they would chamber. They are super soft though for sure! DougC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcrunner Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 On 1/23/2023 at 6:03 AM, Tunachaser said: I like 135 because it doesn't have the issues 147 gr. sometimes does. My CZ's like short bullets so loading 147 or 160's long is not an option. Not sure which CZ's you load for, but I've found the 147 flat points can be loaded pretty long in my S2, like 1.135. The bullet is quite long anyways, but definitely better than the round nosed 147. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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