Cuz Posted April 7, 2006 Share Posted April 7, 2006 I'm looking for a new bullet to shoot in my S&W 625 (and my semi auto for that matter). I want one bullet to use for USPSA, Pins, Plates, and ICORE. That means it needs to work with power factors from down around 110 up to 200. I'm looking at Berry's plated bullets since my club is making a volume purchase so the price will be right. In 230 gr all they have is roundnose which isn't that great for pins. Dropping down to 200 gr offers me a hollow point, semi-wadcutter, or round nose flat point. I'm guessing the flat edge of the semi-wadcutter may cause hangups during reloads. That leaves the hollow point or round nose flat point. Does anyone think there is that big a difference doing speed reloads with these two bullet types? I plan to buy quite a few so I want to get it right. Any input is greatly appreciated. What's the best all around bullet weight and shape in .45acp for revolvers and semi-autos? I should point out that my gold cup will feed absolutely any bullet type with 100% reliability so mostly my concern is bullet performance on pins/plates and ability to reload quickly in the revolver. Thanks, -Cuz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopalong Posted April 7, 2006 Share Posted April 7, 2006 Cuz, I can't tell you about pins, I'll let Carmoney get that. But there in NO better a profile for speed reloading a 625/25 than the FMJ, TMJ or Plain ole "ROUND NOSE" bullet. I have tried them all....the semi waddcutter seemed to be pretty good and have used them for practice and local club matches in my 625. sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Hopalong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted April 7, 2006 Share Posted April 7, 2006 I'll agree that a true round-nose profile is the fastest. Back when I shot pins a lot, I used two different loads in .45 ACP. For the main event and the first gun-full in the 8-pin mandatory reload event, I used a 255-gr. cast SWC at 900-1000 fps. Nothing in the caliber works better on bowling pins, in my experience. Then my "fast reload" bullet was a 230-gr. XTP at around 1000 fps, which I found still had good performance on the pins, but was pretty fast reloading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted April 7, 2006 Share Posted April 7, 2006 It's not so much a matter of speed, but of consistency. I agree with Hop and Carmoney. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waltermitty Posted April 7, 2006 Share Posted April 7, 2006 I have to agree as well, you may hit some of your reloads with hollow points just due to normal variations, but a significant number of times you'll land that flat spot on the back of the cylinder and it will just sit there and look at you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COF Posted April 7, 2006 Share Posted April 7, 2006 I hate it when that happens!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pskys2 Posted April 7, 2006 Share Posted April 7, 2006 Yea, Waltermitty especially when it looks kind of like a smiley face, laughing back at ya ! If it starts talking back, you might want to worry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waltermitty Posted April 7, 2006 Share Posted April 7, 2006 Yea, Waltermitty especially when it looks kind of like a smiley face, laughing back at ya !If it starts talking back, you might want to worry. I don't know whose doing the talking, but I hear Yosemite Sam mouthing off when it happens to me.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted April 7, 2006 Share Posted April 7, 2006 The one thing I hate more than that is when the bullets "skip a hole" (bullet 1 is in hole 1 and bullet 2 is in hole 3) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuz Posted April 7, 2006 Author Share Posted April 7, 2006 Cuz,I can't tell you about pins, I'll let Carmoney get that. But there in NO better a profile for speed reloading a 625/25 than the FMJ, TMJ or Plain ole "ROUND NOSE" bullet. Hopalong I agree that FMJ is the best and fastest reload, but what comes second? Hollow points can't be much different than the round nose flat point lead bullets I'm currently using. I figure the copper coating might even offer less friction than lead if that's even an issue. As is often the case, when trying to find one bullet to serve multiple purposes you can't always get the BEST because what's best for one purpose is not best for another. I'm looking for the happy medium bullet that will work well in all cases. -Cuz. It's not so much a matter of speed, but of consistency. I agree with Hop and Carmoney. I just re-read my original post. I guess I shouldn't have asked what was BEST because I already knew it was a FMJ bullet. Sorry I mislead you guys. I want the best bullet to serve me in all shooting applications (ICORE, USPSA, Plates, and Pins). -Cuz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopalong Posted April 7, 2006 Share Posted April 7, 2006 Ok Cuz, To answer your rephrased question.... In my Opinion(see sig line) and somewhat little experiance. Hollow points have too sharp of an edge and catch too easy...really screwing up a reload. Flat nose if they have a good radius, and the flat is fairly small work pretty good, just have to make sure of alignment. Semi wadcutters were surprisingly as good as some of the Flat nosed I tried. My call: Flat nose, if you can get a good radius and not a square/trunicated cone type. Semi wadcutters, Might want to roll the nose edge. Trunicated cone, seem to work about the same as Semi's Hollow points. Good luck, Maybe Carmoney will add his .02 dollars. Hopalong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuz Posted April 8, 2006 Author Share Posted April 8, 2006 My call:Flat nose, if you can get a good radius and not a square/trunicated cone type. Semi wadcutters, Might want to roll the nose edge. Trunicated cone, seem to work about the same as Semi's Hollow points. Good luck, Maybe Carmoney will add his .02 dollars. Hopalong Hopalong, Thanks for the info. Of course, like all good advice it just generates more questions. If I'm reading you correctly I should favor the Berry's 200gr RS (Round Shoulder, like a RNFP) over thier 200 gr FP (Flat Point). I'm trying to attach a pic of both for comparison. Can you verify? Thanks, While I'm asking 20 questions why not one more. Do you think the 200gr SWC would be any more accurate? I'm talking about distances of 100 ft or less. -Cuz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopalong Posted April 8, 2006 Share Posted April 8, 2006 Cuz, Of the 3 I like the middle one, flat point round shoulder. I have shot some of the semi's like that and they reloaded OK for what I was doing with them, yes they were quite accurate....But that was out of my gun. Yours may not like them. Of those 3.... 1 Flat point round shoulder 2 Semi wad cutter 3 flat point trunicated cone. If you can find a TC bullet with a very small tip, it works justa as good as a Round nose. Good luck. HOP Carmoney, got any other suggestions.....You're the pin shooter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuz Posted April 8, 2006 Author Share Posted April 8, 2006 Cuz,Of the 3 I like the middle one, flat point round shoulder. I have shot some of the semi's like that and they reloaded OK for what I was doing with them, yes they were quite accurate....But that was out of my gun. Yours may not like them. Of those 3.... 1 Flat point round shoulder 2 Semi wad cutter 3 flat point trunicated cone. Good luck. HOP Carmoney, got any other suggestions.....You're the pin shooter! Thanks Hop. I appreciate your taking the time to provide info. I'll add what Carmoney chimes in with to the mix before making my final decision. I guess the hollow points are out for now and the FPRS are in the lead. -Cuz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted April 8, 2006 Share Posted April 8, 2006 If we're talking traditional Second Chance main event style pin matches, where you need a lot of poop to move the pins back and off the tables, the round-nose stuff just isn't going to work all that well. If you try to do everything with one bullet style you're going to have to compromise the performance somewhere. Round-nose stuff loads the fastest, obviously, but it's really not very good at moving bowling pins when the hits are a little edgy. I guess I would recommend using a 230-gr. FMJ or RNL for everything but pins, and use the 255-gr. lead SWCs for pin-shooting. If you really want one bullet to do it all, I suppose my recommendation is the 230-gr. XTP, but that's too expensive for volume shooting (for most of us, anyway).... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuz Posted April 8, 2006 Author Share Posted April 8, 2006 If we're talking traditional Second Chance main event style pin matches, where you need a lot of poop to move the pins back and off the tables, the round-nose stuff just isn't going to work all that well. If you try to do everything with one bullet style you're going to have to compromise the performance somewhere. Round-nose stuff loads the fastest, obviously, but it's really not very good at moving bowling pins when the hits are a little edgy. I guess I would recommend using a 230-gr. FMJ or RNL for everything but pins, and use the 255-gr. lead SWCs for pin-shooting. If you really want one bullet to do it all, I suppose my recommendation is the 230-gr. XTP, but that's too expensive for volume shooting (for most of us, anyway).... Thanks Carmoney. I am looking for one bullet to do everything and understand I'll be compromising a little by not getting the best bullet for each job. I also want to stay away from lead if I can help it and was hoping to pick from the three bullet types I attached in a previous message. All are 200 gr from Berry's. I'm not sure what Second Chance pin matches are but these will need to move over 2 ft. back and off a table. Can that be done reliably with a 200 gr bullet? -Cuz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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