Anyone heard of Berry's Manufactoring bullets

[Dowter]

Anyone heard of Berry's Manufactoring bullets?

http://www.berrysmfg.com

Their bullets are very cheap and I was wondering if anyone knew anything about the quality?

Thanks in advance.

[ErikW]

I used some years ago, 230 RN copper plated in .45 ACP. They were OK, not bad, not exceptional, not cheap enough to continue using.

[Dowter]

If they're not "cheap enough" I want know what bullets are.  Please don't keep this info to yourself.  I'm always looking for cheaper bullets.

(Edited by Dowter at 6:25 pm on Oct. 24, 2002)

[Wayne]

Several of us around here have used a lot of them. I mostly used them making 44 special. As far as a revolver and reloading goes, I love them. Nice clean reloading, and shooting compared to lubed up lead.

[JWallick]

I like them.  Very accurate in my 9mm.  115gr with 5.7 of power pistol will do 1.5" at 25 yrds.  Good enough for me.

[Steve Anderson]

Spend the extra buck on the double struck, I've had tunbling issues with the 124 hps in 9mm.

The 115 fmjs I used were double struck and were great.

I like west coast a little better, but berry's are ok. The hollowpoints are very round and kinda neat looking.

SA

[jhgtyre]

I have been using Berry's in my .45.  I really like the 185gr hollow base round nose.  It has the same profile as a 230gr round nose, so it feeds good, and it is nice and lite like I want.

-jhgtyre

[snokid]

Berry's is ok, they do have good customer service...

But I don't shoot them anymore they are too expensive to shoot...

sno

[Wayne]

I would say they are more expensive then lead, but for me they are just so much cleaner to load and shoot, it's worth the extra cost.. I guess it really just is a personal thing.

[snokid]

Wayne I don't shoot lead either, too messy...

sno

[Duane Thomas]

Laser-Cast, I'm tellin' ya. Look down your barrel after firing 1,000 or 2,000 Laser-Casts, there is ZERO lead build-up. Also, I've got around 2,500 rounds of LC 200-gr. LSWCs loaded with Titegroup through my .45 since the last cleaning, and the gun still cycles smoothly. Try THAT with lead bullets of lesser quality, sports fans.

[Wayne]

Snorkid,

OK, I give, plated to expensive, you don't shoot lead, what is your secret ?

[Wayne]

Duane,

I used Laser Cast a few times, and can say they don't really lead much, but they are still lead and lubed, and messy to reload, and while they don't lead much, the lube smokes and leaves residue, that does not happen with plated. Smoke is a real pain shooting Indoors in the Winter in Ohio.

[Duane Thomas]

Just out of curiosity, just what do you find messy about them to load? Sure, I wash the lead off my hands frequently, but I did the same thing with copper fouling when I loaded jacketed.

[snokid]

Wayen

WestCoast around here I can buy westcoast cheaper than I can buy lead...so why shoot lead?

sno

[Wayne]

Duane,

I never even got into the issues of just the exposed lead, but since you brought it up, that is another reason. But I do not like cleaning lube out of the dies either.

[Wayne]

Snorkid, Ok we are on the same wave length, just cheaper to buy West Coast for you. Here in Ohio, mostly find it cheaper to use Berry.

[snokid]

wayne

here in michigan the group of guys I order with get them delivered by the pallet...you get a good deal as soon as you get over 200 lbs I think that is the break. But we have found that if you get the order over 600# then the shipping is more reasonable yet...

If you are ordering small amounts of bullets Berry's is hard to beat, but it still can be done, just not by enough to be searching all over the place to save 1.00 a thousand.

IMHO I like Westcoast just a little bit better than Berry's I think that they are a little more consistent.

sno

[Carlos]

Have used WestCoast with mostly good results - though there has been the odd batch which does not shoot quite right.  Also, watch out for over-crimping; too tight of a crimp will quickly kill your accuracy in plated bullets.  I'd suggest the extra few $$$ for re-struck Berry's.  

BTW, the lesser known West Coast, Berry's and Ranier bullets are made with the exact same process as Speer's TMJ and the other large name maker's plated bullets - they are all just plated-over swaged lead. I find that I get the same results from using Speer's data for their TMJ line as for similar design Westcoast bullets of the same weight.

As for lead, I can't use it because I never clean the barrel - ever. Have not tried coated lazercast lead but I do not care for smoke - esp. indoors.  Its either plated or jacketed for me.

[Shipster]

Duane I'm with you.  I use Laser Cast exclusively and have fired over 15,000 rounds of the .45 200 gr. swc through my Kimber and have better accuracy using them then I do using any plated or jacketed bullets.  Although my jacketed testing has been minimal due to $$$.  As far as being dirty? how’s that?  I've never fired them inside but I do have video of my self using them outside, and there is a little smoke, but somebody using a jacketed bullet and win 231 makes more smoke then I do using LC and Clays.  To each his own, but in my experience Laser Cast and Clays gives me the best bang for my buck$.

[Duane Thomas]

I've had people look at the smoke - minimal and no big deal, in most cases, in my opinion - from my lead/Titegroup combo and tell me, "You should go to Montana Gold and Viht."

Came the day I was shooting the El Prez one morning at a match. The range on which the stage was set up faces directly into the rising sun. You do NOT want to be shooting on this range at 10 AM. And I didn't, but the Master classer on our squad said, "Let's shoot this one first." To which I said, "Uh, let's not, how about this one over here." "No, we should shoot this one first." "How about THIS one over here." "No, we should shoot this one first." "Fine."

After the first shot I was firing for the memory of the targets through an opaque haze of backlit smoke. I was lucky to pull an El Prez in the low 7s with, amazingly, decent hits. The guy after me, firing a .40, says, "You should try Montana Gold and Viht." I say, "Yeah, I've heard that." "Well, I like it. That's what I use. A lot less smoke." So he fires the stage after me. And guess what, he had the exact same problem, to the exact same degree. It probably wasn't nice of me to find that as amusing as I did.

[Krag]

I've used Berry's plated 9mm bullets in my Beretta Elite and Glock 26, 19, 17 and 34; and their .45 bullets in my Glock 21 for the past year and can only say good things about them.

[Wayne]

It's funny as I read through the posts here how this is really a personal preference. Maybe my experience is different because I shoot all revolvers. But all I know for sure, is I have shot various lead bullets, and then the plated Berry's, the Berry's just simply shoot cleaner. Call it dirty, sooty, whatever. My hands, the inside and outside of my revolvers, and the air around me, is all much better with plated bullets. The air most notably shooting indoors in Winter.Personally I always thought most caused by the lube, but what do I know. But this is my experience, your may differ.

BUT while we have so many of varied experiences, here is another question. What about barrel wear from lead vs. plated vs. jacketed. Is this a big issue ? I sometimes worried because it is not always easy to find a replacement barrel for some revolvers I used in IDPA. I understand the West Coast bullets have more plating than Berry, are they worse for a barrel ? Any info ?

[Carlos]

This topic has been covered; do a search on "wear" or "Montana Gold" (hard brass jackets - still I doubt they cause appreciably more wear than comparable bullets). Even barrels with gross wear often shoot quite well with good loads. Now do you really want to cut down on barrel wear in a stainless barrel?  Then Stop cleaning it! Although you shoot IDPA and shhot a revolver, check out the quatation below taken directly from William Schuemann's website (Will is a maker of 1911 barrels used by a couple of folks who shoot in USPSA) - you can find a link to him on the frontpage of http://www.USPSA. com since will is a primary sponsor, along with SV, of the USPSA website. Will it work for you? You decide.

""My Personal Practice has become to never clean the bore of my barrels. I do use a brass rod to scrape the deposits out of the chamber. But, I've learned to leave the bore alone and it very slowly becomes shinier and cleaner all by itself. Years ago I occasionally scrubbed the bore with a brass bore brush. But, doing so always seemed to cause the bore to revert to a dirtier look with more shooting, so I eventually stopped ever putting anything down the bore except bullets...

Good luck,

Wil """

[Tree Rat]

Lead sucks! Any justification beyond cost is putting lipstick on a pig........

Berry's 200 RS; load and run real nice in my experience.  

I have though, experienced and witnessed very dramatic keyholeing with 9mm RN and Titegroup in Glocks and to a lesser extent H&K USP's, suggesting poly barrels might be problematic.

TR