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Bevel base bullets

7K views 10 replies 10 participants last post by  unclenick 
#1 ·
It may be a sign of creeping old flatulence-hood but I can't warm up to bevel based bullets. I like flat bases, nice square, sharp edge bullets.
Seems to me that if the bevel base gets any imperfection such as what would occur in a box or tub, maybe at casting would cause inaccuracy.
When I'm loading I feel the base of the bullet as I seat the bullet in the case mouth, feeling for that sharp edge. If I don't feel it I stop and look at what is wrong.
Is there any noticable accuracy difference?

Jim
 
#2 ·
I don't know, but....

Hi Pete!

I saw a similar posting on another forum, and there were people claiming that one base style or another beat out the other for accuracy with a particular gun.
What I do know is that BB bullets are a PITA to lube, as the bevel gets a great big gob of lube stuck on it and I have to not only wipe the base, but the bevel as well, which introduces an extra step and slows me down.
Regrettably, I need to use a BB bullet (the Lyman 452664) in my Taurus Thunderbolt. It digests them quite well, whereas my other .45 LC mold produces a slightly longer bullet that won't feed in the rifle.
Maybe one of these days I'll find someone that can machine out the bevel in the mold.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom
 
#3 ·
Have no problem with casting and reloading bevel base handgun bullets. The important thing is that the bullet is well cast with sharp detail be it flat or bevel base. As for accuracy, there may be a slight difference but unless the shooting is done off the bench, few of us will ever be able to tell. My "wobble" area alone, shooting standing without support, will quickly cancel any benefits derived from shooting the more accurate bullet. A bubble in the interior of the bullet is far more detrimental to accuracy than the shape of the base. I do feel that bevel based bullets are much easier to seat during reloading as the bevel naturally mates with the contour of the beveled casemouth.

As far as bullet lube forming around the bevel base in the lubrisizer, I have not experienced that but have had lube sometimes collect around the ogive. Of course anytime there is an undersized bullet or oversized die, lube will appear where it's not wanted. Just my dos centavos, YMMV and comments to the contrary welcome.
 
#4 ·
Any damage to the base of any bullet, regardless of style, will cause accuracy problems. I've never been able to find any generalized difference in accuracy between the two styles, although some guns seem to shoot one better than the other. To me, it seems that flat-base bullets are a bit easier to damage -- even tiny nicks/dents on the edge of that base can throw things off more than you'd think.
 
#5 ·
You won't detect an accuracy difference in well-formed bevel base pistol bullets at common pistol ranges. You might see it in rifles at longer range. There was an article in Handloader a while back that showed that damage to a bullet's base would cause a lot more inaccuracy than comparable damage to a bullet's tip. The inaccuracy comes from asymmetry on the bullet's base. As long as the bevel is symmetric arund the bullet's axis, and not damaged anywhere, it will not cause accuracy problems.

I believe the commercial casters use Star lubricators that have a valve that admits the lube into the sizing die only when the lube groove is in place to receive the lube, and closes it off so it can't go into the bevel.

My saeco lubrisizer doesn't do bevel bases well, nor gas check bullets without a check in place.

:)
 
#6 ·
What about the differences in leading between bevel base and plain base bullets? I had thought that part of the reason that some bullets lead worse than others is because they don't obturate properly. It seems to me that a plain base bullet would obturate better than a bevel based bullet, and theoretically you'd have less problem with leading - then again, it might not have anything to do with that at all - it's just speculation on my part.
 
#8 ·
I don't shoot well enough to see any accuracy advantage to oe or the other.
Frank
Just a thought, but if utmost accuracy was the desired result, would shooting cast lead bullets be the way to go? Wouldn't jacketed bullets be better for accuracy?

I shoot lead bullets because they are more economical than shooting purchsed jacketed bullets - no other reason. As a result, accuracy is secondary, even though I shoot plenty accurate enough with what I have.
 
#9 ·
I believe the issue with the use of bevel base bullets, based on a number of articles and some personal experience, is that most commercial casters use a fairly hard alloy and bevel bases. When these are fired in some revolvers where the throat diameter and bullet diameter do not match up with the bullet diameter, and the bullet is too hard to obdurate, you get leading.
Since all of my moulds, less one Lee .38 158 RFN, are plain base, I cannot test this out by casting my own Bevel Base with a softer alloy and matching sizing diameter to the pistol. I have fired some of the Lee bullets, but haven't recovered any from the snow so I cannot observe if there is any gas cutting with them (the only one that I found was fired from my rifle, so no help there).
So, the fault may not be the bevel base, but it might appear to be the culprit.
 
#11 ·
I think the bevel base issue in revolvers is a longer period of gas blowby cutting the bullet as it heads out through the barrel/cylinder gap and shoves the bullet into the forcing cone. No penalty for self-loaders, from that, though. The gas bypass and cutting might also be exaggerated at the muzzle, since takes a little more time for the bevel to clear the muzzle, but that issue verses muzzle gas cutting at a sharp base edge may be net neutral? It might depend on the alloy.

The other issue with bevel bases occurs if you have a caster who can't get his mold blocks closed so you get some flashing on the bevel that the sizing died doesn't touch and that can be dented or banged about a bit or is otherwise asymmetrical. That will hurt you at the muzzle because muzzle blast acts to accelerate the bullet a little further beyond the muzzle, and if the base is at all asymmetrical the deflecting blast favors one side, tipping the bullet.

For loading, the bevel bases are less prone to lead shaving and start into the case mouth more easily. You have to weigh that against the possibility of the out-of-square base.

I know of no reason a bevel base bullet would bump up any less than a flat base bullet. As with a boattail, if you go through the exercise of applying force perpendicular to the surface all around the base, as pressure would do, then divide it into barrel-wise radial and longitudinal vectors, then add all the longitudinal vectors, their sum turns out to be exactly equal to the total perpendicular force applied by that same pressure to a flat bullet base of the same diameter.
 
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