[William Iorg]

Rocky,
I enjoyed your article in the latest Handloader magazine about plated bullets. My father started me out on cast bullets in the 1950’s but I have seldom seen plated swaged bullets in use. I do not shoot many “self commencers‘” and assumed this was the primary application for plated bullets.
For 99% of lead bullet shooting 1,200 fps and under fills the bill.
Your article answered my questions of crimping and bullet movement under recoil. With the slight adjustments in bullet seating you overcame the problems. You found a good use for the Lispey Bisley. Did you try any of the 44’s in your Charter Arms bulldog?
I often load .452” diameter 45 ACP bullets in the 45 Colt case by full-length sizing and then belling the case mouth using the Lee case mouth expander die - the RCBS die would work the same way - The loaded cartridges cycle trough the magazine of my wife’s Taurus Thunderbolt without a hitch. I use Bullseye and the load burns clean with low extreme spreads.
When you ran a clean patch through your barrels, did you note any color from the plating?
With the alloy of about wheel weight alloy, these bullets would be useful for most handgun applications.
I would have liked to see a picture of the press swaging the bullets.

 

[Chief RID]

Which issue was that Bill? I don't subscribe but I pic up almost all of them at the news stand. I hope I did not misplace that issue.

 

[Jack]

The article is in the December issue- should be on the newsstands now.

 

[William Iorg]

The part which interests me is the possibilities for hot days. While we have good lubricants which withstand high temperatures, they are expensive. The swaged and plated bullets offer an interesting alternative. Their ability to shoot well at velocities over 1,200 fps indicates the plated bullet would answer 99% of my handgun bullet needs. I have not investigated the varieties but these are interesting bullets.

 

[Rocky Raab]

Thanks, William. Here's a shot of an automated swaging machine - and the reason why the magazine didn't use it is obvious: it's booooorrrrring.

I didn't use any data from my Bulldog in the article, but the bullets shoot equally well from it, only a wee bit slower from the 3" barrel. None of the guns used showed any copper fouling whatsoever, and I left all of them uncleaned for the whole series. That's at least 200 shots through each. If I wanted to seat them out a bit to increase case volume, I'd get and use a Lee Factory Crimp Die.

BTW, since I wrote the article several months ago, Berry's has announced that they are coming out with a "Thick Plate" version of some of their bullets. That will remove any velocity restriction whatever and make them "magnum capable." See their website for updates.

 

[William Iorg]

Clean machine. I wondered about dust during a commercial swaging process. I like the work board hooked to the machine, no doubt about what the machine is making.
My wonder on the Bulldog was the light gun and bullet movement. My wife’s 3” bulldog required careful crimping to keep the bullets from jumping crimp.
If they shoot this clean I don’t care about a velocity restriction but the thicker plate is good. I’ll look into this as in summer our ammunition is in the sun with the temperatures above 90 degrees. This is hard on any lubricant except the best of them and those are expensive. The plated bullets could be cheaper and less trouble.

 

[Rocky Raab]

Yup. I can't argue with that.

I'll admit that I didn't do a "last round" test on bullet creep with the Bulldog, but having solved that (I thought) I didn't need to. I'll give it a look.

 

[Rocky Raab]

One more thing. A reader on another website was appalled that the .38 Special load with Bullseye got 4" groups and wondered if that was a typo. Nope, but an explanation is in order.

The article required several trips to the range, naturally. On one particular day, I could not hit a cow in the butt with any of the three guns I shot that day. Just awful shooting - and all my fault. There was simply no time to re-shoot those loads, and so I had to report what I actually shot - or lie. You can see in the tables which loads I shot that day: they are all large.

I meant to include that explanation in the article, but obviously forgot to. And now you know.

 

[William Iorg]

Rocky I have days like that -more as I get older and my eyesight is failing.

The article and the 41 Special thread on the Campfire caused me to go back and read your 41 Special article again.

You have a couple of gems in that article: the term “Annual Retentive’ and what should be a classic “Cheap flat tops don’t fall of a truck every day…”

Good stuff
Most of the article reads like an oral presentation, good style.

 

[Rocky Raab]

William, I talk to my readers. And I dearly love word play. Thanks.

 

[Chief RID]

I just finished reading the article. It made me want to try some plated bullets in my Thunder Ranch 44 spl.