Midway Plated Bullets

[protoolman]

I just aquired a box of 500 158gr Plated bullets that were sold by Midway probably 10 years ago. They look tarnished but I assume should shoot ok. How does anyone crimp these? I notice they have no crimping groove. Anyone use them and have a comment on accuracy or loading tips?

 

[Mobuck]

Use a taper crimp or a very light roll crimp. It's very easy to squish these bullets causing them to shed the plating or simply not shoot well. I experienced this last week while setting up to load some 40 S&W. I set the taper crimping section of the seating die way too low. The result was a bullet no longer big enough to hold in a 40 case. The part that was inside the crimped case is now about.385".

 

[GP100man]

Tender lead & plating only .003-.007" thick makes for agravation in the seating dept .

When I tried em some yrs. back in 357 mag I used no expander & a lite roll crimp .

Push em hard enuff & they`ll leave plating in the bore NOT GOOD !!!

General practice now is to load em under 1K to prevent the seperation & the thin plating can`t handle hitting the forcing cone at hi speeds.

I found anything from battered/torn plating to complete shedding , this is what prompted bore inspection after every shot !!!

I used only 60 of the 1k I ordered, used em as trade fodder .

Just remember ya can`t treat em as jacketed , treat em more like swaged lead .

All my testing not chronied , no pics or nuttin but just my notes & exp .

GP

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

Haven't used Midway's brand of plated bullets, but have used others, both w/ and w/o cannelures. Agree w/ those who say "Load 'em light and crimp 'em slight." I've used the Lee Factory Crimp Die set VERY lightly. It does a taper crimp on the 9mm (only auto cartridge I load), which isn't too problematic, while the .38/.357 and .44 FCDs use a roll crimp, which CAN be adjusted to almost nothing.

Knock on wood, I've over crimped 'em to the point of destroying accuracy but haven't pulled plating material off that stuck in the barrel. Yet?

Rick C

 

[Cheesewhiz]

Not sure but those Midway plated are probably Rainier plated bullets, Midway sells them now under the Rainier name.

I have used both Rainier and Berry's bullets. I actually have several very nice 9mm loads for Berry's and a good plinking load for Rainiers. I also have a good .45 ACP load using Berry's 230 RN plated.

I have found with all bullets that have a very soft base lead, that the bell created when expanding needs to be fairly deep and wide. If it isn't, the case will swage the bullet when it's seated and you can end up using too much taper crimp trying to hold these now undersized bullets in place.

I don't push the plated bullets all that fast but normally use upper lead load data and actually have pushed some of the newer style Berry's pretty hard. I have a nice load now for Berry's 115gr HBRN using Power pistol that gets up close to 1300 fps, it accurate and very consistent with no signs of shedding it's plate.

I try to just kiss taper crimp all these bullets and like I said I open the bell enough so I'm not squeezing the bullet as it's being seated very hard.

These are my 124gr HBRN (Hollow Base Round Nose) Berry's with an upper level load of HP-38/231 (4.6gr) at a OAL of 1.160", it's a very accurate loading.

 

[Mobuck]

I've loaded 6-7 thousand plated bullets in 9mm, 40 S&W, and 38 Sp, both Berry's and Rainier. I like them because they generally prevent "bounce back" when shooting steel plates at shorter ranges. Most of those I load are at the minimum function level in the semiauto calibers and 700-750 fps range in the 38. Yes, I do snag one occasionally on the case mouth but not many. I get nearly cast bullet economy w/o worry about powder contamination during longtime stored bulk packed ammo.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I shoot thousands of plated bullets every year without any problems at all in revolvers and pistol caliber rifles. They are accurate, clean, they don't lead the barrel, and they cost less than premium bullets. Load them like lead bullets and use only a light crimp and you should have no problems. I use the Lee FCD for most of my crimping.

btw, a little tarnish on the bullets won't hurt anything and will probably increase the bullet pull (neck tension) a little.

 

[protoolman]

Thanks to all for the info. I'll probably load them to 800 fps or so in .38 with a light crimp per everyone's instructions. This was exactly the type of info I was looking for since I have never used plated bullets before.