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Posted: 10/28/2015 10:28:29 AM EDT
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Anyone have any firsthand experience with these things:
9mm bullets I shoot mostly steel targets and was thinking a little less metal splatter might prolong the life of the wooden feet on my stands a little. The price is decent and free shipping. Most shooting is out of an M&P 9. Anything wierd I should know about? Thanks. Sorry if this has already been talked about, search feature doesn't seem to do anything... |
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Also interested. In addition to the basic questions on accuracy and leading behavior, I am also curious on load/pressure behavior, and also, on crimping behavior. I have found that FMJ bullets are held more snugly by a crimp, than TMJ bullets. I am assuming with Blue Bullets one will have less bullet retention tension than with FMJ, and also one has to be more concerned about breaking through the coating upon crimping?
Any experiences on that? |
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Quoted:
Also interested. In addition to the basic questions on accuracy and leading behavior, I am also curious on load/pressure behavior, and also, on crimping behavior. I have found that FMJ bullets are held more snugly by a crimp, than TMJ bullets. I am assuming with Blue Bullets one will have less bullet retention tension than with FMJ, and also one has to more concerned about breaking through the coating upon crimping? And as such, are more resistant to set-back. Any experiences on that? I didn't even think about the crimping aspect. Good questions as well. This is copied direct from their website: Coated Bullet Reloading Information (The Blue Bullets LLC) Reloading coated bullets is slightly different than loading a jacketed or lead bullet. The bottom line is to preserve the coating. If you strip or damage the coating it may caused lead fouling in your barrel, increased smoke, and/or decreased accuracy. There are several things to pay attention to while setting up your press and reloading. Once the press is set up correctly you will most likely never have to adjust it again. -Crimp – The perfect amount of crimp will hold the bullet in place but not affect the coating. The best way to check this is to pull a loaded bullet and examine the coating. You should see just a very slight impression (almost none) in the coating from the crimp. -Expansion – When loading coated bullets you should expand the case opening enough so that it does not cut the coating as the bullet is seated. Many times if it’s right on the line it will not cut under the lube ring but above the lube ring. To verify a correct amount of expansion pull the bullet and examine the coating. -Load data – We recommend that you use published lead load data from reputable sources. A coated bullet will run slightly slower than a lead bullet (5FPS-10FPS.) This is usually only going to matter to a shooter that is loading to a Power Factor for competition. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to send us an email at [email protected]. Hodgon's website is a good place to start if you need some help with load data. Hodgon Load Data These will work in Bullet Feeders unlike lead bullets. |
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They are GTG. Shot quite a few Myself lately.
One member here, AJE, has shot thousands and thousands in competition. I shot them with TiTewad, work great. You make up a few, crimp them, take them apart to see that You're not disturbing the polymer, and that is the key. Making sure You don't disturb the coating. |
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They're down the road from me, I have no doubt if you call they'll take time to answer any questions you have.
I've used a few thousand of the 125s and 147s of both varieties, good bullets, quite consistent, deliver pretty good accuracy, loaded with proper care you will have no issues with leading. With some powders you may experience slightly more smoke than jacketed/plated, non-issue IMO but gets mentioned. I have had some blue fouling around the muzzle from these, wipes right off like powder fouling. If you've never loaded coated bullets, you need to flare a little more than many do for jacketed/plated and only crimp enough to remove the flare, you do not want to damage the coating. ETA: it's not fragile, I've recovered bullets with nearly intact coating, but people take things way too far or not far enough a lot apparently. That said IME, lead can splatter and tear up target stands just about if not as well as copper, loaded slow it just wads up and falls or bounces back in your direction. |
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That said IME, lead can splatter and tear up target stands just about if not as well as copper, loaded slow it just wads up and falls or bounces back in your direction. I was thinking about that the other day. I was thinking of doing some slower loads just for my steel shooting after I noticed the 230 Grain .45s seemed to just flatten into discs and fall. But I'll have to see if I can still get the 115 grain 9mm to knockover the plates efficiently before I try 147 Grain. Its not like I shoot any legit competition besides amongst shooting buddies. |
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I've shot quite a few Blue Bullets and Bayou Bullets. In fact, it's all I buy for handguns anymore. I never get any leading and I usually end up loading them on the high end of lead bullet data. I'd say buy a bag of 250 and give them a try. For the price they're hard to beat. |
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Here's a recent previous discussion on them: Blue Bullets vs BBI review |
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