Tried out some Missouri Bullet Company 95 grain round nose cast bullets today.
Here's my thoughts. I used Titegroup for all loads here. First, cast bullets are a strange beast. I have shot about 800 of the Berry plated 100 grain bullets. For those, I found 2.8 grains is pretty good load. Brisk, but not bad for recoil. You can easily hit up a double tap without difficulty.
The plated bullets are slippery, don't need much expanding to fit, and need a little more snug taper crimp to keep from sliding back.
Cast bullets, on the other hand, are .001 wider, need much more expanding, and were in general a PITA for someone who has never used them before. They are slimey due to the lube, get your fingers dirty. I didn't expand the cases enough, and I think the bullets weren't seated square with the case which affected accuracy. A lot. I had stuff flying all over the target. It was pretty embarassing to see.
Shot 25 rounds with a .970-.973 OAL loaded with 2.5 grains Titegroup. That is a light load based on the Lee and Lyman manual. I never found a match for these bullets so I started low, and went slow.
These were okay. Shot a little bit low it seemed. Just a hair. Super light recoil. Quiet, light, and clean.
With the same bullet, at 2.6 grains with a COL of .950, recoil was notable stiffer. Accuracy was okay. A touch better than with the 2.5 grain. I don't shoot with a rest, just by hand so that's a factor.
Lessons learned:
Cast bullets are a strange beast.
Expand the case aggressively.
Seating is a challenge. I had much more variance in COL vs the plated bullets.
I didn't need hardly any taper. I could pound on the bullet and it didnt budge a bit. They did have an obvious bulge, but I measured the case diameter and it was still in spec. Really no chambering issues and I suppose that is what matters.
Hard to beat for the money. I paid, after tax, $34 for 500 of them at a local store.
Here's my thoughts. I used Titegroup for all loads here. First, cast bullets are a strange beast. I have shot about 800 of the Berry plated 100 grain bullets. For those, I found 2.8 grains is pretty good load. Brisk, but not bad for recoil. You can easily hit up a double tap without difficulty.
The plated bullets are slippery, don't need much expanding to fit, and need a little more snug taper crimp to keep from sliding back.
Cast bullets, on the other hand, are .001 wider, need much more expanding, and were in general a PITA for someone who has never used them before. They are slimey due to the lube, get your fingers dirty. I didn't expand the cases enough, and I think the bullets weren't seated square with the case which affected accuracy. A lot. I had stuff flying all over the target. It was pretty embarassing to see.
Shot 25 rounds with a .970-.973 OAL loaded with 2.5 grains Titegroup. That is a light load based on the Lee and Lyman manual. I never found a match for these bullets so I started low, and went slow.
These were okay. Shot a little bit low it seemed. Just a hair. Super light recoil. Quiet, light, and clean.
With the same bullet, at 2.6 grains with a COL of .950, recoil was notable stiffer. Accuracy was okay. A touch better than with the 2.5 grain. I don't shoot with a rest, just by hand so that's a factor.
Lessons learned:
Cast bullets are a strange beast.
Expand the case aggressively.
Seating is a challenge. I had much more variance in COL vs the plated bullets.
I didn't need hardly any taper. I could pound on the bullet and it didnt budge a bit. They did have an obvious bulge, but I measured the case diameter and it was still in spec. Really no chambering issues and I suppose that is what matters.
Hard to beat for the money. I paid, after tax, $34 for 500 of them at a local store.
