9mm Bullet Choice

They're cheaper online. Sportsman's Warehouse is a ripoff.

I really like Berry's Bullets and have shot 1000s of them. Never shot the RMRs but they look good too and are cheaper, even online.
However just slinging bullets at paper or steel, I now use ACME and can shoot 100s and never see any residue while loading or shooting. Berry's always leaves some sort of residue on my hands/fingers. Don't know about RMR.

Lee Q. Loader said:

use plated bullets over jacketed now that very good jacketed bullets are lower in cost.

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Berry's are 'nice', but there are several other plated/coated offerings that may very well do just as good or better for considerably less $$$.

RMR bullets are a great value. I'd hate to be in competition with them... If I'm not shooting a bullet I cast myself there's a real good chance it came from RMR.

For the most part the plated and jacketed bullets they sell are about the same price and personally I have no idea why someone would prefer plated over jacketed. I suppose if your trying to shoot a real light load a plated bullet might work better since there's less slightly less of a chance it'd get stuck in the bore, but in that scenario you'd be much better off with lead bullets.

I shot thousands of Berrys until I tried RMR. I've shot 4000 RMR this year alone. Why shoot plated when you can shoot FMJ for same or less ? Mainly shoot RN but for the price I may try the hollow point multi purpose .
Nothing wrong with Berrys, but I like RMR better. Nice to have choices.

Jeff

In 9mm I agree, why shoot plated when jacketed is such a fair price.

In 44 Mag I'm still playing with some lead or plated depending on what I'm doing and the sales that come up.

45 acp I bought a considerable amount if the Keith type from MBC and also a pile of jacketed from Everglades. I've got to put at least 5k down range before I determine my next pill for that caliber

I started out shooting plated and have loaded/shot thousands of them. But I am starting to move over to jacketed bullets in a few calibers.

I had some bad results using either plated or coated bullets in my 44 mag revolver. I saw leading with the coated bullets, and evidence of plating failure with the plated bullets. I have a 20” rifle that I can exceed the rated velocity of plated. I discovered Zero JSP bullets and won’t use anything else in that caliber, as they work extremely well in those guns and cost no more than plated bullets. I also have a revolver and rifle in 357mag so I now use Zero bullets for those, for the same reasons as above.

If RMR had 44mag FMJ bullets, I am sure I would at least try them.

For my semi-auto pistols in 9, 40, 45 etc. I am so well stocked with plated bullets and have good load data for all of them so I will be using plated bullets for quite some time. I do use RMR FMJ for my 16” 9mm AR, though.

All things equal (price, reliability, and accuracy) about the only reason I can think of to use plated over FMJ is the exposure to lead. With exposed lead at the base of an FMJ bullet, there will be some airborne lead when shot. JHP or JSP bullets don’t have this problem as the base is copper. I suspect this problem is minimal compared to the residue from the primer compound in standard lead styphnate primers, though.

If you use the 9mm MPR Hollow points no exposed lead at the base
I shot a lot of plated from RMR (Hard core kind) and really liked them.
Now that they are no longer available in 9mm I am using the MPRs, since they are such a great value.
RMR is great to do business with, good people, good product, fast "free" shipping.

As Toprudder mentioned the only advantage to plated over some jacketed is no exposed lead at the base,
but other than that I see no reason to pay more for plated if a jacketed bullet is the same or less money. (and shoots as well some guns just are picky about what they like)

Nothing wrong with plated bullets however, I still use them in some calibers.

Not sure I understand the reason for this thread.
I just checked

Berry's plated 125 gr .357" = $28.28
RMR's plated 125 gr .357" = $35.00

To me that says Berry's are cheaper.
(but only if you order over $75 worth & get free shipping on Berry's)

Hondo 60 said:

Not sure I understand the reason for this thread.
I just checked

Berry's plated 125 gr .357" = $28.28
RMR's plated 125 gr .357" = $35.00

To me that says Berry's are cheaper.
(but only if you order over $75 worth & get free shipping on Berry's)

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Well, apples and oranges.

Shipping is included in RMR prices. The $35 you quote above is for quantity 250, and comes out to 14 cents per bullet. If you go up to quantity 1000 for the RMR bullets, it puts it over the $75 mark (required to get free shipping for Berrys) which makes it $97 and 9.7 cents per bullet. And don't forget the 5% discount at RMR for THR members.

Hondo 60 said:

Not sure I understand the reason for this thread.
I just checked

Berry's plated 125 gr .357" = $28.28
RMR's plated 125 gr .357" = $35.00

To me that says Berry's are cheaper.
(but only if you order over $75 worth & get free shipping on Berry's)

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You can save even more on Berry's at Powder Valley if buying a couple thousand at a time.
Per 1k of OPs bullet, Powder Valley price, $81.50 vs 103.54 at Berry's.

kcofohio said:

You can save even more on Berry's at Powder Valley if buying a couple thousand at a time.
Per 1k of OPs bullet, Powder Valley price, $81.50 vs 103.54 at Berry's.

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Yes, but $9.95 shipping from PV for those 1K bullets. Still a lot better, though.

Walkalong said:

Yep, gotta figure at least 1K for ordering.

The gap in plated vs jacketed has simply closed a great deal over the years, and in some cases/times jacketed can be found cheaper.

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I got a good deal on 2k of Delta Precision 124 gr. JHP earlier this year. Pricing was better that plated bullets.

I have to admit, after a certain amount of load workups (and I have done a bunch for pistol calibers) I get to the point that I pick what works and stick with it. Right now I am in the process of trying to use up some miscellaneous bullet types and powders, and standardize on a certain few that work well, so I can stock up on the things I like. I am less likely to try anything new for general plinking ammo just because the prices shift a half cent.

Lee Q. Loader said:

When I started reloading 9mm about a year ago, I started using Berry's 124 gr HBFPTP. I liked everything about these bullets and they got me off to a good start.
Since then, I learned about RMR bullets here on THR. I've been buying and using the MPR 124 grain and I like these bullets very much.

When I was at Sportsman Warehouse the other day I saw they had the 124 gr Berry's bullets and I thought to myself, I always liked those, I think I'll pick up a box of 250. I put them back on the shelf when I saw that they had gone way up in price and are now considerably more per bullet than the RMR jacketed HP. I pay about 9 cents per bullet for the RMR's and the Berry's were about 12.5 cents.

This leads me to ask the question: Why would I ever use plated bullets over jacketed now that very good jacketed bullets are lower in cost. Can anyone give me a scenario where they would pay more to use plated bullets? I always understood that lower cost is the advantage of plated.

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To answer your question, I prefer plated over FMJ as I shoot a lot indoors and I prefer fully encapsulated lead over an exposed lead base. Now if we're talking JHP or completely enclosed jacketed bullets that's another story.

Like others, as an oft-indoors shooter, I have no truck with FMJ's. I also don't like their propensity to hold together a little too well when shot at steel... I want bullets that splatter, not bounce. But if you're talking JHP's, then, yeah, those are nice and I'm not sure I'd ever go plated over them at comparable prices so long as the nose design fed well.

ATLDave said:

I also don't like their propensity to hold together a little too well when shot at steel... I want bullets that splatter, not bounce.

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That's interesting. I hadn't even considered that. I shoot mostly steel targets, too.

Provided the the wind is not in you face. I shoot steel targets too. When the wind is in my face I do not shoot. For it will put all the gasses and spray back in your face. I shoot mainly 45 acp with LSWC and a few 9mm Berry's plated. The Berrys will flatten but loose over 1/2 its weight if not more. It's when you happen to hit the target square is when it flattens leaving some lead coins behind. Hitting at a slight angle powders the lead better. The same is said about the 12 brn 185gr LSWC I shoot in my 45.

Plated bullets are pretty good. They are nearly as good as jacketed.
With RMR closing up the price difference, I will be jacketed from here on out.

1KPerDay said:

That's interesting. I hadn't even considered that. I shoot mostly steel targets, too.

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I've picked up some frighteningly-intact 45 ACP hardball with just a big dent from hitting steel. Close to 100% weight retention I'm sure. I don't want to catch that. Frag/splash I can take. I don't want whole bullets coming back at me.

I used mostly coated bullets for a while when they were the cheapest. When plated bullet prices came down I started using more of them them. Lately I have found great buys on pulled Gold Dots and Hyra Shocks and have at least 10K of them to load. All of them work well. My Hi Power and LC9s don't like coated and for the same money I'll stick to plated or jacketed.