Berry Plated Bullets

[zxcvbob]

That kind of depends on your springs. 9x19mm, right? I uses 4.5 grains of BE with 135 grain LRN bullets, but that's a really hot load. 4.5 grains with a 125 grain bullet should be a nice load. (and I just like loads that are a multiple of .5 grains)

4.0 grains of Red Dot is a good load with 120-125 grain bullets. Yes, Bullseye takes more powder that Red Dot.

 

[LiveLife]

What FPS should i get up to so the slide will operate correctly?

I do not use FPS as it will vary depending on the barrel length/pistol you use (Factory test barrels are usually 4"-5"). Using published FPS data alone would not work for my short barreled Glock 27.

I normally use the starting charge with 1.125" OAL for 9mm to see if the slide cycles reliably and feeds/chambers well for MY pistols/barrel lengths (Glock 22/27 using Lone Wolf 9mm conversion barrels). I found that if the load works well in stiff recoil spring Gen3 G22/27 with tight chambered Lone Wolf conversion barrels, it works well in just about any other pistol.

Once I got the feeding/chambering/slide cycling reliably, I work up the load (10 rounds per incremental charges) to determine which charge produces the best accuracy.

 

[LiveLife]

Jay, I just took a measurement of 124 gr 9mm bullet diameter and it reads 0.3555"

For some time, I thought Berry's 9mm bullets were advertised at 0.356"

Your 180 gr 40S&W bullet is right at 0.400"

Could you verify the 9mm bullet diameter for us?

(email sent)

 

[Walkalong]

.355 or .356, just isn't going to make much difference unless your loading balls to the wall.............

Load up 10 of each with the same load, chrono, and the difference will be statistically indifferent.

 

[Berry's MFG]

We use carbide re-strike dies that helps us keep the uniformity on the final size. When you measure the bullet use a mic at the base. Our 9mm bullets are .356 + or - .0005"

We have a plus or minus .0005" to give us a bit of room with the dies. Our die manufacture gives us a plus or minus of the .0005", wear is a factor as well.

The dimension on the .40 bullets is .401 + or - .0005", measure it at the base again with mic's and see what you get.

 

[griff383]

I swore I would never buy a 9mm but low and behold I bought my first last night, I am a huge fan of the .40 S&W but it was time for a smaller change. So I started to load 9mm and bought some 124gr Berrys to reload as I have been impressed with the quality and value of that product (380, 38spl, 40, and 45ACP).

I measured and got .3555 as well until I rotated the bullet and got .356.

Jay, love your product.

 

[Berry's MFG]

We appreciate your support. I came from the era when the 1911 was the only gun ever seen on a competitive firing line, and rarely was it in anything but a .38 super or .45acp. I now have kids and a wife and a 9mm costs less to shoot, and I even enjoy shooting quick at steel with a smaller centerfire pistol. Soo many great platforms available now, the hardest part is coming up with the cash to get that great new pistol that is out.

 

[LiveLife]

Our 9mm bullets are .356 + or - .0005"

We have a plus or minus .0005" to give us a bit of room with the dies. Our die manufacture gives us a plus or minus of the .0005", wear is a factor as well.

0.3555" - 0.356" is fine by me. Larger the diameter of the bullet, tighter the bullet to barrel fit and less powder I need to use to get the same velocity as 0.355" jacketed bullet.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[WV_Vizsla]

Hey Jay,
Any plans in the works to develop real load data for the Berrys product line??

Of the last 60K order, most of these users will be running with Win Super Field.

 

[Berry's MFG]

We have been trying to get a couple of the powder manufacturers to develop data for our bullets and have one in the works. If we get some data from them it will be late 2011 most likely.

 

[ReloaderFred]

Ramshot have some limited data for Berry's bullets in their printed reloading manuals. You might want to look at them. Accurate Arms also has "similar" bullets listed in their printed manual.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Berry's MFG]

They both used to have more data for the plated bullets but I was told by Accurate that they pulled some of the data for internal reasons.

 

[rfwobbly]

What FPS should i get up to so the slide will operate correctly? I'm looking at the starting load for a 125 grain jacketed bullet in my manual and it states 3.9 grains of bullseye will get 979 FPS..

I'm going to be using a berry's bullet 124 grains RN.

Thanks,
Stodd

Using published data and having a standard sprung gun, I've found that 9mm loads right over 1000 fps is where my guns start to "hum". At least to me, the sweet spot seems to lie around 1020 to 1040 fps. Actions are working flawlessly and loads are shooting clean. But my guns have been verified to generally follow the load data I'm using.