Berry's Bullets, why .001 bigger??

[dihnen]

Does anyone know why Berry's plated bullets are lead diameter rather than jacketed diameter? For instance, their 45 auto bullets are .452 rather than .451.

For what it's worth, Rainier plated bullets are .451.

Does the slight diameter difference affect the reloading process or the way they shoot at all, other than increasing the amount of bell I add to the case??

Thank you!

 

[LiveLife]

It's been my experience that plated bullets that are sized same as jacketed bullet diameters (Rainier, PowerBond, X-Treme) tend to leak more high pressure gas around the bullet and need to be pushed at jacketed pressures for optimal accuracy.

Many factory barrels are oversized and this adds to the high pressure gas leakage. Berry's larger diameter bullets provide better bullet-to-barrel fit and reduce high pressure gas leakage, especially for oversized barrels.

I think for this reason, Berry's recommends that we use start-to-mid range jacketed load data. I use lead load data with Berry's bullets with good accuracy.

FYI, if you are looking for higher accuracy than jacketed/plated bullets, check out Berry's Hollow Base Thick Plate (HBTP) bullets. The hollow base expands better to trap the powder ignition gas for more consistent chamber pressures and greater accuracy.

 

[ranger335v]

I really doubt you will be able to tell any difference at all.

 

[918v]

They will sit tighter in the case than a .001" smaller bullet.

 

[Fishslayer]

I just checked a Berry's 230gr RN. .4505 to .451.

Checked some different 9mm bullets. .355 exactly.

Berry's are soft lead with a thin plating. I don't think it would make much difference.

 

[LiveLife]

I have wondered about this for many years as I shot Rainier and Berry's primarily for plated bullets. I think the reason why larger diameter bullets are offered by various plated bullet manufacturers is that in their testing, depending on the hardness of the lead alloy used for the bullet core, acceptable levels of accuracy may not have been achieved by smaller diameter sizing (especially in many factory barrels that are oversized).

Unless things changed, Jay from Berry's MFG posted last year to clarify that their 9mm bullets are sized to .3555" but they advertise them as .356". IIRC, he confirmed the larger sizing of 40 and 45 caliber bullets as .401"/.452" and their website still shows the same - http://www.berrysmfg.com/products-c58-Berrys_Preferred_Plated_Pistol_Bullets.aspx

Rainier Ballistics lists .355" for 9mm, .400" for 40S&W and .451" for 45ACP - http://www.rainierballistics.com/mainframe.htm

PowerBond lists 40 and 45 caliber bullets as .400" and .451", but .3555" for 9mm bullets - http://powerbondbullets.com/products.html

X-treme bullets lists .355" for 9mm 115/124/135 gr bullets, but .356" and .357" for 147 gr bullets. .400" for 40 S&W bullets and 45ACP bullets come in both .451" and .452" sizing - http://xtremebullets.com/plated.htm

 

[RevDerb]

Am reloading Berry's RN in 9mm right now and they seat beautifully.

 

[LiveLife]

Found Jay's post - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=6630850#post6630850

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.

Jay R. Phillips
www.berrysmfg.com/products.aspx?n=57958

 

[Walkalong]

measure it at the base again with mic's

Anytime you are measuring for accuracy of better than .001, you need to use a micrometer, not a caliper, and measuring to the nearest .0001 takes some practice.

 

[Blue68f100]

I have shot both Rainer and Berrys plated bullets over the years and prefer Berry's. My Sig 229 9mm barrel is actually a 0.357" so the larger bullet fits better. I believe that Berry's use a softer lead than Rainer. The reason they say you can use lead data or low to med jacketed data. I just get better accuracy from Berry's in my guns.

 

[SSN Vet]

I really like Berry's bullets....

124 gr. RN for my 9s

230 gr. RN for my 45s

and 148 gr HBWC for the 38/357s

I always chalked the .001" oversize to the fact that they are really a soft swaged lead bullet.... with a very thin copper plate.

The only bad results I've had with Berry's is when I tried the 150 gr. FN in my .30/30..... the moral of that story was stick to pistol cartridges with plated bullets.