Copper Bullets?

[RN]

Hey Guys...

This past Friday I could not pass up a deal for some .224 "copperhead" bullets from the American Marksman..Picked up a 1000 for 45.00 bucks or so shipped..The are blem's but the bullets look great. They have no driving bands like some other solid copper bullets.

So, I have been researching solid copper bullets and some say they wear out your barrel(Daniel Defense DDMV5 Crome lined) and need to be loaded differently so I wanted to see what you think. So my questions are:

1. Will these ware out my barrel?
2. Would I load to the same OAL even though these will seat deeper?
3. Anyone use these 55gr bullets before? Advice?

Thanks!!

 

[Field Tester]

Copper is harder than lead but still less hard than Steel. You might have a bit more wear, but I don't think it will be noticeable. Obviously with copper jacketed, the core has more give for the bullet in the barrel.
Barnes has some hunting bullets than are pure copper that some people love.
I'd keep a look out for copper fouling.
I'm sure others will be along to give much better advice than me.

FYI, if you're ever in a restricted hunting area in California you should be able to use these because of the absence of lead. Not that that information will help you, but it's always nice to know isn't it?

 

[RN]

Thanks..I have lots of CFE 223 powder so fouling should be a non issue..I guess I am more concerned about how they will be loaded due to copper being longer and no load data for these bullets.I have seen the Barnes bullets and they are nice. these are not the same grade of bullet. The Barnes are so pricey that it's my guess hunters only shoot a few so barrel wear is a non issue.

Thanks for the input!!..

 

[Elkins45]

Thanks for the heads-up abut this company. They still have the blems for a good bit less that lead core bullets so I ordered a box to try them out.

I'm not worried about wear---it's throat erosion from the heat and blast of the powder that wears out rifle barrels, not bore friction.

 

[Seabeeken]

I've shot a lot of Barnes copper bullets over the last year in load development. The bands on the Barnes bullets give the displaced copper a place to move to which helps to prevent serious copper fouling. They do however, still foul the bore more than a jacketed bullet as they are much softer. The original X bullet did not have bands and fouled the bored very bad which caused it's redesign. I shot mine in a Shilen hand lapped match grade barrel and still got a lot of copper out of it just after 10 rounds. I used their tipped TSX last year on whitetail and it performed well. They are fine for hunting since you only fire a few a year but I would not shoot a lot of them without a good copper removing cleaning.
I stopped using the Barnes for this reason. Hope this helps. Good luck and be very careful working up loads for those bullets. Sounds like it may be uncharted territory without proper load data.

Ken

 

[Grumulkin]

Guess what, jacketed bullets have copper jackets. Pure copper bullets won't wear out the bore any faster than jacketed bullets. In addition, if you start out with a very clean bore that's smooth with no pitting, copper bullets won't foul more than jacket bullets.

As far a COAL length goes, it will be the same. You may need to decrease the powder charge a little though I've never had to.

 

[RN]

Thanks for the heads-up abut this company. They still have the blems for a good bit less that lead core bullets so I ordered a box to try them out.

I'm not worried about wear---it's throat erosion from the heat and blast of the powder that wears out rifle barrels, not bore friction.

No problem..Its a great deal And the bullets are nice..

@seebee..I hope that by using CFE powder the fouling problem will be minimal..

 

[KansasSasquatch]

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/rifle look up the data for 55gr "SFire" bullets. That would would probably be starting point as the SFire (Sinterfire) is a frangible copper bullet.

 

[RN]

Guess what, jacketed bullets have copper jackets. Pure copper bullets won't wear out the bore any faster than jacketed bullets. In addition, if you start out with a very clean bore that's smooth with no pitting, copper bullets won't foul more than jacket bullets.

As far a COAL length goes, it will be the same. You may need to decrease the powder charge a little though I've never had to.

Thanks...I understand that FMJ bullets have copper on the outside but they also have a lead core which compresses..Solid copper bullets do not "give" nearly as much therfore barrel wear might be increase according to my line of thinking..Might be wrong...

 

[Sunray]

Lead doesn't compress. It does get squeezed though. In any case, copper is much softer than steel. It's not going to cause pre-mature wear of any barrel.
A solid copper bullet doesn't fly the same as a lead cored bullet either. Has to do with density.

 

[Seabeeken]

Grum, Jacketed bullets are a mix of copper and zinc, not pure copper. The pure copper are softer and foul more.

 

[RN]

According to the manufacturer these can be actually loaded a little hotter..either way, I think I will start on a low end of a 55gr load with CFE powder and load them to an OAL of a 55gr VMAX..

 

[Elkins45]

Mine came today. They certainly don't appear to be blemished to me, at least on casual inspection.

 

[243winxb]

What Seebeeken said, plus the original copper bullet produced high pressure problems when using loading data for standard lead core bullets. The bands help to reduce pressure also. Its part of Barnes history. From Barnes > http://www.barnesbullets.com/information/bullet-talk/faq/

 

[gamestalker]

I've actually considered this when I first started using Barnes back around 1990 or so. So I contacted Barnes, and being that I was in the gun sporting goods industry back then, and I addressed my concern about barrel wear, data compatibility with jacketed, and as, well how to deal with the longer profile, or seating depth as it were.

The rep told me that there wasn't any barrel wear concerns to consider. And as he put it, copper is copper, in that copper jacketed bullets produce the same degree of friction as do the solids.

As for seating depth, this he did acknowledge that solids could cause accelerated throat erosion with certain cartridges, I think the 7 mag I was one particular example.

GS

 

[DM~]

I wouldn't be worried about bbl wear at all, but I would be watching out for copper fouling....

DM