tkcomer
Member
Has anybody used these? Seems like a good price. Looking at the 7.62x39 bullets and possibly the 308 and 223 bullets.
Golden West Brass Bullets
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rcmodel
Member in memoriam
Never heard of them.
But they are not "brass bullets" near as I can tell.
The pictures are of conventional cup & core FMJ.
rcmodel
But they are not "brass bullets" near as I can tell.
The pictures are of conventional cup & core FMJ.
rcmodel
tkcomer
Member
I wonder who makes them? I had bad luck with Winchester bulk 223s. They wouldn't shoot worth crap. At least out of my guns. I'm more interested in the 7.62x39 bullets for my AR build. The barrel on it has a .310 bore.
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
No bulk FMJ bullets will shot worth crap.
Hornadys FMJ's are made to a higher level then Winchester or Remington bulk bullets, but still will not match most any other type of bullet in accuracy.
It has to do with the open part of the jacket being the base of the bullet on a FMJ.
Impossible to make them swage out perfect on the base, or even all the exact same, and that effects accuracy.
Open tip bullets have a closed base, and the jacket/base is perfectly flat, and exactly the same, on every one of them.
rcmodel
Hornadys FMJ's are made to a higher level then Winchester or Remington bulk bullets, but still will not match most any other type of bullet in accuracy.
It has to do with the open part of the jacket being the base of the bullet on a FMJ.
Impossible to make them swage out perfect on the base, or even all the exact same, and that effects accuracy.
Open tip bullets have a closed base, and the jacket/base is perfectly flat, and exactly the same, on every one of them.
rcmodel
tkcomer
Member
I agree. The Hornady bulk bullets were MUCH better out of my 223s. I was thinking, Winchester? Has to be good. I bought 5000 of 'em. Almost turned me against FMJs in general. That's why I'm hesitant to jump on these bullets. Just trying to get a little better accuracy out of my 7.62x39 AR and maybe some decent plinking bullets for my DPMS LR 308B. Whenever that gun comes in.
res45
Member
It's a family owned operation,allot of guys that shoot at the CMP matches use them.
scrat
Member
a lot of people on calguns use them. Prices are good and they do make quality bullets. They are located in El Monte Ca. Been to the shop its not bad. Just they only tailor to popular bullets not all of them.
Reviews on people who used them were very good
Reviews on people who used them were very good
tkcomer
Member
Hey, thanks for the answers. They have a sale on until the end of the month. I'll have to try them. Since these will be used in AR type rifles, I prefer FMJs.
USSR
Member
The "brass" is part of the business name, as in Golden West Brass. The bullets are so-so. Okay for plinking, but not high enough quality for serious work.
Don
Don
tkcomer
Member
If I hand load with them, will I get better accuracy and consistency than the 7.62x39 com block ammo I'm using now?
Floppy_D
Member In Memoriam
You'd certainly have the potential to, as long as you tailored a lod to your gun. I guess I have one of few AKs that can group fairly well off of surplus ammo, but I imagine if I worked up a load for it, it would sing.
SSN Vet
Member
If you're talking about their 124 gr. FMJ bulk bullets as show here
http://www.goldenwestbrass.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=GWB-053
I load it for my converted Saiga.
The bullet finish is pretty rough.....almost looks like pulled mil. surp., but I guess they make it themselves.
I load it over ~24 gr. of AA1680 with a Win. LRP and it shoots just about as well as WWB or Fed. American Eagle factory ammo.
The bullets measure a very consistant .311" dia.
I have two "gripes" with this bullet....(but keep in mind...I bought five hundred of them for $.075/ea. a year ago....so I fully expected to get what I paid for.)
1. The "Cannalure" is more like what you would expect to find on a cast bullet. more of a dent thant a true crimp groove. So if you don't seat and crimp with the mouth right at the dent, the crimp won't prevent bullet set back. But if you do seat and crimp right at the dent, you're going to be shorter than the published min. OAL of 2.17"
I crimp with the LFCD that came with my set (make sure you use the .311 expander and not the .308, as the Lee set comes with both) and the bullet will set back when pushed into the edge of my bench with a modest amount of force.
So I seat to the "dent" and that gives me an OAL of ~.214" I'm not pushing max. loads and have had no signs of overpressure as a result.
2. But gripe #1 leads right into Gripe #2. Like most other FMJ bullets I've used....the Ogive isn't perfectly consistant from one bullet to the next, so your going to pull your hair out adjusting your bullet seating die if you get to picky about holding OAL.
Summary....
They're O.K. for plinkers and they're half the price of Hornady's SP(wihch measure .310" dia.).
In my rifle, which slugs .312 at the muzzle, they actually shoot better than the Hornady's... but I havn't really spent a lot of time working up a good load for the Hornady's either.
http://www.goldenwestbrass.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=GWB-053
I load it for my converted Saiga.
The bullet finish is pretty rough.....almost looks like pulled mil. surp., but I guess they make it themselves.
I load it over ~24 gr. of AA1680 with a Win. LRP and it shoots just about as well as WWB or Fed. American Eagle factory ammo.
The bullets measure a very consistant .311" dia.
I have two "gripes" with this bullet....(but keep in mind...I bought five hundred of them for $.075/ea. a year ago....so I fully expected to get what I paid for.)
1. The "Cannalure" is more like what you would expect to find on a cast bullet. more of a dent thant a true crimp groove. So if you don't seat and crimp with the mouth right at the dent, the crimp won't prevent bullet set back. But if you do seat and crimp right at the dent, you're going to be shorter than the published min. OAL of 2.17"
I crimp with the LFCD that came with my set (make sure you use the .311 expander and not the .308, as the Lee set comes with both) and the bullet will set back when pushed into the edge of my bench with a modest amount of force.
So I seat to the "dent" and that gives me an OAL of ~.214" I'm not pushing max. loads and have had no signs of overpressure as a result.
2. But gripe #1 leads right into Gripe #2. Like most other FMJ bullets I've used....the Ogive isn't perfectly consistant from one bullet to the next, so your going to pull your hair out adjusting your bullet seating die if you get to picky about holding OAL.
Summary....
They're O.K. for plinkers and they're half the price of Hornady's SP(wihch measure .310" dia.).
In my rifle, which slugs .312 at the muzzle, they actually shoot better than the Hornady's... but I havn't really spent a lot of time working up a good load for the Hornady's either.
tkcomer
Member
Thanks! That's some info I can use. I have ordered the Lee Pacesetter dies, so I'll have the FCD. With the FCD, the cannalure is not that important. I'm not expecting spectacular accuracy out of these bullets. Just something better and more consistent than the com block ammo I'm using now. The WWB shot poorly out of this gun. I thought it might be because of the .308 bullets. Also looks like another vote to AA 1680. I haven't made up my mind about powder yet.
tkcomer
Member
Thought I'd touch base and give ya an idea what these bullets are doing with my gun. I can't seem to post pics off this site so here goes: http://www.pixagogo.com/4825444121 Click on a pic to make it bigger, then click on original at the top to blow it up. The pic of the target on the bottom right is what I shot yesterday with the 124gr Golden West Brass Bullets using 22grs of IMR 4227 and standard CCI 200 large rifle primers. I only have 20 rounds of brass to play with right now. The target was 90 yards away. I'm not the best shot but I don't think that's too bad since I'm using the wrong powder. Hotter seems better. I started out with 19grs of powder and couldn't do that good at 50 yards. Once I get some good powder in, maybe those bullets will fly straighter. On a side note, I tried some 150gr FMJ Golden West Brass Bullets in 308 in my Remington Varmint 700. That came to a halt real quick as I broke the extractor in that gun. What few I shot seems to group similar to the 7.62x39 bullets. Anyway, just thought the gang might want to know how I'm coming along.
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