Plated or Coated, Any Advantage One Over The Other?

[Speedo66]

I'm getting ready to place an order for a couple of thousand bullets and was comparing prices of plated to coated. I can get 2500 coated for about the price of 2000 plated.

I've never used coated and was wondering if there is much of a difference or advantage between the two? Can I assume powder loads are the same for a given bullet weight?

I'll be shooting moderate loads of .357 through a revolver and a carbine.

Any input would be appreciated.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

Probably no difference other than cost. Plated are often recommended for no more than 1200 fps and some with thicker plate 1500-1600 fps.
Coated can be pushed faster although not all coatings are the same. I have had leading issues with coated bullets in my Browning Hi Power and Ruger LC9s but never in anything else. I buy whatever is cheaper for target shooting, lately that has been pulled jacketed bullets.

 

[Tcruse]

Coated bullets need to be handled a bit more carefully. The brass needs to be flared enough to allow the setter to not strip off any of the coating. Also, you should not crimp too tight. I found that the coated, when loaded correctly are a bit more accurate than plated. They also seem to wear the barrel on your gun less than FMJ or plated. I end up using some of both depending on the sale prices when I put together an order.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

The only real difference I can see other than price is that with coated bullets, I find myself having to seat and crimp in two difference steps if my brass isn't trimmed or I will skin the coating off the coated bullet and expose lead to my barrel.
If my brass is trimmed and chamfered than I can usually get my seat/crimp die to not scrape the coating off if I work at it.
The coating is fragile, the plating, not so much, in fact for me it's mindless reloading.

If your already seating/crimping in two steps, I would go with coated lead, it's cheaper and just as accurate or maybe more so.

If your trimming and chamfering your .357 cases than maybe I would still go with coated, it depends on how good you are at setting up your seating/crimp die.

Coated bullets give you a nice crimp groove to crimp into, most plated bullets don't. That helps with roll crimps.
I use a taper crimp die to crimp my plated bullets and I do trim and chamfer my cases. To each their own. I use a roll crimp with my coated bullets.

I run both plated and coated up to around 1200fps with my procedure and get away with no problems from either one. With coated bullets the high tech coating and what ever coating Acme uses, is good for higher than that. You have to watch how hard the bullet lead is with the coated bullets if shooting them much faster than that so they don't strip in the rifling.
You have to watch how thick the plating is on plated bullets if you want to shoot faster than the normal 1200 fps. Most plated bullet makers include the letters TP for thick plate in their description of their bullets if they are good for 1500fps.

As far as which one you should buy, I hope I have help you in some way to figure that out.
TT.

 

[reddog81]

The biggest difference is that the coated bullets will actually have a crimp groove. I’ve never had a problem scrapping of the coating with my powder coated bullets and I always seat and crimp in the same step.

Over crimping plated bullets can result in the plating getting cut.

Lead bullets will actually have reloading data unlike plates bullets which rarely have data.

I would give the coated bullets a test run.

 

[jmorris]

I like plated bullets but they are not as accurate as jacketed or my coated bullets. Doesn’t stop me from using them when that is not the priority though.

 

[Walkalong]

unlike plates bullets which rarely have data

There is quite a bit of plated data out there these days, not so much as lead or jacketed, but plenty.

I use lead, plated, coated, and jacketed.

 

[rfwobbly]

When you talk about "Coated" you are basically talking about the latest incarnation of Lead bullets. The Hi-Tek coating and powder coated bullets are fairly new, but the bullets underneath are still Lead. So you need to start by slugging your barrel to find the exact diameter as you would for any Lead bullet. Then you need to pay particular attention to the diameter of the bullets you order. Then, as mentioned above, you need to seat and crimp them without breaking thorough the coating.

Coated bullets do reduce some of the mess of dealing with lead bullet lubes, but you still need to go through all the prep work of properly loading lead bullets.

 

[Dudedog]

These worked well for me
https://www.rmrbullets.com/shop/bul...ated-hollow-point-with-cannelure-bullets-new/ (not meant to be an expanding bullet, target type HP)
5% discount for THR members and free shipping.

I haven't tried these but they seem like a good deal but 135gr
https://www.rmrbullets.com/shop/bul...otal-metal-jacket-tmj-bullets-with-cannelure/
$87/K before the discount.
RMR is great to do business with

I also have had good results with Acme and Missouri 158gr SWCs.
Missouri has them in BHN 12 under ,.38 bullets and BHN 18 under .357 bullets.

I did have fun with the MBC 140gr Zingers in .357 but you have to come up with load data.
I sort of averaged 125 and 158gr numbers then started a bit lower.
158gr lead data should be safe for them but you can go higher charge wise than 158s.
I you are planning on driving them hard I would go with the BHN 18s less than full power .357s you might be happier with the BHN 12 ones. Tough call for which one for middle .357 vels.
MBC offers THR members a 5% discount with a code and I understand Acme has code out there but I don't think there is one for THR members.
The Acme bullets do come in cool wood boxes.

 

[jmorris]

When you talk about "Coated" you are basically talking about the latest incarnation of Lead bullets.

I agree but there is a difference because there is no standard. “Moly” is a term lots of people coin but a powder molybdenum coated lead bullet will leave black “spider webs” in a barrel and what is left behind in leading and residue is quite hard to remove, despite the bullets looking beautiful. Powder coat is another “coating” that varies a lot by what is applied and how. Hi-tek in another one that has proven more durable than others but that depends on application too.

I guess swaged, cast, cast with gas check, etc can all change results as well.

Lots of ground to cover.

 

[Slamfire]

I have been using plated bullets in the 45 ACP and it takes more powder to get the same velocity as cast. And they don't lead the barrel, which is good.

Do coated bullets lead the barrel or is the coating so effective that leading is eliminated?

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Ive not had any leading with Hi-tek coated bullets.
I have with standard lube bullets to the point I went to all plated for several years and quit shooting lead completely.
If your careful not to damage the coating you good to go. Just watch the lead hardness as you already know.

 

[Speedo66]

Thanks to all for the great info!

Is loading data for coated bullets the same as for plain lubed lead?

 

[jmorris]

Do coated bullets lead the barrel or is the coating so effective that leading is eliminated?

The coating is so effective that I can completely melt the lead inside the coating. The other blob was a bare cast bullet.

 

[jmorris]

Is loading data for coated bullets the same as plain lubed lead?

That’s a decent place to start with both coated and plated.

 

[ATLDave]

Coated will leave more gunk in the gun than plated, though still miles cleaner than old fashioned lubed lead.

 

[Slamfire]

The coating is so effective that I can completely melt the lead inside the coating. The other blob was a bare cast bullet.

View attachment 860628

That looks like something from a monster movie! The blob inside the human!!

Thanks for the picture, I might give coated bullets a try.

 

[Speedo66]

I decided to go with coated bullets, just ordered 2500 from ACME.

That to all for sharing your knowledge.

 

[Texas10mm]

I have been using plated bullets in the 45 ACP and it takes more powder to get the same velocity as cast. And they don't lead the barrel, which is good.

Do coated bullets lead the barrel or is the coating so effective that leading is eliminated?

Ive not had any leading with Hi-tek coated bullets.
I have with standard lube bullets to the point I went to all plated for several years and quit shooting lead completely.
If your careful not to damage the coating you good to go. Just watch the lead hardness as you already know.

I cleaned my Canik TP9SFX today, by clean I ran three patches through the bore. It's been over 1000 rounds since I last "cleaned" it. Barrel has no leading at all. I shoot a .357 bullet through it. I cast and coat my own. My lead is what many people would call too soft, it's bhn 11.

Coated will leave more gunk in the gun than plated, though still miles cleaner than old fashioned lubed lead.

What gunk? I cleaned three guns today, all had at least 500 Hi-Tek rounds through them. Total number of patches to clean the bores? 9. Three per bore.

 

[ATLDave]

What gunk? I cleaned three guns today, all had at least 500 Hi-Tek rounds through them. Total number of patches to clean the bores? 9. Three per bore.

I literally never clean the bores of pistols that I use plated bullets in - like, 10's of thousands of rounds without cleaning the bore. With polycoated bullets, you do get more soft fouling. Not leading. But more gunk. More soot in the rest of the gun too. You also get more smoke at ignition. Far less than lubed bullets, but more than plated.

This isn't a knock on them. They're usually a little cheaper than the plated, will usually chrono a touch faster for the same powder charge, probably do correspondingly less wear to the rifling, etc. I use both kinds. But the polycoated do run a little less clean than the plated.

 

[jmorris]

I literally never clean the bores of pistols

I have a Schuemann TiN coated AET barrel that has more than 100,000 rounds through it and nothing down the bore except bullets. It’s not sparkling clean but it still wins matches.

 

[ATLDave]

Yeah, I'm sold on the notion that the default approach for pistols should be no bore cleaning, or, at most, just a patch or two down the bore every few thousand rounds to get oil on it... no actual attempt to clean. If the pistol starts telling you that cleaning is needed, fine, but most pistols will never do that.

 

[Tilos]

I literally never clean the bores of pistols that I use plated bullets in - like, 10's of thousands of rounds without cleaning the bore. With polycoated bullets, you do get more soft fouling. Not leading. But more gunk. More soot in the rest of the gun too. You also get more smoke at ignition. Far less than lubed bullets, but more than plated.

This isn't a knock on them. They're usually a little cheaper than the plated, will usually chrono a touch faster for the same powder charge, probably do correspondingly less wear to the rifling, etc. I use both kinds. But the polycoated do run a little less clean than the plated.

yep, strictly coated, no barrel cleaning for me, except for a few jacketed bullets now and then

 

[ATLDave]

Yeah, even though polycoated bullets leave more residue, I don't usually clean out the bore on guns with those, either. I do have to clean the rest of the gun a little more frequently compared to plated/jacketed. About the same level of difference in gunk you get from a relatively clean powder versus a comparatively sooty one.