Plated vs FMJ 9mm bullets

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

mr-mom

Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
Messages
10
Location
Minnesota Lake Country
Long time 9mm reloader here, have consistently used 124 gr Hornady FMJ-RN bullets and the HP/XTP hollow points. Would like to save a few $$ on my reloading costs, so am looking at plated bullets as an option. Questions: Is there any concern using the plated bullets in barrels with polygonal rifling?
Does one need to use different load data? What about crimp, use the same light taper crimp as with the FMJs? What COL is appropriate for plated? If you have experience using plated bullets, I would appreciate your thoughts.
Stay safe, shoot straight and have fun!
mr-mom:)
 
I have used a whole lot of Berry's 124 gr plated over 4.8 grains W231. No problem in a Glock barrel.
 
From the Berry's website FAQ:
Plated bullets occupy a position between cast bullets and jacketed bullets. They are soft lead, but have a hard outer shell on them. When loading plated bullets we have found best results using low- to mid-range jacketed data in the load manual. You must use data for a bullet that has the same weight and profile as the one you are loading. Do not exceed mid-range loads. Do not use magnum loads.
Click to expand...

I've followed their advice and never had a problem with Glock or other barrels.

With FMJ you can use the upper end of load data that's specified for FMJ bullets.

With 124gr plated bullets, I've had success with as little as 4.0gr of Win231. It won't cycle my Glocks with aftermarket springs, however. 4.3gr or 4.6gr is a nice load.

If you want to buy some Berry's plated, be aware their prices are set to increase on Monday (according to TJ Conevera's site).
 
I've used both. Back when the plated were "significantly" less expensive, I used a lot of them.

But, IMHO, the jacketed bullets are superior in every way, especially at full throttle, and since the price difference is now only abpout 7-8 dollars/thousand, I buy the Remington 115 FMJ instead.

Personally, I'd pay up to about 12.50/thousand for FMJ. If the price difference was greater than that, I'd go back to the plated, and drop my powder charge.
 
Plated bullets were a good $$ compromise between lead and jacketed not to many years ago. This is no longer the case, if you want to cut costs, forget the high $$ plated and go with real full jacketed from Zero, Montana Gold and Precision delta.
 
I’ve used both Berry’s and Rainier and have good results w/ both. I like Berry’s because they sell directly to loaders. They ship free if it's an order greater than $50.00. Rainier on the other had sells to those who sell bullets (i.e. not to the public). I load to shoot at paper targets at an indoor range. My primary motivation for plated bullets is reduction in lead vapors. I would rather not breath lead. Some FMJ have a lead exposed base.

chuck

PS: The one thing I don’t like about the Berry’s site is the rapid fire shooting sound effect on their home page. It'll wake you up if you your computer's volume up.
 
But, IMHO, the jacketed bullets are superior in every way, especially at full throttle, and since the price difference is now only about 7-8 dollars/thousand, I buy the Remington 115 FMJ instead.
Click to expand...

+1

When you get to the point you are ordering thousands of bullets, the jacketed ones become very reasonable. Look at Precision Delta, Zero, & Montana Gold. And Remington and Winchester can often be found on sale.
 
I've used Berry's and Rainier in Glocks and HKs with no trouble.
My current favorite bullet for 9mm target shooting is the Hornady .356" 125 grain HAP.
Just a little more $ than plated and super accurate in my Glock 19 and USP 9mm and .38 Super and....
Some polygonal barrels don't shoot plated bullets real well. My G-19 does, my USP prefers the HAPs.
The HAPs are nice because they are an XTP without the last two nose forming operations, so all your die setting are the same.

.45acp is where plateds really shine, clearly cheaper than jacketed, and super accurate.
 
It used to be that plated bullets were noticeably cheaper than jacketed bullets. Now... not so much. For example (taken just now from each company's website):

Berry's 9mm 124gr plated bullet: $86.51/1000 delivered (largest quantity noted) = 8.651¢ each

Montana Gold 9mm 124gr CMJ jacketed bullet: $303/3750 delivered = 8.08¢ each

To my way of thinking, if I can get jacketed bullets for the same price or less than plated, then that's a no-brainer... YMMV.
 
I save by just buying larger quantities. I used some Ranier's a while back and had a few of them "wrinkle" when seating. With no real cost savings I just stick with a FMJ or JHP from Montana gold.
 
It looks like you have to buy in large quantities to get jacketed for cheap. The lowest price I found on 1k of Berry's 124 gr is 64.00. The cheapest list price for jacketed luger I have found is 1k Zero 115 gr fmj for 79.00, and every place I look is out of stock. That's more than a 20% difference in price plus wait time. The price doesn't equal out until you buy 4k at a time!
 
Last edited:
I use rainier in 9mm 40 and 45, for the price at cabelas they are a great buy, I don't like Berrys much, especially for my .40 Sig 226, the FP & RN bullets don't feed in my 40. The price diff is so small at cabelas between Berrys and Rainiers I just load Rainiers. I wait till they go on sale and then use my cabelas coupons when I buy. I use golden sabers for my jacketed rounds and Rainiers for my plated, never had any issues and have loaded probably 10k rounds of plated so far. +1 for rainier


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
 
For most shooters 1K at a time is plenty. Plenty of folks only buy 500 at a time. Some even less. They don't want to buy 3K, not even to get the price break, like us die hards. For those folks Berrys plated bullets makes sense.

They are not nearly as fragile as some would have us to believe. They can take any reasonable load up to and often times exceeding 1200 FPS. Bell the case enough to seat them easily and use a reasonable taper crimp. Some polygonal barrels don't like them, so if that is what you have, test a few first.

Buy Berrys (Or Ranier, or X-Treme, or Power Bond) bullets and shoot them with confidence. :)
 
I've used Berry's Plated
Rocky Mountain Reloading & Hornady Jacketed,
Missouri Bullet - lead

All of them have worked just fine in my 9mm
 
x2 on Berry's not being fragile...Here's a 158 gr from a 38+p loading that I dug out of a block of wood. You can see the line where it was crimped. The crimp didn't cut thru the copper. The copper stayed on nearly 100%. I've got other's in .230 grain .45 ACP that I have recovered. They copper stayed on them also.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1680.jpg
    IMG_1680.jpg
    99.8 KB · Views: 39
Thank you all for your thoughts & for sharing your experiences. I appreciate hearing what you think and suspect I will try some plated the next time I hit Cabelas, am placing an on-line order, or run out of my current stock.
Stay safe, shoot straight & have fun!
mr-mom :)
 
I've had the Rainier .356" 130 RN up over 1,250 fps with no trouble and excellent accuracy in .38 Super, and well over 1,100 in a Glock 17L.
No cuts, no separation, no fouling, no ring around the collar. (those dirty rings)

In .45acp, Rainier and Berry's SWC's are more accurate than any FMJ I've tried with the exception of Hornady's pricy 200 grain FMJ-CT.
So if they're cheaper and more accurate, why cling to FMJ's?
 
In a heavy .45acp, I don't see much of a reason to spend the exta $$ for plated bullets, much less FMJ. I get great accuracy out a Missouri Bullet's cast 230 RN and 200 SWC.
 
Berry's says they have found best results using low to mid range jacketed data with their plated bullets....For the Berry's bullets I loaded that is what I used.
 
Plated bullets use cast bullet data.
Click to expand...
Simply not so.

You will not get in trouble using the high end of lead data, but the lower end of lead data can lead to a stuck bullet.

Berrys recommends mid-range jacketed data. That is more accurate and won't get you in trouble.
Plated bullets occupy a position between cast bullets and jacketed bullets. They are soft lead, but have a hard outer shell on them. When loading plated bullets we have found best results using low- to mid-range jacketed data in the load manual. You must use data for a bullet that has the same weight and profile as the one you are loading. Do not exceed mid-range loads. Do not use magnum loads.
Click to expand...

"Plated bullets occupy a position between cast bullets and jacketed bullets."

Exactly. They are not lead and they are not jacketed.

There is tested plated data out there.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=6195350&postcount=11

Some of the links in the above linked post are slow to load. Be patient.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

M
  • Locked
9mm Montana Gold Bullets Question
Replies
8
Views
1K
rfwobbly
rfwobbly
P
  • Locked
FMJ vs plated ??
Replies
7
Views
1K
Luggernut
L
powwowell
  • Locked
Precision Delta vs. Berry's
Replies
20
Views
3K
engineermike
E
X
  • Locked
45 ACP plated bullets same loads as FMJ?
Replies
18
Views
4K
Sport45
S
LiveLife
  • Locked
Not all 9mm jacketed/plated bullets are sized the same
2
Replies
37
Views
6K
Walkalong
Walkalong
Back
Top