Safe to substitute 40 S&W Rainier bullet in reloading table?

[ag07e]

I'm new to reloading and want to reload 40 S&W ammunition. Most reloading tables I find have data for Speer, Remington, Winchester and other major brands of FMJ bullets. My question is: Is it safe to substitute a Rainier rounded nose 180 gr copper plated bullet for its 180 gr FMJ Speer, Remington, Winchester equivelent bullet in the reloading table? (i.e. use same primer and powder charge that recipe recommends and substitute a Rainier bullet instead).

How do I substitute if the Hodgdon table has data for only 165 gr JHP and I want to use 165 gr FMJ?

I want to produce bullets that are similar to factory bulk ammunition like Remington UMC for farting around at the range a couple times a month. I'm not a competiton shooter.

 

[coloradokevin]

I've actually been wondering the exact same thing.

Some folks have told me to just make an exact substitution (ie: instead of a 165gr Speer TMJ bullet, use a 165gr Rainier plated bullet).

Other folks have told me to use lead charts for Rainier bullets.

I sure wouldn't mind hearing what the rest of you guys are doing with these!

 

[Z-Michigan]

All the Rainier bullets I've seen are copper plated, not jacketed. This makes a big difference in the thickness of the copper, and the bullets behave more like lead bullets than true jacketed bullets.

Everything I've heard is to use lead bullet data for Rainier plated bullets. However, the Berry plated bullets apparently have a thicker plating and so supposedly the jacketed data is appropriate for them. ???

Having said that, I have loaded Rainier 125gr .38 Spl bullets using starting data for 125gr JHP bullets and have had zero problems. I think they key here is that I was using starting data, not max loads or anything close to max.

My understanding is that jacketed bullets actually provide more resistance to movement than plain lead or plated bullets, so I would think there is not a safety issue with using jacketed data for plated bullets. However, I am not sure of this.

As far as any difference in data between JHP and FMJ bullets, I think in theory the JHP might have a bit more drag because the bullet will be longer outside due to the cavity inside. However, I'm not aware that there is much difference in terms of appropriate starting data. I have read that Hornady XTP and a few others have such an increase in length that the difference is significant, but then I look in my Lee 2nd edition manual and I see data for XTP bullets that is clearly much hotter than data for same weight JHP bullets. I do not think this is because the XTP causes less drag, I think it is a result of the differences in data sources and the assumptions they use. All of which tells me to start with starting loads and work up.

 

[Darth Muffin]

The plated is sort of between the jacketed and leaded...

I use the lead charts with mine, then again I'm not interested in maximum performance. I'm shooting competition with them and only need to make a certain power level. I use a chrono to do that. FYI, I use 4.4gr of Titegroup with the Raininer 180 rounded bullets, loaded to 1.135 OAL. That gets me about 172PF out of a 4.5" polygonal barrel.

If you use the jacketed chart I wouldn't use the max load listed. Use the minimum load and ease upwards watching for signs of overpressure.

 

[rcmodel]

When in doubt, go to the source to ask the question:

Use lead bullet data for Rainier.
This page, click on "Load Data":
http://www.rainierballistics.com/mainframe.htm

Use low to mid-range Jacketed data for Berry.

Halfway down this page.
http://www.berrysmfg.com/faq.php

rcmodel

 

[Cypress]

Go to Accurate powders website and check out the load data. They list plated bullets there. Usually seems that the max with plated is the minimum with jacketed. I use Raniers in my .45 and use Accurates data and they work great.

 

[XD-40 Shooter]

I use Unique powder and my Lee 2nd Edition book has lead data for 40 S&W and Unique. I run my charges on the top end of the lead data, 6.3-6.5 grains of Unique with a 155 grain Ranier has worked very well for me.

 

[papajohn]

Unless you're running maximum loads in the first place, I wouldn't even worry about it. Plated bullets generally use soft cores, and operate at lower pressures than jacketed bullets. I'd load up a small batch and see how they do. If there are no obvious pressure signs you don't need to worry about it.

Many years ago, I accidently switched powders on myself, and instead of AA7, I was using AA5 with the AA7 data. BIG OOPS. On the first shot I knew I had screwed something up, the gun tried to launch itself over my shoulder and the muzzle blast was stunning. I unloaded the gun (an EAA Witness) and picked up the piece of fired brass. The primer FELL OUT of it as I picked it up. I packed up, went home, and broke down the ammo. Had that load been fired in a Glock, I'd have been combing Austrian Polymer out of my eyebrows.

One more reason I love all-steel guns!

Papajohn

 

[socaldan]

Look this over, it may help. thihttp://home.columbus.rr.com/jmaass/documents/hl40sw.pdfs

I use it for reference ONLY.

 

[Idano]

ag07e,

The rule with plated bullets it is to keep them below 1200 fps. I usually load plated bullets between 900 and 1100 fps. Hope that helps.

 

[DWARREN123]

I use Rainier 40 cal plated bullets and load to medium or a little higher on the jacketed load chart. I use 7.5gr of Longshot powder for both 165gr and 180gr bullets. They are accurate and clean rounds. For the Rainier I would not max them out with jacketed data but they do work okay at the medium data range.
Mine are for GLOCKs and a Hi-Point carbine.