TOO SLOW? - 'moly' bullets from Bear Creek Supply

[colima]

I've been reloading for .45 ACP for several years now using a Dillon Square Deal B. (I love my SDB and Dillons warranty, but thats not the point of this thread!) I met a guy at my local indoor range who was selling bullets from Bear Creek Supply, and I've been using them for more than a year now. These bullets are 'moly' coated - the quotes indicate that the coating seems to actually be a plastic mixture mixed with moly. My load is WLP, 5.5g W231, and a Bear Creek 200g SWC. I've actually been very happy with this load, and I've probably put 8000 of them down my range. The guy who sells these to me leads me to believe that this load is very popular with the local IPSC crowd. This load is accurate, its clean, and I almost never have to clean my Kimber!. (Well thats probably also a separate discussion).

Recently, I had the opportunity to shoot with a friend at an outdoor range in LA. My friend owns a chronograph, which I do not. My expectations were that the Bear Creek loads would be equivalent to LSWC loads, foor example what you see at http://www.reloadammo.com/45loads. I was expecting to see velocities of around 910 fps. Much to my surprise, my favorite load was consistently running at 830 fps! I guess this just underlines the advice you usually get on this forum about needing a chronograph in order to be serious about this game.

So I'm wondering what experience other people on this list have with Bear Creek bullets, and how to interpret load data for LSWC when using them?

 

[Gewehr98]

Moly-lubed bullets...

Often show reduced velocities compared to bullets without the moly lube. I saw this when I first started shooting moly-lubed rifle rounds, it surprised me. The explanation I got from folks like Sierra and Walt Berger was that the lower friction allows the bullet to move down the bore with less pressures. Lower pressures often equal lower muzzle velocities. I would've thought the lower friction would've made for a higher muzzle velocity, but perhaps that's just part of the total equation.

 

[Gary H]

I just shot a load that was pulled directly from a major manual. The guns were even the same, but the velocities were not. A chronograph is the only way to reliably know what is going on with your reloads. Of course, there may be no practical reason to want to know what is going on with a load that you have been happily shooting.

 

[bigjim]

I could be your pistol. A variation as high as 100 fps between pistols shooting the same round is not uncommon.

I remember in the Field arty (155mm) we had to Chrono our guns from time to time. They would group the guns into Long shooters and short shooters. ( based on results of the muzzel Velocity tests)

Chamber size, Bore condition, Bore size, chamber size, freebore, temperature, Altitude, Kharma can all impact the speed at which the bullet leaves your gun.

Oh almost forgot...... Bullet seating Depth can make a huge difference. Seat that thing to long and the velocity will really drop.

But most likely ....your pulling the trigger to hard.