stoney1666
Member
want to try them, but wondered if they can be a problem.
any problems loading 9mm blue bullets?
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LiveLife
Member
What pistol, bullet weight/nose profile and powder?
What velocity are you trying to obtain?
What velocity are you trying to obtain?
tightgroup tiger
Member
You really need to seat and crimp in two different steps if you use them. The blue coating will scrape off really easy while seating.
Sort of that I never had a problem with them. They will take .357 magnum velocity so I know they will take 9mm velocity.
I would use a normal bell crimp instead of an M-die type crimp with them. If there are any burrs on the mouth of your cases you will find them all when you run them through your case gauge.
You will find this true with any coated bullet.
Sort of that I never had a problem with them. They will take .357 magnum velocity so I know they will take 9mm velocity.
I would use a normal bell crimp instead of an M-die type crimp with them. If there are any burrs on the mouth of your cases you will find them all when you run them through your case gauge.
You will find this true with any coated bullet.
Wing Rider
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I have a friend that bought a package of 115gr 9mm blue bullets and tried them. He was using 4grn of tight group powder. He said that they leaded his barrel. I am thinking he may have been a little light on the powder because the range per hodgdon website list 3.9 to 4.3 grn of tight group for cast bullets. I have not used the blue bullets so his use is the only thing I know about them.
Tried a couple Blue Bullets of 115 gr but settled on 126gr because of the greater accuracy with TightGroup in my CZ75. I have found no problem with seat and crimp with my Hornady dies. The bullet feeder? Well, that is another matter. Finicky. I several bullets in my hand for when the feeder intermittently fails. Even so, they are my preferred bullet for practice.
They are now all I use.
They are now all I use.
JJFitch
Member
The most common problem with lead and coated bullets is "crimping" vs. removing the case mouth "bell"!
The bullet should be sized .356-.357 and when seated the case should not reduce the size of the bullet below .356.
If you are getting leading or "keyholing" look for excessively "crimped" bullets or over sized barrels!
"Back in the day" 9mm didn't create much interest to precision shooters due to non-SAAMI spec'd over sized barrels!
Smiles,
The bullet should be sized .356-.357 and when seated the case should not reduce the size of the bullet below .356.
If you are getting leading or "keyholing" look for excessively "crimped" bullets or over sized barrels!
"Back in the day" 9mm didn't create much interest to precision shooters due to non-SAAMI spec'd over sized barrels!
Smiles,
Quick easy answer; treat/reload the coated bullets the same as reloading cast bullets. Use the same load data as lead bullets. Use the same reloading methods as lead bullets (case prep/flaring, seating methods, crimping, sizing, etc.). I have purchased Hi-Tek and a few PCed bullets and have PCed many for my handguns and rifles (mebbe 1,100 so far). I started my use of coated bullets with the same methods and data as my cast lead bullets and have experienced no more problems (zero actually) than I have with plain cast bullets. After doing a few load work ups I worked up to near max. lead load data, but found that unnecessary...
My 9mm, and 44 Magnums really like PCed bullets for accuracy...
My 9mm, and 44 Magnums really like PCed bullets for accuracy...
LiveLife
Member
Without specifics, the general guideline I can offer for using any coated lead bullet is, as already mentioned, to exercise care not to scrape coating off the bullet base.
And since coated bullets are usually sized larger like lead bullets, reference lead load data for load development and powder work up.
GHinNH
Member
I learned today to NOT use the Lee full length sizer/taper crimp die on copper plated bullets. I would hazard a guess the same would go for poly bullets as well, or at least use caution trying.
LiveLife
Member
Can you explain why?
blue32
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I obtained success with coated bullets in 9mm when i dropped the powder-thru belling die down a bit further to accommodate the length of the bullet shank in the case. This resulted in a bit more bell than desired but kept the tapered case from squeezing the base too much. I've yet to split a case mouth in 9mm but its not exactly difficult to find replacements.
fxvr5
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According to their website, they are sized .355.
The only problem I had with them is using the Lyman M expander. I would get coating scraping off from the shoulder created by the M die.
With a Lee expander and now with a Dillon expander (no shoulders), no trouble at all. I use very little flare, and a comp seating die.
Coated bullets are excellent in 9mm.
I've had great luck in 9mm with The Blue Bullets, Black Bullets Int., SNS casting and Missouri Bullets.
With a Lee expander and now with a Dillon expander (no shoulders), no trouble at all. I use very little flare, and a comp seating die.
Coated bullets are excellent in 9mm.
I've had great luck in 9mm with The Blue Bullets, Black Bullets Int., SNS casting and Missouri Bullets.
GBExpat
Member
Does "blue bullets" refer to a brand? ... or a type? ... or just a color?
LiveLife
Member
Yes - https://thebluebullets.com/
"Our coating is a proprietary polymer based liquid coating that we mix in house (not a powder coating)"
tightgroup tiger
Member
That is what I saw. I don't think M-dies were created with lead or coated lead bullets in mind.
But, If you screw them down low enough you will get a conventional bell on your case just like you can get with any other flaring die. if you try to use the M-die shoulder they will scrape lead bullets whether their coated or not. I think the M-die shoulder was designed to cater to jacketed bullets, but it does work with plated bullets also.
lordpaxman
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Only in the way that any other coated bullet can be.
As pointed out, Blue Bullets size to .355, but if you go to their “Special Profiles” section, you can get .356 bullets. This is what I order, and, I order a lot. I’ve yet to get M type expanders, so for now I just try to bell enough to prevent scraping. A light crimp to remove the bell and all’s good.
If you don’t want to put up with all that, RMR’s jacketed is the way to go. Good luck!
Paul Toms
Member
I took the leap before testing them. Recently my Wife decided she likes the 147 grain in her 9mms. As shooting & reloading is more fun than shopping, I ordered 3000 of the 147 TCFP and loaded up 100 with her favorite powder. Thankfully they worked & she was happy with them. [yay for me]
I have always used the Lee FCD on all my plated & jacketed rounds. Knowing I was entering a new reloading arena, I set up my seating die for the TCFP & NO crimp. Plunk test in her CZ (the short throat in her quiver) and all went well.
YMMV etc, etc.
I have always used the Lee FCD on all my plated & jacketed rounds. Knowing I was entering a new reloading arena, I set up my seating die for the TCFP & NO crimp. Plunk test in her CZ (the short throat in her quiver) and all went well.
YMMV etc, etc.
I shot 15k of the Black bullets (plastic coated) and ordered another batch last year. Shot several thousand of those already.
I like them. I found that I definitely need to Bell the case mouth more. Otherwise there will sometimes be a tiny bit of flash that cause the bullet to nose over and then get crushed. I haven’t experienced shaving the coating off as described above.
I like them a lot though for practice ammo. I get buckets of range brass and occasionally will pick a bunch of nickel plated out and put them together. Nickel brass and black bullets just look cool together
I like them. I found that I definitely need to Bell the case mouth more. Otherwise there will sometimes be a tiny bit of flash that cause the bullet to nose over and then get crushed. I haven’t experienced shaving the coating off as described above.
I like them a lot though for practice ammo. I get buckets of range brass and occasionally will pick a bunch of nickel plated out and put them together. Nickel brass and black bullets just look cool together
jmorris
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9mm is a tapered case, don’t just run the crimp die all the way down and go. Set the die just low enough to remove the bell and stop.
If you pull a bullet from a loaded round, the portion that was in the case should not be swaged down smaller that the part that was not in the case. If it is, back that die out, you are over doing it.
GHinNH
Member
I should probably modify that....
I kept getting loose bullets after using the FCD, and had the distinct impression that the FCD die was crushing the projectiles creating the problem. Sometimes to the point where they would drop on to the top of the charge.
I'm not entirely sure what was happening, except somehow my flaring die ended up much too deep. From conversations with others, it was most likely stretching the neck too much and creating insufficient neck tension. Then, after using the FCD the brass would spring back and the bullet would drop in the case.
Of course I did not notice right away, and became increasingly frustrated and started chasing my tail instead of starting at the beginning. A lesson I have learned time and time again, yet consistently fail to remember...
Fortunately I was doing only some workups at the time, and had not processed 1K cases like that. I have been reloading rifle and shotgun for a good while now, but just recently started with this tiny little handgun stuff, so I'm still experiencing a bit of a learning curve.
LiveLife
Member
To me, FCD for straight walled semi-auto pistol cartridges was meant to be used as a "finishing die" that corrects out-of-round/out of spec finished round that resulted from tilted bullet during seating, out-of-round bullet, uneven case wall thickness brass, improperly resized brass, etc. that taper crimp die would not address.
So if you properly full-length resize your brass, use consistent case wall thickness brass, use consistent sized and round bullets, do not tilt bullet during seating and return case mouth flare flat back on the bullet, there's not much that FCD will do to the finished round.
And if you are using the FCD to apply the taper crimp for separate seat and crimp operation, exercising care to not post-size the case neck will maintain neck tension and reduce/prevent bullet setback.
While I mostly use Lee dies for my reloading, I do not use FCDs and they stay in the die box.
To me the Lee Carbide FCD is a crutch that's used to hide poor reloading practices.
I load thousands of rounds of 9mm, 10mm, and 45 ACP and have never needed a CFCD. I can do a run of 700-800 9mm rounds and I might have 2-3 that won't gauge.
The same run of 45 ACP and they will all gauge.
I use custom powder funnels for my Dillon powder measures. The custom funnels have a M die step to them. This pretty much eliminates tilted bullets. I use Dillon dies for the rest.
I load thousands of rounds of 9mm, 10mm, and 45 ACP and have never needed a CFCD. I can do a run of 700-800 9mm rounds and I might have 2-3 that won't gauge.
The same run of 45 ACP and they will all gauge.
I use custom powder funnels for my Dillon powder measures. The custom funnels have a M die step to them. This pretty much eliminates tilted bullets. I use Dillon dies for the rest.
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