Cast or plated?

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Wildbillz

Wildbillz

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Hi All
Here is my delema. Sitting under my reloading bench is a 20mm ammo can full of once fired 45acp brass (a little over 5K). Sitting on top of my safe is a case of 5000 Wolf Large pistol primers. I also have an 8 lbs jug of Win231 or Uniqe that I can load with. Concidering that I want to load up a bunch of range ammo/plinking ammo. Which would you use? Cast bullets (cheaper) or Plated (cleaner to use and fire)? I am thinking of 185grn to 200grn swc or should I just go with the 230grn round nose one? Which powder would you use and what are your thoughts on the bullets and weight? These will all be shot out of my Springfild mil spc or an old Colt Series 70 Goverment model. Maybe a Commander if I find one by then.

I hope to do this all in one week. 1K a day in the tumbler, 1k a day to load.

Thanks
WB
 
In my early days of reloading, cash was tight and I shot alot of cast bullets in my M1911. Even cast my own bullets.

Now that cash is not so tight, i shoot mostly plated bullets.

Reasons were exactly as you indicated.

I shoot only 230 RN in my 45 ACPs, but that is me. Cast bullets always performed well for me.

I did not really help with your dilemma.
 
I load a LOT of 200gr SWC's and RNHP's for my range time fun. I tumble lube them in alox, size them at .452", load them with 5.5gr of Win231, and they shoot better than I can aim them.
 
+1 on the 200gr LSWC's and 5.5gr of W231. They feed fine in my Springfield 1911 but you may want to try 230gr cast RN if you have feeding issues.
 
Plated or Lead

Best to try both to see which gives you the performance you desire. I have guns that shoot cast lead best while others like the plated so I use both.
 
Which one can you find cheaper? If you do use lead, Are you gonna end up with leading by any chance? Your gonna have to clean that out. Not so with the plated. I have shot lead out of my gun before and got leading. Not fun to deal with but I still try to find the right combination so I don't get leading.

Personally, I have used Unique and BullsEye for the 230 Gr RN and for 200 GR HP plated and they worked for me both. I never used the W231 yet.

For plinking and such, I would opt for the 200 GR SWC or the 230 RN. Load half up them up with unique and the other half with w231 :D
JMO
 
I've been shooting LRN 230 gr with 5.5 grs of Win 231 forever and have never had any problems.

r/bud
 
I'd go with cast. Basically more for your money. I'd also go with RN unless you know your gun will feed SWC. About 5 grains of Unique with either will give you great results.
 
I'd definitely go with plated bullets. For a few dollars more per thousand, you're saving yourself a lot of time cleaning leading out of your bore. I say this because I shoot plain cast bullets in my bullseye guns. I'd go plated, if I could.

-John
 
So I looked at the Berrys websight and then at Missouri Bullets sight. Looks like the price differance is about $50. Per K on cast vs plated. So a $250. differance over the whole load out of 5k. Leaning tward the cast right now at $80. ea K.

WB
 
Makes sense price wise but before I buy and load that many I would do a batch and make sure leading is not aproblem. I used to shoot lead cast but one of my guns just didn't like them and fouled up bad no matter what i did. That old
Ruger GP100 just likes the plated stuff.
 
I'd cast my vote for something round nose if you're shooting it in a 1911, but I may be biased a bit. I've got a 3 day old 1911, and I've been trying to find a way to load a flat nose, or a SWC, and get it to feed. RN has fed flawlessly at this point.


Is there a reason you're not considering FMJ?

I'm assuming you're considering plated for most of the benefits of fmj, while generally cheaper. Precision Delta has 230 RN FMJ for $119/1,000 (shipped!!) It is pretty tough to beat 11.9¢ per round unless you go cast.
 
BeerSleeper
Cost is what I am looking at. Post a link, I would use the FMJ if the cost is right. Take a little more powder but then theres allways a trade off.

WB
 
Precision Delta has 230 RN FMJ for $119/1,000 (shipped!!) It is pretty tough to beat 11.9¢ per round unless you go cast.
Click to expand...

Rocky Mountain Reloading has pulled 230 FMJ for $105 shipped before the 10% discount he is offering this month. The code for the discount it "bullets".
 
www.precisiondelta.com

They're backordered right now. I've been looking at their 230gn RN FMJ, but haven't decided whether to place an order while they're listed as backordered, or wait until it shows regular stock again.

They also have 100 round "sample" packs for $18.00 if you want to try some before ordering 1,000. I've been thinking of ordering 100 to try out while I'm waiting for the 1000 to come back in stock. 18¢ isn't as good a deal as the 11.9¢, but try to beat that anywhere for a quantity that small.
 
I looked at those from RMR. IIRC, didn't it say they had pretty heavy pull marks? Also was not specific whether those were FMJ or plated.
 
Those marks won't hurt a thing....FWIW, I just got 1k of the pulled .38 cal TMJ. They were very nice. I ordered more after I saw how nice they were.
 
Rocky Mountain Reloading has pulled 230 FMJ for $105 shipped before the 10% discount he is offering this month. The code for the discount it "bullets".
Click to expand...

Thanks ColtPythonElete
I will check them out. I need some others that he has and the discount will help.

WB
 
I shoot a lot of plated and Jacketed,I am now shooting a lot of lead and can say quite a bit of the savings from lead is used up in cleaning supplies and the hours of wasted time.Plus I am sure that all that scrubbing and chemicals is doing more harm to my barrels than any amount of jacketed bullets will do.They do shoot great though.I just ordered a foul out system $$$ so I can use up the several thousand lead bullets I have stocked up on then I'm probabling going back to all plated except 1 or 2 guns.
 
I really like the MBC 200gn RNFP for .45. I get NO leading with 5.0gn HP38.
I recently got some Precision Delta 124gn. FMJ for 9mm. I really like those in my Commander after shooting a couple of hundred.
 
I've never understood the logic behind plated bullets. Properly loaded, cast bullets will not lead the barrel of you 45 and I'm speaking from over 20 years experience with commercial cast bullets and now my own.
As far as bullet style, I have a slight preference to SWC's as they tend to be a bit more accurate in the 45's I've used, but I shoot RN's too.
Powder, I've used both and like them both, but I've used alot more Unique than 231. 6.0 grs is a good plinknig load.

35W
 
I've never understood the logic behind plated bullets. Properly loaded, cast bullets will not lead the barrel of you 45 and I'm speaking from over 20 years experience with commercial cast bullets and now my own.
Click to expand...

That's been my experience also. I've only been casting for around four years but I don't get leading in my 1911. I also cast SWC's and have never had a problem with feeding.
 
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