steelerdude99
Member
I don’t understand why Berry’s and Rainier don’t publish load data for their bullets. I hear the “Plated bullets occupy a position between cast bullets and jacketed bullets.” all the time, but no real numbers. So, it takes you me and the next guy a few trips to the range to get it right. It must be their lawyers or insurance company saying “you can make little plated lead paper weights, but don’t tell them to shot them in their guns as we’ll be responsible if they hurt themselves”.
The plated bullets that perform way differently than lead is the 148 grain 38 special wadcutter. Berry’s said don’t go less than 800 fps. On Berry’s site ... “When loading for these bullets, you need to use data that will attain 800 fps as a minimum. Most of the data for this bullet weight was created using a dead soft lead projectile with velocities under the 800 fps and will not work for a this bullet at those lower velocities.” To start, I used loads for 148 grain lead that were supposed to give me 800 fps. I sounded like a “cap gun” when I fired them. They must have fell short of the target as I saw no holes in the paper. I also checked to make sure the bullet came out after each round. I’m glad I only loaded a few. I went to the upper end of the 148 grain lead loads before they even became accurate. I would be nice to have some data with powder, primer (,pressure) and velocity from the manufacturer.
Chuck
PS see my reference for he Berry's quote at http://www.berrysmfg.com/product-i14487-c13-g8-b0-p0-.38_Cal_148gr_HBWC.aspx
The plated bullets that perform way differently than lead is the 148 grain 38 special wadcutter. Berry’s said don’t go less than 800 fps. On Berry’s site ... “When loading for these bullets, you need to use data that will attain 800 fps as a minimum. Most of the data for this bullet weight was created using a dead soft lead projectile with velocities under the 800 fps and will not work for a this bullet at those lower velocities.” To start, I used loads for 148 grain lead that were supposed to give me 800 fps. I sounded like a “cap gun” when I fired them. They must have fell short of the target as I saw no holes in the paper. I also checked to make sure the bullet came out after each round. I’m glad I only loaded a few. I went to the upper end of the 148 grain lead loads before they even became accurate. I would be nice to have some data with powder, primer (,pressure) and velocity from the manufacturer.
Chuck
PS see my reference for he Berry's quote at http://www.berrysmfg.com/product-i14487-c13-g8-b0-p0-.38_Cal_148gr_HBWC.aspx
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