Xtreme bullet deformation..

[Palladan44]

Was trying to troubleshoot why my 9mm loads were out of shape, not symmetrical, even to the eye I could see the mouth of the hollow point cavity not even with the case mouth...... I mean not even close.. at first I wanted to blame the seater stem or the bell not sufficient, etc. Etc.
But soon I realized the bullets came from Xtreme already out of square.... checked hundreds, and more than half of the bullets are like this. I've reported it to Xtreme.

 

[higgite]

Have you shot any to see if it really matters? I've loaded 1000s of Xtreme 124gr plated HPs and I doubt that any of them stood straight up when stood on their nose, but they all hit POA. If you mean the hollow points aren't concentric with the case mouth, that's a different matter, but that's not what your photo indicates. Are you using a seating stem with a recessed nose or a flat nose?

 

[Palladan44]

This is way beyond acceptable limits IMO...
I'm still going to load 10 at my starting powder charge of W-231 @ 4.4gr and see what we got.

 

[Palladan44]

Have you shot any to see if it really matters? I've loaded 1000s of Xtreme 124gr plated HPs and I doubt that any of them stood straight up when stood on their nose, but they all hit POA. If you mean the hollow points aren't concentric with the case mouth, that's a different matter, but that's not what your photo indicates. Are you using a seating stem with a recessed nose or a flat nose?

I too have thousands of the plated target hollow points, and these are always perfectly uniform.

 

[higgite]

That answers my question. The bullets are concentric with the cases, but the noses aren't flat straight across. I've found that to be common with HPs, especially plated ones. I'd shoot some of them before I condemned them. ymmv

 

[Palladan44]

That answers my question. The bullets are concentric with the cases, but the noses aren't flat straight across. I've found that to be common with HPs, especially plated ones. I'd shoot some of them before I condemned them. ymmv

You could be right,I hope. I'm sure if these were .308s for 300yd match would be a different story.
I agree that short of "keyholing" they probably will be accurate as if no problems.

 

[higgite]

I too have thousands of the plated target hollow points, and these are always perfectly uniform.

I didn't know there were target bullets that were plated, but I don't believe Xtreme claims that those are target bullets anyway. Apples and oranges. But, if you're unhappy with them, that's what counts.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

Well now i have to go and see if my Berry's hollow points are like that.

 

[Palladan44]

I didn't know there were target bullets that were plated, but I don't believe Xtreme claims that those are target bullets anyway. Apples and oranges. But, if you're unhappy with them, that's what counts.

Non-expanding hollow point on left (target/range use) and X-def on right, for SD purposes. The 2 types offered by xtreme. Did my own test for fun, results were as expected.

 

[mdi]

One reason why I don't care for any plated bullet. I bought 250 125 gr HP from Berry's but I still have 200 left in a box in the back of the cabinet. I have been reloading 9mm since '93 or so and using jackets or cast I have easily held .003" in OAL, but with the Berry's .006" was about as good as it got. Seems the ogive and diameter varied quite a bit. Perhaps I got a box of "bad" bullets or "seconds", but I put them on a shelf just in case I run out of good bullets (although I just bought 250 RMR 124 gr JHP and cast/PC a lot, and have about 300 assorted bullets I purchased looking for "The Load" for my 9mm pistols)...

 

[Walkalong]

The base is important for accuracy. The tip makes very little difference.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I didn't know there were target bullets that were plated, but I don't believe Xtreme claims that those are target bullets anyway.

I think they claim their buulets are designed to "target shooting" but aren't sold as Match Quality. I doubt Xtreme would ever make any accuracy claims for their bullets based on the past window of acceptable "within spec" for bullet sizing. I'm not claiming that it makes a huge difference in accuracy, but I'd expect tighter QC.

RMR (Rocky Mountain Reloading) doesn't claim Match Quality for their in-house produced bullets either, but that is the level to which they perform. The fact that they are jacketed and less expensive than Xtreme plated is just icing on the cake

 

[RashQuestion]

RMR (Rocky Mountain Reloading) doesn't claim Match Quality for their in-house produced bullets either, but that is the level to which they perform. The fact that they are jacketed and less expensive than Xtreme plated is just icing on the cake

I like RMR jacketed bullets, the service, the people and as said well above the price!!!

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

The base is important for accuracy. The tip makes very little difference.

So is concentricity and quite a few Berry’s and X-Treme produced post 2020 are lacking in that area. I suspect lockdown and employee turnover has something to do with it. But I can’t prove it; just my opinion.

 

[forrest r]

FWIW:
Several years ago I did some experimenting with jackets swaged 125gr/140gr/158gr/170gr hp's to use in the 357's. I was trying to decrease the penetration I was getting with these bullets by making the hp hole off center and canted to 1 side in the bullet's nose.

The offset hp didn't affect accuracy until I started shooting past 25yds and really opened the groups up @ 50yds+.

Those hp's were down rite impressive!!! Yes it cut back on penetration with most of the bullets grabbing when penetrating/expanding and would take either a sideways or angled path. I was using 9" thick bundles of wet pack. The normal/centered hp's were blowing out the back of the wetpack with the heavier 158gr & 170gr hp bullets. The altered/off-center hp bullets would penetrate 4"/5" and then blow out the sides of the wetpack.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

It is definitely harder to get a pin point accurate load from a plated bullet (I have found a couple) but when an indoor range is all you have available to shoot in, I prefer them to naked lead.
But Xtreme has priced themselves out of my business so I haven't bought any from them for a couple years.
I have one small pretzel jar of their plated 158 gr SWCs for a particular load that I know is accurate, but that was the last bullets I bought from them.
I have a few from Everglades that I bought before I started using coated lead bullets, in my .357.
Plated bullets were alright but not as accurate as a good coated lead bullets is. I'm not disparaging the plated bullet companies, I used them for years and years and still do sometimes.
But as far as really good accuracy goes, I think it's the nature of plated bullets to be on the bottom of the list.
These days I am using RMR MPRs for 9mm and Brazo's 158 gr coated SWCs for .357 mags and the plated bullet jars aren't getting refilled any more.

Oh, my reloading bench needs cleaned up!

 

[mdi]

I believe "target bullets" is just a term used by manufacturers to mean not SD, not hunting, not competition grade, just range informal target fodder...