Reloading Question (.45 ACP)

[meastt]

I was going to purchase some copper plated .452dia .45ACP rounds from GB. My question since I am still fairly new to this is:

When the recipie is for a 200gr "jacketed" bullet, is that the same no matter if it's a brass jacketed or copper plated?

Any help would be great.

I have only loaded SWC wich ran great.

Thanks

 

[rOmiLaYu]

Should be fine...."jacketed" just means "not cast."

 

[Chuckdog]

Should be fine...."jacketed" just means "not cast."

What manual did you find this in?

Are they plated swagged lead? Swagged lead is much softer than most true jackets
and will build pressure much differently. The bullets manufacture should supply recommended
​data.

 

[JHV2]

As a rule of thumb No.
I do not have experience with loading .45 acp and the lower pressures may make the point moot. However...
Plated bullets are not the same as Jacketed. Depending on construction, separation of the plating could happen at jacketed speeds, causing fouling and at worse case, blockage in the barrel.

As a rule of thumb you should start with the medium lead loads and work up. From what I've gathered from other reloading boards, is you should expect plated bullets to max out in between lead and jacketed.

 

[Chuckdog]

As a rule of thumb No.
I do not have experience with loading .45 acp and the lower pressures may make the point moot. However...
Plated bullets are not the same as Jacketed. Depending on construction, separation of the plating could happen at jacketed speeds, causing fouling and at worse case, blockage in the barrel.

As a rule of thumb you should start with the medium lead loads and work up. From what I've gathered from other reloading boards, is you should expect plated bullets to max out in between lead and jacketed.

Yea, jackets are much tougher than a thin copper plating. I suspect they likely market both hard cast and swagged plated
bullets, but I believe most are swagged. I wouldn't want to load any swagged bullet, plated or not to jacketed pressures.

​

 

[GreenPanther]

I recently reloaded some plated 9mm bullets that were made by Rainier ballistics and I looked up what they recommended.

We, at Rainier Ballistics, recommend using lead bullet load data when loading our bullets. There is no need for adjustment when using lead bullet load data. Our bullets are jacketed using an electroplating process and are softer than traditionally jacketed bullets; hence the recommendation to use lead bullet load data. If you only have access to traditionally jacketed load data, we recommend a starting powder charge directly between the listed minimum and maximum load. A roll or taper crimp may be used with our bullets; do not over crimp.

 

[07JKX]

I have been loading .45 230grn plated RN using 4.2 grns of red dot for light target loads. What exactly are your using them for? Mine are just a low cost plinking round

 

[rOmiLaYu]

All good responses, especially Green Panther's....in my experience the relatively low pressures in .45 ACP it shouldn't make a difference but then again, I don't have much experience with plated bullets...in my lexicon "jacketed" simply means anything not grey with a blue line around the bottom. YMMV.

 

[meastt]

I have been loading .45 230grn plated RN using 4.2 grns of red dot for light target loads. What exactly are your using them for? Mine are just a low cost plinking round

Just plinking...my last load was with lead SWC and I was using a Accurate#2 powder at 5.6gr I believe

 

[Going Postal]

I use a lot of Berry's bullets which are plated. Their website indicates that you should use a load for cast bullets, or at least they used to say that. You might want to look into bullets from them as opposed to GB, they might be a little cheaper.

This is straight from their website Q&A section:
Plated bullets occupy a position between cast bullets and jacketed bullets. They are soft lead, but have a hard outer shell on them. When loading plated bullets we have found best results using low- to mid-range jacketed data in the load manual. You must use data for a bullet that has the same weight and profile as the one you are loading. Do not exceed mid-range loads. Do not use magnum loads.