Berry's .380 and 9mm

here's a tip.

if a random person offers you advice, whether positive or negative, it literally has no value. it is one persons opinion about a product that is easily misunderstood. people who are unhappy with a product are loud and proud.

i had a guy once approach me and tell me that the bourbon i was buying sucked. pony tail, duck guy beard, dirty shirt.

of course i took my buffalo trace out of the cart and replaced it with a bottle of "old red coon hound special blend". he had recently drunk a hundred bottles of it and "it worked great".
 
Plated bullets are not cast bullets. They are swaged bullets, that are then electroplated with copper.
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Well, I guess you can split hairs if you want, the effect is the same. What I meant was, load and shoot them as if they were cast bullets, generically speaking.
 
Sorry Charlie 98 but I too have to disagree and the "as Cast" is a misconception even in generalities. More and more data is being published by the powder manufactures all the time which support this. Look through Western/Accurate website load data they now have a very well detailed amount of plated data which shows that even among plated brands there is a difference.
 
Charlie_98 said:
Well, I guess you can split hairs if you want, the effect is the same. What I meant was, load and shoot them as if they were cast bullets, generically speaking.
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Splitting hairs? Hardly.

They are made by completely different mechanisms. Plated bullets are made by pressing solid lead into a mold under hydraulic pressure, then electroplated with copper.

Cast bullets are made by melting lead the the liquid lead is then poured into a mold. Cast bullets can be made from a harder alloy for this reason.

They also produce very different velocities with the same load: https://books.google.com/books?id=d...=fastest bullets coated lead jacketed&f=false
 
Very helpful advice.

Hammerhead, thanks for the info.

Briandg, I know what you mean. I kind of told one person about my Bodyguard misfiring when that person was interested in getting one. Of course I told him which ammo manufacturer it was (Herters, cough, cough). Did the same thing as the other guy did at the store. Guilty.

Reason why I asked about Berry's is this would be my first time reloading .380 and 9mm. Really appreciate the help.
 
Nothing wrong with Berry's bullets -- they make a good product.

If you want to go to a true jacketed bullet, I suggest Montana Gold over Hornaday.
 
ninosdemente if you are just starting out reloading then starting with plated isn't a bad way to go. Now also if this is true then I might suggest a different powder. Not that there is anything wrong with 231 or hp-38 which are the same powder because there is not. I would suggest looking at either Accurate or Ramshot powder because if you go to their website you will find the largest listing of plated load data of all the powder makers. It just takes some of the guess work out of loading.

Save you Winchester powder because it is great stuff. From my personal experience Ramshot silhouette has worked very well in both the 9mm and the 380 using both Berry's and X-TREME plated bullets. I have also been using HP-38/Winchester 231and will keep using it in 9mm but my 380 doesn't like it.

Best o luck!
 
that just cracks me up, nino, I have a body guard and it stinks like sweaty gonads, and I have been known to pass that information on. It misfires on cci primers, misfeeds on hornady, and bounces off of my goggles every fifth shot. How can any pisto throw brass every direction, even straight forward!?
 
Berrys bullets are fine, I've used them in 9MM and .45 ACP. As a note, I've used plated bullets in 9 MM from several companies,Berrys, Extreme, Ranier, RMR, The Bullet Works, all work just fine. Some were .355 and some .356, all work fine. Fired in an LC9, Beretta 92FS and a Citadel 9 MM 1911 gun. I also fired a thousand rounds of cast 124 from Dardas, they shoot as well as the plated bullets but I can't tell if they shot any better. I'll run another 1000 someday. Anyway, the cast shot well in the Beretta and the Citadel, got some lead in the LC9.
 
Did get a chance to purchase Berry's .380 this past weekend. They were on sale. I think I should have bought the 9mm as well.

kmw1954, the last couple of visits I have gone to Cabelas, I have not seen any Accurate. I will look at Ramshot. Maybe I might just have to go Bass Pro and see what they have. No powders at local gun store.

briandg, funny my bodyguard does the same as well when it ejects the brass. Every time I try and collect brass, you would think they would all land in the same area and easy for me to pick up. But nooo, they are scattered in different directions. Even to pick up brass is a hassle, lol. Damn you S&W and your sales!
 
ninosdemente, good for you I don't believe you'll be disappointed.

I have just loaded some AA#5 in the 380 but haven't shot it yet. As I've said I have used Ramshot Silhouette in the 380 and a 100gr bullet and it has worked very well. I also like it for shooting indoors as it is one of their advertising points and I have noticed a huge difference in the air quality using it while at indoor ranges.

After you load some up and get to shoot them report back with your impressions.
 
I also use Accurate #5 in my .380-100 and 9mm-124 loads. 4.5g and 5.5g respectively. After 15k rounds of Berry's plated, I'm staying with them. No need to change.
 
Nino, that does not surprise me. It's easy to see where some of the problems lie.

It's really hard sometimes to keep focused when a casing has just bounced off of your nose or goggles. When I fired it a few weeks ago I shot fifty rounds of Sig, nickel plated. I wanted the stuff back so I could examine it. As I wandered around in the sand looking, I picked up everything in the way. I brought an enormous pouch full home, including over 100 .380 that weren't mine. I believe that I only found twenty of my Sig.

I am afraid that you are being led astray, I don't think that five is a good fit for that usage. I tried it and it was terrible. At thirty feet, the paper targets were sprayed with soot and unburned powder. The load didn't generate enough power to completely ignite the charge. Maybe it was only me.
 
Fired off a hundred or so Berrys out of a Sig P238 and Kimber Micro. One box of 250 had a hollow base and one did not. I could not tell the difference.

I also had another box of 50 90 grain lead round nose.

Some were powered with max load of WW 231 and some with a max load of Unique.

both shot excellent. The unique loads were definitely faster. She said "these have more recoil" The girlfriend has the Kimber with Laser sight.

I have fired them in the past out of my LCP. The P238 is an upgrade.

I set OAL by doing the plunk test. Both the sig and Kimber barrels had similar chambers. LCP chamber was bigger.

There were no malfunctions of any kind with the berrys. Winchester factory flat nose would trip the slide stop on my P238 and would not feed in the Kimber. They ran fine in my LCP.

The reloads made the factory stuff look anemic.

I don't know why you would not use the smooth metering WW 231. Its great stuff.

David
 
David about all I load is Berry's accept for the 380 which are 100gr XTREME.

The HP-38 and the Winchester 231 are the same powder and I like the HP-38 in my 9mm just because it does meter very well and consistently. It also is a faster powder and uses an economical charge. I'm loading 124gr bullets at about 4.0gr of powder and the 115gr bullets with about 4.5gr..

Also loading these with Ramshot Silhouette which I'm starting to like just as much especially when shooting indoors. This is a slower powder and uses a bit more powder but the velocities are also higher. Also finding that this stuff measures out even more consistently than the HP-38. I's been almost spot on.

Just recently picked up some Accurate #5 and have some loaded but as yet haven't fired any.

Oh yeah BTW my 380 doesn't like anything I've loaded using the HP-38 powder for some unknown reason.
 
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