Coated Lead Bullets

I've shot thousands of the Acme bullets in 9mm, .38/.357, and .41 mag. The only ones I don't care for were the 124 gr RN for 9mm, I had to seat them real deep for them to plunk properly in my barrels and function reliably, once I did this they were fine. I've had excellent results in my revolvers and levers in .357 and .41 mag though. All this being said, as all of the ones I still have are used up I'm just going back to Copper coated bullets just because I like them a little better. No special reason, I just like the Copper bullets better.
 
There is the assumption that a longer bearing surface is better. Better for what?

There's no evidence that it improves accuracy, as per the link posted above.

Another other benefits? Anyone?
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Possibly.

First, I have only used ACME brand so far.

So the NLG, no lube groove, bullets are shorter for their weight vs the same weight bullet with a lube groove. This gives some extra options with small cases like 45 ACP, 45 Auto Rim, and the new 45 Cowboy where every little bit of space can be used.

It's not gonna change the world or anything though.
 
condor bravo said:
It's not that a longer bearing surface by itself is better, but rather that there would be more interactive coating over a longer surface and that could be an improvement in how the product works.
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What the heck does that mean?

I cast and coat my own and have 1 9mm mold that has no lube grooves. I had to try it out to see what all the fuss is about and the biggest difference is how easy they fall from the mold, but that's irrelevant if your buying them. A couple people have mentioned how a longer bearing surface is better but I've never seen any evidence. Like Dissemenator mentions, given the same bullet weight the bullet with the lube groove will be longer and the amount of rifling covered by the bullet will be greater with a bullet that has a lube groove.
 
I have shot several different brands is several different calibers. They all seem to shoot OK. I shot some Acme 265 grain .300 BO bullets today.

One point I wanted to bring up: in the winter, I shoot at a club's indoor range and these coated bullets produce a horrible smell. You can smell it when shooting outside but it quickly dissipates. Just today, a guy was watching me shoot and asked what powder I was using because he said it smelled funny. I explained it was the coated bullets and not the powder. But indoors, it is almost over-powering. I got lots of complaints from other shooters and I didn't blame them. After shooting for awhile it almost make me sick. I quit shooting them indoors for that reason. In addition to the smell, I would have a hard time believing that breathing whatever those fumes are is good for you.
 
reddog81,
While there may be no advantage whatsoever, I'm maintaining there could be since, with grooveless bullets, there would be more bearing surface for applying the coating, meaning more coating which could be an improvement. Any reduced bullet length to comply with bullet length would not rule out the additional coating that would be applied. So I guess I'm saying that more coating could be beneficial.

I'm a bullet caster also and can appreciate the grooveless bullets dropping more freely from the molds. Do you then coat them yourself with something?
 
condor bravo,
I powder coat the bullets myself. It's actually a relatively simple process. There's a whole subforum on the castboolit website dedicated to powder coating and other alternatives. It has really taken off in the last couple of years.

It's possible there could be some small benefit to the grooveless bullets, but I wouldn't bet on it.
 
Ah yes, then there is the odor. At the indoor range they shut us down because they thought they smelled burnt wiring and thought they were having a fire caused by an electrical short. Then the RM remembered that as usual I was shooting my red bullets and figured that's what they were smelling.
 
reddog81,
Interesting doing it yourself project; had never paid much attention to it. So does the finished bullet come out with a "baked" on solid coat as opposed to a somewhat powdery finish that might rub off some. I guess I thought they would come out powdery. Wrong assumption probably.
 
Powder coat goes on in a powder form. Once baked on the finish should be slicker than snot and has kind of similar properties to copper plating. Some of the cheaper powder coat has a rougher finish. You bake the powder coat at 400 degrees for 10 to 20 minutes and the powder melts and resembles a glossy spray painted look.
 
condor bravo, you allude to a improvement or benefit, but don't say what it is.

Once defined, how would you test it to see if it really does improve what you're thinking about? Only testable hypotheses are interesting. :)
 
74A95,
The coating acts like a non smoking lubricant, seems to decrease leading, and other attributes. So I am just saying the more coating, probably the better. So one way to apply more coating is to have more surface to apply to. And way to get more surface is to eliminate the crimp grooves that don't provide any surface. Now whether that small gain is beneficial cannot really be proven. But wouldn't you say that if only half the bullet was coated, it would not be as beneficial as if the entire bullet were coated. However with only lube grooves eliminated, the amount of coating gained would not be as much due to the smaller surface gained as compared to the half and half example.
 
condor bravo,

Actually, it is testable. Just need a way to measure leading.

If more coating is the important factor, simply apply a thicker coat.

The half bullet versus whole bullet is a different issue - if you’re referring to portions of the bearing surface that have no coating at all - and does not apply to the lube groove versus no lube groove comparison.
 
The issue is not different but just a matter of degree. Take the coated half bullet and then coat the remainder and you've gained 50% for full coating. Now take the grooved bullet fully coated over the bearing surface but is lacking say 10% of potential due to the grooves and then coat the identical bullet without grooves. You now have a 10% increase in coating that may or may not be beneficial but the 50% gain of the half and half example would no doubt benefit from the increase. So does coating grooveless bullets contribute to the overall effect of the coating with only a 10% gain? Maybe we should ask the suppliers if the small gain is worthwhile. If not, why would they do it?
 
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Seems the smell is only with certain brands/types of coating. I use powder coat, no high tek etc and get zero odd smells.
 
Chainsaw. said:
Seems the smell is only with certain brands/types of coating. I use powder coat, no high tek etc and get zero odd smells.
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Different powders do have different smells. Most of the stink is unnoticeable when shooting outside unless the wind is blowing it back right at you. The smell is much more noticeable indoors. However the rounds have much less smoke then regular lead rounds with lube.
 
condor bravo, I really don't understand what you're arguing. With lube groove and grooveless bullets, all of the bearing surface is coated. Seems like that's all that matters.
 
I have good results with coated bullets out to 25 yards. At 50 yards, something strange happens. Talked with other shooters and seem to have the same results. In .45acp with my Kart barrel, even after 100 rounds, the bore is amazingly clean. Just a few passes with a Hoppe's coated patch and the bore is clean. Not such good results in .38spcl and 9mm, but still cleaner than standard lead.
 
Tsquared said:
I have seen some really good coated bullets and some that were not suitable for loading. I typically buy the sample or 100 packs to work up loads to see what works for me. Once I find something that will work I will buy in bulk.

I had a good 45 supplier but the manufacturer suddenly disappeared early last year. I had a bit of a supply and just pressed out the last of them about 2 months ago. I had not found a 9mm that I was happy with. I started a new search and found a 200gr 45 and 2 different weights of 9mm that I was happy with from Bayou Bullets.
www.bayoubullets.net

The better bullets are usually companies that last. The company I used to get 45's from made a great 45 but I had problems with their 9mm. The 9mm had inconsistent sizing, out of round, and the weight had just over 5gr of deviation.
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Isn't that the truth?

I bought 500 coated bullets from a company that shall not be named about a year ago. I finally got to open the box yesterday and found that the weight of these bullets varied so much, I don't want to bother using them.

Acme, however, produces consistent bullets of high quality IMO.
 
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