Missouri coated bullets

B

Brutus

New member
Bought some .357 158 grainers and would like some feedback on them.
Looking for a nice target load, accuracy being more important than velocity.
I'm thinking something around 900/1000fps. Anyone else tried these yet?
Any issues such as leading? What's a good powder choice?
Does Tightgroup burn a little to hot?

As a side note getting into magnum velocities I was thinking of trying 50 rounds with 13.5gr. of 2400 which was my favorite load back in the day when you could get Speer 146gr. half jacketed SWC's. any thoughts on that load?
Thanks in advance for your feedback.:)
 
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I have a can of that but I haven't cracked it open yet.

Just got done reloading 50 rounds with the 2400 recipe and 50 with 5.0gr. of HP-38. The 5gr load with uncoated lead SWC's yielded 850fps. out of my Colt.
Be interesting to see what I get out of the Dan Wesson with the coated bullets.
 
I've not tried Missouri's coated bullets yet but have tried other brands. The coated bullet seem to run a little faster than plain lead, but it's not much.

Titegroup powder does heat my barrels up faster than some other powders.
I quit using it because of that and a poor case fill.
I also like 2400 for .357 but probably load more Power Pistol and BE-86 loads for practice.

My 2400 loads are also 13.5 gr with 158 but I use jacketed for that.

My two loads for Power Pistol is 7.2 gr and 7.8gr for 158 grain lead and coated bullets.
I don't think coated bullets are that much different and at a midrange load for BE86 and Power Pistol powders you can't go wrong.
7.3 gr of BE86 seems to be a winner for accuracy with my plated and lead 158gr SWC bullets.
 
2400 is probably a better choice than Titegroup for coated bullets. Some shooters have experienced leaded/dirty barrels when using the faster powders with coated bullets.
 
I use their uncoated bullets on a regular basis. Not a fan of coated for a number of reasons.

MoBuCo makes great bullets.
 
What are your reasons for not liking coated bullets? I'll be trying them for the first time tomorrow.
 
What are your reasons for not liking coated bullets?
Click to expand...

I have only tried S&S Hardcast's 148 DEWC for 38 Special. I bought 1000 of them.

They stink profusely of burning electrical insulation. And not just the ones I've loaded. I've experienced this countless times at the range from other shooters. This is a smell I can't stand at all - it is quite literally nauseating.

I also found that the ones I loaded leaded up my barrels and cylinder throats much worse than their non-coated counterparts. Actually, their non-coated 148 DEWC's lead up my guns (three guns) quite a bit too. I think they're too hard for my loadings. My cylinder throats are mismatched for my barrels too - but that's another can-o-worms. So there is no bullet/load combo that doesn't lead my barrels. But the S&S's are particularly bad. I have the best luck with .357" swaged - but they tend to float around (inaccurate) a bit. Sorry, I digress . . .

At any rate, I have no desire to go down the coated road again. I like lead bullets. And I like plated bullets - a lot. There is no niche in my load/shoot style that coated can fill. Those 1000 bullets that I bought all went downrange - seemed like I'd never get rid of all of those. :p

That's just me. Your mileage may vary.
 
Wow that's quite contrary to what the article I read in Handloader wrote.
Hope it's not true of the Missouri bullets cause I'll look real funny at the range with a clothespin on my nose. ;)
 
I have been shooting MBC coated with Hi Tek coating with zero lead issues. No smell that I can tell and another fella with me didn't smell anything at all.

44 mag 240 gr@ high velocity. 24gr of Win 296. Hauling a$$

I am actually going to order 500 rds of the 158 gr. Hi Tek today along with some 300 gr. Hi Tek 44 mag.
 
I have not noticed any strange odors with coated bullets from MBC or Acme. The coatings are very thin, and it's fairly easy to damage the coating during bullet seating. And if the coating gets scraped off during the loading process, leading issues are much more likely. A stepped expander like the Lyman M die greatly reduced that issue for me.
 
That strange odor is plastic melting. I use TG all the time for 38 and 9mm; it is one of my better performing powders. I was thinking of going to plastic coated in lieu of basic lead to avoid the "smoke" from the lube, but now, I am not so sure it is a batter way to go.

So for those who have gone that way, please explain the benefits versus the pitas
 
Didn't get a chance to go to the range yesterday, got rained out so I still don't know how the coated bullets perform. May just start buying plated's but will need to get some taper crimp dies for .357,.44 and .45Colt.:(
 
I've shot thousands of Missouri Bullets coated Hi-Tek bullets in .44 and .45 caliber at velocities from 750-1250 fps with no leading and fine accuracy. Highly recommended.
 
I've shot a few thousand of Acme HiTec and performance wise they are on par with copper plated, but they did smell like burnt wiring when pushed hard. One time they shut down the range because they thought they were having electrical issues, then the RO saw what I was shooting and realized what he was smelling. I also had a very slight buildup of red in my bore which cleaned out easily with a quick swipe of acetone. I still have a couple thousand to use up but have gone back to only using copper coated bullets.
 
Well I finally got out to try these coated bullets and Nick_C_S is right they do have the odor of something electrical burning, wouldn't call it nauseating, not a pleasant smell but not nearly as bad as some of the gas I've been passing in my old age. ;)
 
I have shot at least 10k coated bullets from Missouri, SNS and Summers Enterprises. Since I shoot outdoors, I've never noticed a smell. I have however noticed that I can push them as hard as I want with no leading, much cleaner guns and accuracy is as good as any hard cast I've ever tried. Actually the only difference in accuracy I've ever had is in the 148gr WC. The soft swaged HBWC with 3.0gr of Bullseye is more accurate than the coated WC in every gun I've tried but that is not really comparing apples to apples.
 
I use the starting load listed in this attachment. See image attached below. Taken from the Hodgen load data website. Very good load for plinking /target practice.
 

Attachments

  • Hodgdon .357 HP 38 load data.jpg
    Hodgdon .357 HP 38 load data.jpg
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