Okay to use Berry's plated bullet in H&R top break?

T

TruthTellers

New member
Since my handloads using these bullets have worked so well with Trail Boss in the .327 case, I decided to try the same bullet and powder in the .32 Mag and .32 S&W Long as well and see how they do. With the .32 S&W Long tho, I do have an H&R top break I shoot on occasion, but so far only with lead bullets.

I figure if I get good results with the Berry's bullet in the .32 S&W in my other .32 guns, I would also use it in the H&R.

What I'm not sure about those is if the H&R is capable of shooting a plated bullet. I doubt the pressures would be an issue, but the bores of these guns were made solely for shooting lead.

I figure it should be okay, it's not like I would be shooting 100 rounds of this ammo in it every week, maybe 50 rounds a month, but I figure I'd run it by you gentleman and see what the consensus is.
 
It's not like you need to worry about degrading accuracy since the gun is for "card table" range. I see no problem with your plan. The weak point on those top breaks is the latch, really a wear issue. Have fun with it.
 
It's OK to use a plated bullet in place of a plain lead bullet .
The plating is not very thick and does not make the bullet hard like a jacketed bullet .
In fact you can use data for swaged / cast lead bullets to load plated and powder coated bullets . The powder coating is not hard either .
The jacketed bullet is harder and has different loading data and the ones you don't want to shoot in the older top breaks .
Gary
 
It's OK to use a plated bullet in place of a plain lead bullet .
The plating is not very thick and does not make the bullet hard like a jacketed bullet .
In fact you can use data for swaged / cast lead bullets to load plated and powder coated bullets
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In this specific case I'm going to have to disagree with you for the following reasons:
1) Copper plating on these bullets raises the coefficient of friction drastically compared to lead.
2) 32 Longs already operate at low maximum pressures (12k CUP) which leads to
3) Top breaks are only supposed to be loaded using STARTING LOADS which are even whimpier (as low as 6k CUP).

Which translates to "Do you want to risk a stuck bullet in the bore?"
 
Hmm. COF probably is not a big issue, but if it concerns you, it can largely be eliminated by impact plating the bullets with hBN or Moly or you can coat the barrel with Sprinco Plate+ Silver and let it sit for three days while the stuff latches onto the steel. That reduces friction the same as moly coating, and start pressure, too, but you have to replenish it periodically. It lasts about 1000 rounds, otherwise. I have also used this stuff to slicken up the operation of numerous sliding steel parts. It works well.

I've not heard of low-pressure load problems with these bullets, but admit I haven't experimented with any super low pressures with them, personally.
 
I've not heard of low-pressure load problems with these bullets, but admit I haven't experimented with any super low pressures with them, personally.
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I have and it is a problem. COF for copper is a bit more than twice that of lead. For mousefart loads I seriously recommend sticking to lead. ;)
 
SHR970 said:
I have and it is a problem. COF for copper is a bit more than twice that of lead. For mousefart loads I seriously recommend sticking to lead. ;)
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My concern is not that a bullet is going to get stuck, I don't know why people are jumping to that conclusion. My concerns are more to do with wear on the bore due to the plating being harder than lead, which is what the top breaks were designed to shoot.

Pressures and frame stretching would be secondary, but my intention is to shoot these bullets using Trail Boss powder, which is a low recoil and fairly low pressure powder.
 
I understand what TruthTellers is saying.
I actually own 4 firearms that were designed with lead projectiles in mind.
First is an original 1861 Harpers Ferry 3 band in unfired condition.
My other 3 are black powder replica revolvers.
44 Walker
1861 Confederate Colt Navy in 36 caliber with brass frame.
44 caliber Remington New Army.

Obviously i'm not about to shoot the Harpers Ferry!
Not to mention i have no clue where to find a 58 caliber fmj bullet! :eek:
But all 3 revolvers quite like jacketed bullets. I did go down on the powder charge some with the jacketed bullets, but all fairly accurate at 100 yards.
 
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My concern is not that a bullet is going to get stuck, I don't know why people are jumping to that conclusion.
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If you read my posts I have to ask what makes you think I'm 'jumping to conclusions'?
I've been loading with plated since 1991 and back then there was no data at all for it.
I've worked on mousefart loads and I am telling you from experience that you are at real risk of getting one stuck in the bore with the load levels you are supposed to load for a Top Break at. WHEN you get one stuck you will find that pushing a copper plated bullet out is MUCH harder than a lead bullet. I had a 148 gr DEWC stuck 3/4 of the way out in my SP101. Those loads ran 600-625 fps when they made it out of that 3 1/16" pipe.

You intend to load a 71 gr. bullet for which there is no published data so you don't even know where "Start" is. Go too hot and you stretch or break the latch; get it right and you are at risk to stick one. Edit to add: To hot = normal 32 S&W Long velocities.
 
Let us know how those loads work out for you. Especially if you have the 83 gr. DEWC bullets that they don't currently list; they're a sure bet against you.
 
SHR970 said:
You intend to load a 71 gr. bullet for which there is no published data so you don't even know where "Start" is. Go too hot and you stretch or break the latch; get it right and you are at risk to stick one. Edit to add: To hot = normal 32 S&W Long velocities.
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Told you I'm using Trail Boss. They have data for a 76 grain LRN, the bullet I'm using is 71 grain plated RN. I've used this bullet in .327 with a max charge of Trail Boss using the data for the 76 gr LRN to great success.

Berry's states to use the same load data for lead bullets, so a lighter bullet using the same charge as a heavier bullet should be fine.
 
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