Plated bullets for DE

A

Alittlefishy

New member
For hunting i will use 240g XTP’s their pretty accurate but i shoot a lot of paper at my local indoor range and hate to use nothing but jacketed bullets. Anyone used plated and or polymer bullets without causing serious problems or damage to the gas system?
 
Welcome to the forum.
There's a LOT of good information here and a LOT of folk with a LOT of expertise.

For me I'd need some more information to provide any kind of answer. What gun and what cartridge are you using? Also what is the acronym DE?

Good luck.
P.S. There's a LOT more folk with a LOT more knowledge than me posting here (and I promise I'm done with the 'LOT' thing).
 
welcome to TFL

By DE you mean Desert Eagle, right?

Best answer about plated or poly coated bullets in the DE would come from the maker. I won't shoot anything but jacketed bullets in mine.

I don't know that plated or coated bullets will clog the gas system, but I do know that if you do clog the gas system, it's not a covered warranty repair.

I saw a .44 DE this happened to back in the 90s. The owner did it shooting cast bullets. Our very expert local smith couldn't clear it, and the gun went back to the factory.

The gun came back with a replacement barrel assembly and a bill for the repair. The cost was just a few $ less than half the MSRP price of the gun at the time.

Call DE and ask them. IF they say don't do it, then don't do it.

I've had a .357 DE since 84 and a .44 Mag since 90. Never put anything but jacketed slugs in them and never had any problem with them.

Shooting any other bullet is rolling the dice and if you crap out, the cost of getting it fixed is all coming out of your pocket.

I look at the DE as a high performance engine, runs great on a very specific grade of fuel. Run it on the wrong stuff and you're going to pay to get it rebuilt probably much sooner than later.

Ask DE, if they say its ok, go for it. But if they don't, its all on you.
 
Thanks thats good advise I’m not running anything but jacketed bullets until i hear otherwise your right its not worth it. Finding a local source for jacketed bullets in these days will be my next probable.
 
I had the same concerns and questions not too long ago for my 50AE. I do know that Buffalo Bore uses a Berrys plated bullet in a couple of their loadings per their website. A call to Berrys assured me that their 50 cal. bullets are rated for Desert Eagle velocities. They say some of their bullets have a thicker plating, and I think 2000fps is max but don't quote me. I'm not sure about a polymer bullet as I don't use those.

I am gathering bullets and brass and all the other things I need for reloading but have yet to buy anything plated. I seriously doubt I will shoot mine that much to not use a truly jacketed bullet. If I was shooting it a league of some sort I might consider it. I am, as they say, on the fence with regards to using plated stuff.
 
Plated bullets are very good with in guidelines, especially max velocities. I recommend that you study the Berry's site,
products, loading advice, and velocities info they have for their bullets: https://www.berrysmfg.com/
If your application velocities exceed the bullet's max, you should not use them.
Berry's offers thicker plating bullets that can endure 1500 fps vs. 1200fps standard.
 
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Copper plating, if it is thick enough so none is blasted off by gas bypass, should do OK. Thick copper plating is what's on Speer Gold Dot bullets, too. You could probably call Buffalo Bore and ask what kind of testing they did. I would NOT expect coated bullets to tolerate nearly as much gas bypass before the coating was corrupted and lead started to splatter.
 
Here's the thing unique to the Desert Eagle, unlike nearly all other gas operated firearms, the gun's gas system cannot be entirely disassembled. All the gas operated rifles (and one pistol) I can easily think of can all have their gas system disassembled down to the gas port in the barrel. (going that far is NOT routine maint) Such systems allow for mechanical cleaning/scrubbing/reaming if they get clogged.

You cannot do that with a Desert Eagle. Lead, powder residue, BULLET LUBE all combined can clog up the DE gas system, and I don't know, but I strongly suspect the "plastic" of the polymer coatings might do that as well.

I have no idea about plated bullets, but I suspect them as well, since stories of plating cracking, or flaking when things aren't just right have been verified, I won't run them in my DE's, just to be on the safe side.

A call to Berrys assured me that their 50 cal. bullets are rated for Desert Eagle velocities.
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Wonderful, nice to know, but not very helpful, since its not a question of the bullet velocity that matters as much as what the bullet does in the DESERT EAGLE with its unique gas system. When it comes to whether or not a given bullet will be an issue in a given gun, I would take the word of the gun maker over that of the bullet maker, if they differ at all, but, that's just me....

While I can't think of any others, there was the Automag V in .50AE. That is a recoil operated gun, and as such there would be no issue with plated (or coated) bullets in it. The DE is ...different...:rolleyes:
 
I'd forgotten about the Automag V. That's another reason to call Buffalo Bore and learn how they tested the load.

Never having had a Desert Eagle, I am curious, can you flush the gas system with solvent? If so, I am thinking copper can be removed. But anything else you get in there is still problematic.
 
I am curious, can you flush the gas system with solvent?
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Soak? yes, by submerging the entire barrel assy in solvent and waiting...
Flush? I don't see how, unless you rigged up something to pump the solvent into the gas system.

Find a picture of a Desert Eagle barrel. Just the barrel, it will help understanding it a bit. The large mass of the barrel assy at the muzzle is the gas cylinder. I say "barrel assy" because that's what DE calls it.

I have no idea how DE makes it, it boggles my mind, but however they do it, when its done, it is one solid piece. It does not come apart.

Gas is ported from the bore a short distance in front of the chamber, and flows though a channel (tube) underneath the bore to the front of the barrel where it does a 180 turn in the gas cylinder part of the barrel assy to push back against the gas piston which is mounted on the forward end of the recoil springs guide, and pushes the slide back.

Unlike the AR or the M1 /M14 sytems, there is no separate gas tube, gas block, or gas cylinder that can be removed. Its all internal to the one piece barrel assy.

Powder gas residue isn't the problem (DE comes with a "reamer" tool for the gas cylinder if it does) Copper isn't the problem. Lead and particularly lead bullet lube is the problem. The gas tube it small, it cannot be scrubbed so if it gets clogged with something that doesn't EASILY dissolve, you are pretty much SOL. :eek:

The factory won't fix it. They will replace it. And bill you for it. It's not a covered repair. They are very clear telling you this, if you don't listen, you will pay, or you'll have a spendy (and awkward) manually operated repeater.

I like my Desert Eagles, there are a few things I think they could do better, (adjustable sights, slimming the grip a bit, etc,) but they are not revolvers, they are not recoil operated semis, and they don't have an adjustable gas system like my Wildey. They require a very specific diet, and if you feed them what revolvers and recoil operated semis gobbble up, the Desert Eagle will get sick and refuse to fly, in short order.

They also have to be held a certain way (the mag must "float) or they choke and jam. They are made to run on full house ammo (and only jacketed bullets) anything less than that and they don't cycle reliably, if at all.

Shortly after getting my first DE (.357) I shot a .38 out of it, to see what it would do. Seemed to work fine, but the second "shot" was only a "click".

I opened the gun and it ejected a fired .38 case. What had happened was the .38 had moved the slide back just enough to recock the hammer, but not eject, and the gun shut on the fired case. That was the end of my experiments with lighter loads in the DE. :D
 
I'm going to admit that I know nothing of a Desert Eagle, or the enternal working of said firearm. However, I will say that guys are routinely running powder coated lead projectiles through their .223/5.56 ARs without issue. Granted, most are using heavy bullets to slow the velocity down to 2000-2200 fps, but, this is nothing more than lead with a bake on paint coating. I would believe that a plated bullet, that is designed for the velocity you are intending to shoot, would do just fine.
 
I'm going to admit that I know nothing of a Desert Eagle, or the enternal working of said firearm.
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The OP is a question specific to the Desert Eagle.

I would believe that a plated bullet, that is designed for the velocity you are intending to shoot, would do just fine.
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I'm sure the bullet(s) would be fine. Again, that isn't the question. Nor is the question about what plated, coated or lead bullets do in an AR. Nor is it whether or not a plated /coated bullet it suitable for a given velocity. It is about what is, and isn't suitable to use in the Desert Eagle.

The definitive answer needs to come from the people who make the DE. They have told us (since day one) not to use lead bullets, and the willfully ignorant actions of a few people ignoring this advice has proven it to be correct and entirely valid. I don't KNOW for a fact that plated or poly coated slugs will be an issue, but I suspect they could be. And I don't want to find out if I'm right or not, because if they are an issue, it could cost me a bunch of money to get my gun returned to functional condition.

The one DE I saw that was clogged was a .44 and the owner was "dumbfounded" acting when it stopped working after about 60-70 rounds of LSWC loads.

Not even two full boxes. IF you want to shoot cast, or plated or coated because its is cheaper, consider the false economy of saving a few $ on each box of bullets (vs Jacketed bullet prices) against the cost of getting the gun repaired.

Suppose, just for numbers to play with, plated bullets cost $5 a box less than jacketed. And suppose you get through 10 boxes of them and then the gun clogs. Congratulations, you've saved $50! Shipping the gun back to the factory for a non warranty repair will cost you that much, or more, and then there's the actual cost of the repair, which, back in the 90s was close to half the retail price of the gun. False economy any way you look at it.
 
https://www.magnumresearch.com/PDF/DE-Rec-Ammo-List.pdf
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Hopefully this should help solve some of the questions pertaining to the use of plated bullets in the Desert Eagles.

Per Buffalo Bore's website, for the 50AE, the FMJ 300gr and FMJ 350gr loadings use a Berry's bullet and is listed on the magnum research date sheet.

For the 44 magnum I see 2 Buffalo Bore loadings but they use a JSP bullet and I see nothing on their website descriptions using plated Berry Bullets for a 44 magnum FMJ loading.

But again according to the Magnum Research website is says to use Jacketed or Plated bullets only.
 
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If Magnum Research oks plated bullets, then go for it. I won't argue against the maker.

Since I don't use plated bullets, its not an issue for me.
 
I would just be cautious not to over-crimp and corrupt the plating. Also, note that the velocity limits are a little unspecific. Berry's says the limit is to prevent over-spinning that makes the bullet distort or fly apart in flight, but they don't specify the rate of twist they've figured the velocity limit for. I wish they would give an RPM instead. Perhaps you can contact them for that. Hornady supplies that information for their bullets if you call them. If you have that RPM, then the velocity limit in your gun would be your Rifling pitch in inches per turn times their RPM limit divided by 720.
 
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