Lead vs Plated vs Jacketed bullets for barrel life?

T

Teac

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So I have to place another huge order for bullets and am not sure what to get...

This is for a 125 gr bullet in 357 for a 20" 1892 rifle that is used ONLY for plinking. I dont care what I fire, dont care about ballistics, accuracy or hunting. Plinking only.

I need a cheap (they pretty much all cost similar) bullet that wears out the barrel the least or maybe there is something else I need to consider?

The loads are loaded with fast burning powder to 38 or below velocity so we are not dealing with lots of magnum powder gases and barrel erosion..


It seems to really come down to two choices:

- campro 0.08" plated

- some greased lead bullet


does either even matter for barrel wear? Leading issues? Would a jacketed bullet matter?

It seems there is no clear opinion on the internet

cheers

Teac
 
Campro's bullets are great for plinking. I'm not a fan of 125 FMJ in .357 but it should do fine. I have used about 20,000 of them to load 9x19, pretty sure someone from Campro was selling them to me for dirt cheap on the side. Just had to rinse off some nasty dust. It was some of the most accurate pistol ammo I have ever produced. Wear on your barrel is close to irrelevant with the loads you are talking about, buy whatever tickles your pickle.
 
B said:
Campro's bullets are great for plinking. I'm not a fan of 125 FMJ in .357 but it should do fine. I have used about 20,000 of them to load 9x19, pretty sure someone from Campro was selling them to me for dirt cheap on the side. Just had to rinse off some nasty dust. It was some of the most accurate pistol ammo I have ever produced. Wear on your barrel is close to irrelevant with the loads you are talking about, buy whatever tickles your pickle.
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This. At 38spl velocities/pressures, I wouldn't be worrying about barrel wear.
 
^He's gonna break a lot of parts before he sees significant wear in his barrel. Something for his grandkid's grandkids to worry about. I have worn out barrels but it takes either a very high volume of high-pressure ammunition or an absurd amount of time. It took me about 30 years and a number of cartridges I could only take a wild guess at to wear out a .22lr. Automatic fire sure cooks barrels though.
 
Pretty much all of my reloads of hand gun ammo, is done with plated bullets. They're soft enough to get a good bite on the rifling and they don't crud up the bore (and everything else) with lead. Jacketed bullets are over-kill, for the type of shooting you want to do.
 
Wear for either type is nil.

Lead bullets are cheaper. about half the price.

With lead bullets you have to clean the barrel of lead build up occasionally.

With lead bullets you get smoke from the lube. A problem in rapid fire or when shooting at night with a light.
 
Ganderite said:
Lead bullets are cheaper. about half the price.
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Maybe in your area but guys around here want $10-20/k less than Campro for the popular stuff. I started casting my own once I saw the price list from BulletBarn and the like. I miss being close enough to pick up my orders from BDX. Best bullets in Canada hands down.
 
OP, wear on your rifling will likely never be a concern for your lifetime.

Don't overlook "powder coated" lead bullets. They're sort of in between both worlds.

I suspect the bullets you will be ordering will have a Brinnell Hardness factor, somewhere between 15 and 22.

Powder coating eliminates the need for lubricant in the bullet grooves, which makes for less fouling in the bore and not quite but almost eliminates lead fouling in the bores, while allowing higher velocities, which isn't of much concern for your purposes.

Most manufacturers offer powder coated lead bullets.
 
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bearhunter said:
OP, wear on your rifling will likely never be a concern for your lifetime.

Don't overlook "powder coated" lead bullets. They're sort of in between both worlds.

I suspect the bullets you will be ordering will have a Brinnell Hardness factor, somewhere between 15 and 22.

Powder coating eliminates the need for lubricant in the bullet grooves, which makes for less fouling in the bore and not quite but almost eliminates lead fouling in the bores, while allowing higher velocities, which isn't of much concern for your purposes.
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I cant really find powder costed bullets online :( Do you have any recommended seller?


@All: thanks for the advice! It looks like campro plated is gtg!
 
Teac said:
I cant really find powder costed bullets online :( Do you have any recommended seller?


@All: thanks for the advice! It looks like campro plated is gtg!
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The last bunch I picked up came from Western Metal. I don't see them on the site any longer.

X-Bullets has them

If you can't find them, the campro work well.
 
bearhunter said:
Most manufacturers offer powder coated lead bullets.
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Other than Xmetal trying their hardest to compete, unsuccessfully, against CamPro (pricing matters Xmetal...) who else is slinging powder coated bullets?

OP: CamPro's king in Canada, don't fight the current.
 
4n2t0 said:
Other than Xmetal trying their hardest to compete, unsuccessfully, against CamPro (pricing matters Xmetal...) who else is slinging powder coated bullets?

OP: CamPro's king in Canada, don't fight the current.
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There was a fellow in AB doing it for a while, prices were good. Much lower than Campro unlike Xmetal. All of a sudden he disappeared and I saw his casting machine for sale on CGN. I guess there isn't much of a market..?
 
Go with the plated bullets thats all I shoot for light practice loads.

Just remember to not go too light on the powder charge. ;)

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Doesn't make much difference if any, in modern steel. Older guns and antiques might be different.

The mki and mkii Webley revolvers have soft bbls, iron not steel. You can wipe the rifling clean out of them with 200 rds of hardball FMJ.
 
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