Plated bullets comparison (56k beware)

chemo

chemo

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Disclaimer: I do not endorse any of the products discussed below. I am a recreational reloader/shooter and am just comparing what these companies put on the market.

I currently have 3 makes of plated 200gn 45cal truncated bullets on hand. Berry, Cam-Pro and Frontier. I have put together for you a side by side comparison, a 20 bullet weight/average and a little group butt shot.

Weight
Method: Randomly picked 20 bullets for each make, weighed them 5 at a time, calculated the average. Scale used is an electronic Cabelas XT 1500.

Berry's average bullet weight: 200,08 gn
Cam-Pro's average bullet weight: 199,45 gn
Frontier's average bullet weight: 198,82 gn

Shape
The following picture displays the disparity among the desings. The Cam-pro is the shortest and Frontier the tallest shape with an elongated tip. As you can see the plating on the Cam-Pro bullet is much more uniform (thicker maybe?)

Berry height/diameter: 0,540''/0,452''
Cam-Pro height/diameter: 0,520''/0,452''
Frontier Height/diameter: 0,557''/0,452''


Butt
Method: Randomly grabbed 10

Berry: Quick look at the 2000 I have on hand, I have not spotted a crooked bottom



Cam-Pro: Perfect bottoms here are hard to find (bad lot(s)?)... This seems to be a hit or miss with them, the Cam-Pro bullets I have in .40 are better at least.



Frontier: All the same, all not perfectly flat




To be honest, I'm not a goodenuff shooter to notice the differences I have pointed myself here. I just shoot what I can find, when I can find it. I tought I'd put this up after reading another related thread.

If you would like to add your own grain of salt.
 
I sure hope you just used the , instead of the. otherwise those are some very heavy bullets. :p I guess the next step would be to do some actual shooting, i fired some deformed bullets that had been pulled. Couldn`t tell any difference with a 30-06 hunting rifle put didn`t try them on game either.
 
Wow, cracked plating is more than what you see. That means the integrity of the adhesion of copper to lead is compromised and will shed copper when fired. I normally never talk negative about another manufacturer but I have never even seen that in any bullet that we have scrapped, and like any manufacturer we have made bad product and had to scrap them. As far as the Frontier you have to remember that they are a cast bullet that is then plated. That's why you can see the sprue on the base and the weights vary. We use lead that is alloyed to our specs and is always the same, we then swage the core for uniformity before we plate. There are a couple of plated bullet companies besides us that make a good bullet, don't want to come across like we are the only ones that can.
 
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Hi Chemo,
Thanks for the feedback. I thought it would be interesting to explain briefly the reasons for the crooked bottom you are observing.

1. The first step of production of those projectiles is the swagging of the lead bullet. During this step, a very thin burr of lead is formed i.e. a very thin layer of lead is extruded on the edge of the die because of the extreme pressure.

2. Plating is done in a rotating barrel containing the bullets all immersed in the plating solution. During the plating process (by the way you are right it's thicker), the thin burr of lead gets plated. It also gets folded against the bottom of the bullet by the mechanical action of bullets one against the other.

3. After plating, the bullets are reformed i.e. softly swagged for a second time. This gives more dimensional stability to the bullets. That's why the diameters of Campro bullets are so constant.

The crooked bottom you are seeing is not a crack but only the fold of copper plated lead which was pressed hard by the reforming press.

It does not affect the integrity of the adhesion of copper to lead.
There is no safety concern at all, the copper won't shed and you won't be exposed to lead.
It's only an aesthetic question.

By the way the problem has already been solved, we found a way to eliminate those folds before plating.

Could you please send us the lot number of your bullets by PM if you still have it to document our quality system.

Enjoy shooting!

Virgile,
CamPro
 
Virgile,
the process you have explained is exactly how I had imagined it (except for the final swaging)
Maybe the picture deform reality, I don't know, I tried to play with lighting... It is pretty obvious in reality that it isnt flaking of the plating but rather a plated burr.

I have no doubt safety/accuracy is not at stake here but I put a cannelure on my .40 bullets and hopefully the 2k I have on hand in .40 are much better otherwise I cannot imagine doing a straight cannelure.

data sent your way for your QA
love to see both Berry and Cam-Pro step up to the plate
 
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