Unique powder in rifles with plated or jacketed projectiles

wasa

wasa

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A recent thread about lead vs plated projectiles got me thinking.... I currently use Trailboss with Berry's plated projectiles (max rated velocity 2000 ft/s) with my 303 British and 7.62x54R for plinking loads. I have not been able to find Trailboss for a while, and was thinking about Unique powder. The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook features lots of pistol powder loads for rifles with cast projectiles, but I could not find anything about plated (or jacketed) projectiles.

Is there a published source of data for shooting Unique or other pistol powder out of rifle cartridges with plated projectiles?

Thanks!
 
For exemple, "the load" from Ed Harris use 13 gr of red dot. He mention you could use it with jacketed bullet too but, you'll get 150fps less.
I would use a few grain less then the cast load and work up.
With fast burning pistol powder in rifle load, there's no risk of secondary explosion like with low density slow powder load.
I often load subsonic plated bullet loads with just a few grains of pistol powder for plinking.
 
THERE IS A TECHNICAL NAME FOR THOSE"PROJECTILES".

Those of us familiar with guns and ammunition refer to them as "bullets".

When it comes to loading, you can treated a plated bullet the same as a lead bullet. Same data.

Unique would be a good powder to try. I use 15 gr.
 
There seems to be an epidemic of people on this site afraid to use the word "bullet". Seems odd, on a gun site.

I wonder Ganderite, how your recent observations of velocity differences between plated and plain lead handgun bullets will manifest in rifles?
 
Ganderite said:
THERE IS A TECHNICAL NAME FOR THOSE"PROJECTILES".

Those of us familiar with guns and ammunition refer to them as "bullets".
Click to expand...

Too many folk at the shallow end of the clue pool expect "bullets" to come with brass, powder, and primer attached. Various folk who have been overexposed to that instinctively shy away from the word "bullets" and always disambiguate to either "projectiles" or "cartridges".
 
Yep. Berry's calls them Berry's Superior Plated Bullets® so my apologies to those who do not like the word projectiles.


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While I agree that to many (most?) people on this site that a projectile is a bullet, some people refer to the entire cartridge as a bullet.

Even some dictionaries repeat this definition (I found two sources online)

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bullet (ˈbʊlɪt)
n
1. (Firearms, Gunnery, Ordnance & Artillery)
a. a small metallic missile enclosed in a cartridge, used as the projectile of a gun, rifle, etc
b. the entire cartridge
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Even Dictionary.com states that a bullet is....
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noun
1. a small metal projectile, part of a cartridge, for firing from small arms.
2. a cartridge.
3. a small ball.
4. Printing. a heavy dot for marking paragraphs or otherwise calling attention to or itemizing particular sections of text, especially in display advertising.
5. Cards. an ace.
----------
I would like to note item #2 in this list.....
 
BattleRife said:
There seems to be an epidemic of people on this site afraid to use the word "bullet". Seems odd, on a gun site.

I wonder Ganderite, how your recent observations of velocity differences between plated and plain lead handgun bullets will manifest in rifles?
Click to expand...

I am a scientist at heart, and often wonder "why"?

There is a tendency (and I am guilty of it, too) to pair up an observed anomaly with a known variable. For example, if a 308 rifle shoots a 190 gr bullet poorly, the conclusion might be the 1:12 twist is too slow for the long bullet. Whereas the the real reason is that the barrel just does not like that particular Sierra bullet, but the Hornady works well.

I had a big difference in velocity in shooting the same load under plated vs lead wad cutters. I jumped to the conclusion that the difference in velocity was due to plated vs lead bullets. I now suspect it is because the bullet diameters were a bit different.

I have limited plated bullet experience in rifles. A few years ago I bought 4,000 plated 150gr RN rifle bullets. I thought they would be excellent (cheap) plinkers for 30-30 and 308Win. They may yet prove to be so, but the initial testing was poor. They can only be driven about 1400 fps before the wheels fall off. I was using a powder like 3031. I should re-visit and try 680 or something even faster.
 
The only published non cast rifle loads I've seen for Unique were 25-20 and 32-20 in an older Lyman

Clint
...but I do use it for 100 gr XTP's in 303 with the sight set to 800
 
I use unique with campro plated bullets all the time, (357, 45 colt, 44-40, 32-20)
Campro has the load data on their site for their plated bullets
 
wasa said:
A recent thread about lead vs plated projectiles got me thinking.... I currently use Trailboss with Berry's plated projectiles (max rated velocity 2000 ft/s) with my 303 British and 7.62x54R for plinking loads. I have not been able to find Trailboss for a while, and was thinking about Unique powder. The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook features lots of pistol powder loads for rifles with cast projectiles, but I could not find anything about plated (or jacketed) projectiles.

Is there a published source of data for shooting Unique or other pistol powder out of rifle cartridges with plated projectiles?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yer gonna need to just go ahead and post your 303 Trailboss load here. ;)

Which Berry's bullet?

A load for a cast bullet will be very similar for a plated bullet. Just start a little low and you'll be fine.
 
wasa said:
A recent thread about lead vs plated projectiles got me thinking.... I currently use Trailboss with Berry's plated projectiles (max rated velocity 2000 ft/s) with my 303 British and 7.62x54R for plinking loads. I have not been able to find Trailboss for a while, and was thinking about Unique powder. The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook features lots of pistol powder loads for rifles with cast projectiles, but I could not find anything about plated (or jacketed) projectiles.

Is there a published source of data for shooting Unique or other pistol powder out of rifle cartridges with plated projectiles?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

You can use the same loads for jacketed as you can for lead cast, pressure differences are minimal between the two. The Lyman cast bullet manuals are excellent.
 
  • 30-30, 110 grs plated Campro bullets over 10 grs Unique
  • 308, 110 grs plated Campro bullets over 12 grs Unique
  • 30-06, 110 grs plated Campro bullets over 15 grs Unique
  • 303 British, 115grs Campro bullets over 7 grs Bulleye
  • 7.65 Argentine, 125grs Berry's bullets over 7 grs Bullseye

these are my pet loads, all are very accurate out to 100 meters.
 
partial said:
  • 30-30, 110 grs plated Campro bullets over 10 grs Unique
  • 308, 110 grs plated Campro bullets over 12 grs Unique
  • 30-06, 110 grs plated Campro bullets over 15 grs Unique
  • 303 British, 115grs Campro bullets over 7 grs Bulleye
  • 7.65 Argentine, 125grs Berry's bullets over 7 grs Bullseye

these are my pet loads, all are very accurate out to 100 meters.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'm not familiar with the 115gr Campro projectiles in 303 British (other than the older 180gr jacketed). Looks like these are 0.312 pistol bullets. Great idea - wish I thought of that (I'm using Berry's 123gr plated bullets)
 
Deathrawt said:
I use unique with campro plated bullets all the time, (357, 45 colt, 44-40, 32-20)
Campro has the load data on their site for their plated bullets
Click to expand...

Thanks for the note. I use the Campro data for my pistols, and for my pistol caliber carbines (mainly Henry levers), but I didn't see any reduced load data for rifles such as 303 British, 7.62x54R, etc.
 
wasa said:
Thanks! I'm not familiar with the 115gr Campro projectiles in 303 British (other than the older 180gr jacketed). Looks like these are 0.312 pistol bullets. Great idea - wish I thought of that (I'm using Berry's 123gr plated bullets)
Click to expand...

Yes, these are .312 pistol bullets, and they work very well.
I use the Berry's 123 grs plated bullets in the 7.65 Argentine Mauser
 
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