Polymer coated bullets

@A @ark 4 years ago

Hi eveyone

So I have been missing for a while from the forum only cos I'm too caught up at work or with kids and then any free time I spend at the press reloading which is my destresser.

So I have been also visiting the range more often now cos I can but feel like reloading and using CMJs cant be my only option with a glock.... Not sure if the internet is just making me paranoid but feel like too many people advise against lead but I also found out that polymer coated bullets are an option

Does anyone have experience using polymer coated bullets through a glock and can advise if it's a no go? or will it be worthwhile as a cheaper option to reload and enjoy more shooting time

Any experience with the different brands on the market that are polymer coated bullets? Or tips and tricks to using polymer coated bullets?

Replies 27

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@B @brian40 4 years ago

I bought my first Glock (23c) about twenty four years ago long before the internet. I bought it used and the previous owner and myself both loaded 180 grain hard cast bullets for it. The only thing we did was treat the barrel with Prolong SPL 100 lubricant and never had leading problems. I didn't shoot for a number of years but slowly got back into it last year.
I recently purchased some poly coated bullets for my 23c and my 43x (Silver Rapids). Just loaded up 50 rounds of 9mm and am eager to visit the range to see how they perform.
Will be watching this thread with interest..

@T @treeman 4 years ago

The only thing we did was treat the barrel with Prolong SPL 100 lubricant and never had leading problems

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Now I have used and still do use Pr long for many things non motor vehicle All my oils for lubing have pro long added and it is a part of all my homebrews, so much so that I bought it in 5 lt containers.

For firearm barrels ? huh ? well I never.

@A @ark OP 4 years ago

I bought my first Glock (23c) about twenty four years ago long before the internet. I bought it used and the previous owner and myself both loaded 180 grain hard cast bullets for it. The only thing we did was treat the barrel with Prolong SPL 100 lubricant and never had leading problems. I didn't shoot for a number of years but slowly got back into it last year.
I recently purchased some poly coated bullets for my 23c and my 43x (Silver Rapids). Just loaded up 50 rounds of 9mm and am eager to visit the range to see how they perform.
Will be watching this thread with interest..

It's my first time hearing of prolong lubricant will be sure to check it out, please keep me posted on your test run of silver rapids as they are readily available near me and am thinking of buying a small packet but also don't want to buy something that will be more harmful than beneficial

@O @oafpatroll 4 years ago

My experience of Glocks and polymer (in my case powdercoated) bullets is from my mate shooting a few hundred of my home made 9mms through his 26. There was not a hint of leading and they performed perfectly well. They are Lee truncated cones cast with range scrap at approx 130gn, powdercoated with Powderlak 3000 series and sized .357.

I'd expect commercially coated bullets to work at least as well.

@A @ark OP 4 years ago

My experience of Glocks and polymer (in my case powdercoated) bullets is from my mate shooting a few hundred of my home made 9mms through his 26. There was not a hint of leading and they performed perfectly well. They are Lee truncated cones cast with range scrap at approx 130gn, powdercoated with Powderlak 3000 series and sized .357.

I'd expect commercially coated bullets to work at least as well.

Thank you so much, does that mean no need for extra treatment of the barrel? I'm getting more and more hopeful that my reloading costs will reduce enabling more time to practice and get more muscle memory built handling my firearm

@O @oafpatroll 4 years ago

Thank you so much, does that mean no need for extra treatment of the barrel? I'm getting more and more hopeful that my reloading costs will reduce enabling more time to practice and get more muscle memory built handling my firearm

Unfortunately I don't have any extensive experience of shooting polymer coated bullets in Glocks but I can't see any reason why they should cause an issue. I have 10's of thousands through my CZ pistols without a hint of leading so I'd expect the same to be true through a Glock.

My bullets cost me 22c each at the price of the last batch of range scrap I bought and I broke even on the mostly second hand equipment I bought in the first batch of 2100 when compared to the prevailing price of commercial CMJ.

@A @ark OP 4 years ago

Damn! I can do with a 22c cost per head lol, I really want to give those polymer coated a try it's almost half the price of what I am paying currently. I guess the only way is to try it and see.

@O @oafpatroll 4 years ago

If I could get head for 22c it's all I'd do.

@B @brian40 4 years ago

So insomnia had me this morning so I decided to get up and go to the range.. Well all I can say is I'm fairly impressed with the Silver Rapids. Two 10 shot offhand strings at 5M. I dunno what happened with the flyer..

Primers look OK. The only minor gripe I have is the tips of the bullets are not all the same shape so this messes you about with the OAL.

As for lead fouling, I didn't see anything besides a dirty barrel. I tried to take a pic but my skills are a bit lacking. Will be loading up a batch for my 23c next.

@A @ark OP 4 years ago

So insomnia had me this morning so I decided to get up and go to the range.. Well all I can say is I'm fairly impressed with the Silver Rapids. Two 10 shot offhand strings at 5M. I dunno what happened with the flyer..

Primers look OK. The only minor gripe I have is the tips of the bullets are not all the same shape so this messes you about with the OAL.

As for lead fouling, I didn't see anything besides a dirty barrel. I tried to take a pic but my skills are a bit lacking. Will be loading up a batch for my 23c next.

Keep me posted on that, what is the OAL you set your seating die at and may I ask what powder you used and if you could share your load data with me please?

@B @brian40 4 years ago

Keep me posted on that, what is the OAL you set your seating die at and may I ask what powder you used and if you could share your load data with me please?

147 grain bullet, OAL 28mm, powder is recommended start load of 3.4 grains of MP200. Gun cycled perfectly and recoil was mild.

@O @oafpatroll 4 years ago

My 130gn bullets make factor with a lower charge weight than was the case with CMJ which is another positive on the cost side.

@T @treeman 4 years ago

[quote author=Brian43x

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why does it look as if some of those primers were different loads or even weapon ? Few of the primers seem to tell different story, few different stories actually. L-R Top -Bottom.
8T and 8B or 10T and 10B

@B @brian40 4 years ago

[quote author=Brian43x

You got a sharp eye there Treeman. I zoomed in on the pic on my phone and bottom 7 and 8 are not from my weapon. Range pick-ups mixed in with my cases. Should mark my cases in future with a koki pen or something.

@T @treeman 4 years ago

[quote author=Brian43x

**************************
why does it look as if some of those primers were different loads or even weapon ? Few of the primers seem to tell different story, few different stories actually. L-R Top -Bottom.
8T and 8B or 10T and 10B

*****************************
Yaaaaas ! this be true.

@A @ark OP 4 years ago

Hi all

I need to pick your brains, so I got 147gr silver rapids, my current set up is for pressing 147gr cmjs, I load 4.0 gr cfe pistol at 28mm OAL on my cmjs. I created a dummy round to test my flare and the silver rapids fitted in perfectly fine like the cmjs do, got the OAL also perfect on 28mm is it a wise idea to just go ahead and continue the process as per my cmj loads?

@D @duanewessels 4 years ago

You need to redo your load development.
The Silver Rapids might be quicker than CMJ's with the same load.

I have not loaded CMJ's in a few years but do recall that I got more speed from a coated bullet compared to the same loaded cmj.

@O @oafpatroll 4 years ago

You need to redo your load development.
The Silver Rapids might be quicker than CMJ's with the same load.

I have not loaded CMJ's in a few years but do recall that I got more speed from a coated bullet compared to the same loaded cmj.

^This. I needed to reduce my MS 200 powder charge by 10% to maintain the same velocity I had with Frontier CMJ when moving over to my cast and powder coated bullets of nearly the same weight. Win win, cheap bullets and more shots per tin.

@A @ark OP 4 years ago

Hi everyone, so I worked up a load with cfe pistol powder at 4.2gr on a 125gr silver rapid, however to my inexperienced horror I weighed some of the bullets and found them ranging from 127gr right till 130gr and weighed the overall cartridge that came in from 192gr till 195.5gr... Are they still safe to use? given I didn't weigh the initial bullet before testing so God alone knows what tht bullet head actually weighed when I did my first 5 test roads on the load I worked up... Start at 3.8 gr and it ejected inconsistently

@D @duanewessels 4 years ago

Most cast bullets are like that. Has not changed or influenced anything for me. You should be safe to go.

I see CFE has a few options for 124gr/125gr and 3.8 is below each one's starting load.

https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/hodgdon/hodgdon-cfe-pistol

@A @ark OP 4 years ago

Most cast bullets are like that. Has not changed or influenced anything for me. You should be safe to go.

I see CFE has a few options for 124gr/125gr and 3.8 is below each one's starting load.

https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/hodgdon/hodgdon-cfe-pistol

Yeah the reloading data suggested a heavier load but I started so light cos of my previous 147gr set up and worked it up from there which was kinda stupid and costed me some rounds

@O @oafpatroll 4 years ago

3gr variation on 130gr isn't a terrifying range. I don't think that differences like that would be detectable inside of shot to shot velocity variation.

@B @brian40 4 years ago

3gr variation on 130gr isn't a terrifying range. I don't think that differences like that would be detectable inside of shot to shot velocity variation.

After reading this, I weighed some of my 147gr Silver Rapids and some weighed in at 150gr.. Just glad to read it's not that much of a concern.

@A @ark OP 4 years ago

Yeah exactly my relief also, hopefully will find time this weekend to test the 20 I loaded and if it works good then I can plan a good practice session

@A @ark OP 4 years ago

Finally made time to test those rounds and they worked perfectly so now loaded the rest of the 250 sample pack and off to the range tomorrow. Does anyone know if Zero Mike's are any different to the silver rapids?

@414gates 4 years ago

3gr variation on 130gr isn't a terrifying range. I don't think that differences like that would be detectable inside of shot to shot velocity variation.

There is always a variation in bullet weight from cast bullets, and also the Frontier CMJ.

I loaded 245gr .430 CMJ's this week, variation was as high as 10 grains. They all shot the same.

@D @duanewessels 4 years ago

Finally made time to test those rounds and they worked perfectly so now loaded the rest of the 250 sample pack and off to the range tomorrow. Does anyone know if Zero Mike's are any different to the silver rapids?

The biggest difference is the shape of the bullet. The ogive of the Zero Mike is a bit bigger than Silver Rapids and Bullet Corp. I had to drop my COL to 27.8mm with Zero Mike to account for the ogive.

Other than that most of the coated bullets available here works the same.

They make holes in paper...