I recently learned the joy of Rainiers plated bullets in my .50AE upper with both price and accuracy. I'm also testing out some of their 45-70 bullets in 350gr & 400gr in my Siamise mauser this weekend. I'm impressed with plated bullets and it got me to thinking.

Is there anyone out there that plates bullets on a 'small' scale (500pcs or so)? I hate dealing with cast bullets because of their need of low velocities and messy lube. I prefer jacketed bullets, but they tend to be a bit pricey for plinking. I think it would definately be a savings for the .620", .585", and .550" shooters. Any thoughts?

BMG- see if you can hit 2100fps with the 400 gr 45-70's in your Siamese Mauser. Is the throat long enough to allow you to seat the bullets out further than the cannalure and still fit in the mag?-Rob-Rob

Perhaps a local commercial plating company would undertake this for you.

George

I loaded up some test bullets last night and the chamber is not cut very deep, I've got plenty of room in the mag though. I was only able to fit about 54gr of RL7 with the 350gr bullet and 1) Not crush/bulge the case 2) still chamber the round.

Rob,
Any load data applicable to a Siamese action would be appreciated for the 350 & 405gr bullets and Fed 210GM primers. I've got a number of powder bottles lying around but 3-4 loads would help. Most powder companies & manuals limit pressures into the 37,000-38,000 range max but I know the siamese mauser is a LOT stronger than that.

I'm still thinking I'll load up as much RL7 into the case as I can so that the bullet seats deep enough into the case to chamber correctly, yet not so much powder that I destroy the case.

EVERYONE ELSE:
Any bullet plating info?


BMG

I'm curious about the "slow" velocities you are referring to when alluding to cast bullets. Unless you have a really fast barrel twist, ie 1-8 or faster, you should have no problem driving a gas checked cast bullet 2000-2200 fps. To me this would be sufficient for must big bore shooting.

I also haven't found a problem with lubes being messy, unless they are really soft lubes. Then again, I've never personally found to need to have all me guns squeeky clean all the time.

BMG
Recently a company called Jaccurate introduced a practice bullet for several calibers over this side of the pond.
These are generally rifle bullets on calibers from 30 to 500. They are cast lead with a copper plating from 10-15/thou thick.
I have used the 300 gr in my 375 @ 2350 to 2450 fps and got good accuracy (.8" @ 100m) without fiddling with the loads.
What I found interesting was that the barrel did not appear to get as hot after firing a string of these as it does after firing regular bullets. Note, I said "appear", I have not tested it with a thermometer.
Jaccurate inform me that they will be launching in the US in the near future.

Paul H:
What you say is correct, but we are unable to obtain gas-checks for the .620", .585", and .550" projectiles over here. Are they readily available in the US? If so, how 'bout a contact? Otherwise, I know it is not difficult to make a punch and die to make'em yourself out of drink cans, sheet copper, etc. Is that what you guys do?

Also, does anyone have any experience with the maximum velocity for black moly-coated bullets? These are easier to do, ie a bullet-manufacturer acquaintance using this process can chuck a couple hundred bullets into the system, for a few beers maybe. Anyone done this?

Thanks.

I wondered about moly-coating for cast bullets...
Checking on the web I found a site: "www.precisionbullets.com."
They make the so-called "black bullets" and they can supposedly be driven to 2000 fps. without a problem. (w/out a GC)

For the big bores it's difficult to get gas checks, so maybe this is an alternative? I wonder if precision bullets would coat bullets for you if you sent them some...