plated bullets, 40 S&W and Unique
 

I have Berry's 165gr bullets for my .40 S&W and Unique for powder. I know I should start with lead data but I can't seem to find any. Berry's website says to use low to mid jacketed data. Anyone have any experience with this combo?

Any advice is appreciated.

I have used low FMJ data with plated bullets with no issue.

Ive always loaded my plated bullets as if they were fmj. The hotter you load, the more accuracy decreases. The most accurate load will USUALLY fall somewhere in the medium range. Load 10 rounds each of the min load, a couple different medium loads, and max load. Then shoot two 5 shot groups with each. When looking at the results later, you will see groups start out rather large, then shrink, then open up again.

Thanks for the input. I'll try a few different fmj loads and see what happens.

I tested from 4.8 to 5.1 gr of Unique. Kind of cool watching the groups with each load. Wound up with 5gr being the best group of 10 rounds with a 1.150 OAL.



Attachment 56050
The high flyer was my fault when a guy on the rifle range fired his 30.06.

Very nice looking target

You should think about grabbing the Lee Modern Reloading 2nd Edition book. It has some plated data in it as well as plenty of cast lead data as well.

I could be wrong, but I think the "Lee" plated data is from Rainier back when they published data for their bullets. Out on the Web, the old Rainier Load data does exist. However, I think that info for Alliant powders might be a bit thin. It might be worth a look though.

Thanks, overkill, ill do that.