Longshot and 165 gr X-treme NO GO!

[shooter14]

Hello everyone.  I recently received a Gen 4 Glock 20 for my b-day and have run into an issue (in addition to the slide locking back with 1 round 180 gr Underwood left in the mag which I think I've fixed).  I've shot tons of 165 Xtreme plated out of my Glock 23 with 7 grains of Longshot.  Fairly clean load, plenty accurate and averages about 1050 fps.  So I thought, I'll load up some of these 165's for this 10mm and hope for around 1250-1300 fps.  There is no published load data that I could find for Longshot with 165's in 10mm, so I winged it.  Started at 9.0 gr and worked up from there.  My three groups of test loads averaged 1230, 1260, 1285 respectively.  I don't believe I over-crimped them and according to Xtreme, these bullets should not start falling apart at these velocities, after all, copper plated 22 long rifle bullets hold up fine at 1250 fps.  They all functioned properly with no failures of any kind, but extremely inaccurate!  I could not make two shots hit within a 12 inch circle at 15 yards.  I'm no expert, but I'm not that bad.  Shot some Underwood just to check the gun and they were very accurate.  I don't know whether I want to scrap the plated bullet idea in this gun, or try some 180's with Longshot.  Anyone out there have a bad experience similar to this? 

[The_Shadow]

shooter14, Welcome to the forum! Congrats with the G-20
You were probably driving the plated bullets too fast...1100 fps may be about all they will handle.

[Pinsnscrews]

Xtreme, Rainier and Berry's all advertise a 1250fps max velocity for their plated bullets

[sqlbullet]

It would be nice if producers of components would explain why they omit a certain powder from a load chart.

I don't know why Hodgdon doesn't provide 165 grain data with longshot.  But it could certainly be that they couldn't come up with an accurate load, though I tend to doubt it.

Others have had issues with plated bullets and funny behavior above 1100 fps or so.  In general though they should be fine up to about 1300.  Easy to try backing off the charge a tenth at a time and see if groups improve.

[shooter14]

Yeah, I hear what you are saying about backing off the charge.  But I have a 40 cal already and really don't want to shoot this 10mm with 40 cal type performance.  I will probably just get some decent jacketed bullets for this gun.  Or maybe look into an aftermarket barrel later on.  Anyway, I appreciate this forum and will keep experimenting. 

[The_Shadow]

Yea, its hard to beat real drawn copper jacket jacket bullet performance for max velocities.  Plated bullets when they are too thin can scrub and shear as the are spun up by the rifling.  The thicker plated and double struck bullets do fare better thus provide better accuracy.  The original reason for plating, was for a cheaper option, to keep lead exposure down via the plating process as opposed to cast bullets.

Bullet fit/size has to be good as well. I have seen some 0.3990" in the plated ones.  If crimped too much the case mouth can cut through the plating or damage it enough, to destroy itself as it tries to take to the rifling.  Great care is needed when seating them as well, they can snag the casing while being seated, it is imperative to use enough case mouth expansion and fully seat them without the casing being closed back, therefore they should be seated without any crimp being applied.  Some seating and crimping dies will need to be raised at least an 1/8" (maybe more) to keep the taper from closing the case walls inward.

Some companies are offering better, thicker plated bullets, nowadays.  Also the poly coated (poly powdered paints) are providing some great results.

[Pinsnscrews]

Shadow has a point about the measurements. It might be interesting to see what size they measure out to. Also, weigh a few and see how close to 165gr they really are. I stopped shooting the 165gr and went to the 180gr due to accuracy issues in my .40SW, so I am using the same thoughts with my 10mm and just not loading 165's.

Something to keep in mind also, the plated bullets are meant more to give you practice/plinking rounds in the same style and weight of what you are normally shooting with a jacketed bullet at a lower cost.

[Geeman]

I'm shooting a bunch of xtreme plated bullets.  I aim to keep them just under 1200 fps and I run the 180g hollow points rather than the lighter options.  I'm not going to say they are the hottest thing going, but they aren't powder puff loadings either.  They make an economical load that doesn't tear up guns.

Lighter plated bullets just hit fps limits too easily.

Greg