250 grain XTP 32.5 G Lil gun too low?

[Half-cocked]

I do own a slingshot but I'm not very good. I don't own a 45acp.

I will continue to use these for my cva wolf muzzleloader. I purchased the Barry's 230 grain originally for that purpose. They work well as plinking rounds in a crush rib sabot. Same poi as my copper makers bullets (Barnes clones)

I made about 50 rounds so me and my hammer will be having some fun.

So berrys and plated bullets no good for the bushmaster. That's a shame, can you guys recommend a cheap plinking fmj round? The xtp which I am very excited about cost about 35 cents per if I remember correctly.

The xtp will be interesting to see in action on Michigan whitetails. I assume it will expand but will it fragment at 450 bm velocity?

[Texas Sheepdawg]

Or you can melt them down and cast them into some other exciting projectile.

[Hoot]

I...snip... can you guys recommend a cheap plinking fmj round?...snip

Powder Valley has Zero Brand 230 FMJ bullets for $69.00/box of 500. That's 13.8₵ each!
If you don't want that many, I'm sure some members here here would split it with you.

The Zero brand has a big following around the 45 forums.

Hoot

[Texas Sheepdawg]

The Zero brand is one of the first bullets that Gun Nut was testing ten years ago. Definitely a good choice.

[Half-cocked]

Nice I will definitely look into those. Thank you for the help. I always appreciate a good cheap plinking round. Ideally with the same point of impact as my hunting ammo. Sounds like this stuff might work.

I still second guess myself about those barrys. Now I'm wondering if the cases were wet or had grease in them or something. I'll be honest at double pop scared me maybe I was safe because I was on an AR platform. Probably wouldn't want to try those rounds with the bolt action.

[Texas Sheepdawg]

Nice I will definitely look into those. Thank you for the help. I always appreciate a good cheap plinking round. Ideally with the same point of impact as my hunting ammo. Sounds like this stuff might work.

I still second guess myself about those barrys. Now I'm wondering if the cases were wet or had grease in them or something. I'll be honest at double pop scared me maybe I was safe because I was on an AR platform. Probably wouldn't want to try those rounds with the bolt action.

No. Don’t second guess when we are confirming your suspicions.
Berrys and any other plated bullets are incapable of withstanding the rifle twist RPMs and pressures of the 450Bushmaster.
Just save them for your 45ACP or other pistol round.

[Hoot]

What holds the bullet back until the powder can get going is neck tension, along with a little bit of Newton's 1st Law. Neck tension is achieved when the case tries to push down on the bullet jacket and that jacket pushes back, causing friction. Plated lead bullets deform when pushed and stay deformed due to the thin plated on jacket, as opposed to a thicker jacketed cup and core bullet. When the primer ignites there is a shock wave that move forward, along with the flame. With poorly retained bullets, that shock wave pushes the bullet out of the case before the powder really gets cooking. The sudden drop in pressure retards the powder's release of energy. The bullet jumps forward into the lands where it meets resistance to any further forward movement and the pressure rebuilds, albeit slowly, until the remainder of the powder's energy can sufficiently rebuild and continue pushing the bullet (hopefully) down the barrel. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't have enough uumph left to get the job done.Sometimes the powder doesn't reignite and you're left with a yellow blob in the chamber and umma gumma everywhere, along with a bullet lodged in the bore = Bad JuJu!
It's not just the the concern over plated bullets shedding their jackets to leads us to advise against using them.

Hoot

[Texas Sheepdawg]

That brings me to the second experiment using the berrys 230 grain. This for me was a huge failure. I think my load was potentially dangerous.. I could hear a pop and then a secondary explosion. When I look down the barrel there was a trail of unburnt powder.

You’ve told us everything we’ve been predicting for the last decade in this one paragraph right here. Hang fire/detonation event. Definitely dangerous and you could get one stuck in your bore setting you up for a real disaster. This is a serious concern when you underload your cartridges and compound the issue with substandard bullets. On the other end, with the higher powder loads and these limp-rig bullets, you’re gonna spin them apart into fragments and blue smoke clouds of vaporized lead. A serious breathing hazard as well.
Please don’t blow yourself up.

[Half-cocked]

Thank you gentlemen sounds like sage advice.

I will get some real fmj not plated when available. Zero bullets seem to be sold out. If nothing else I know I can use the Hornady xtp there fairly inexpensive and safe. I really liked the results. I am anxious to use them on whitetails.

Safety is paramount and using these plated bullets with the charge and primer I used was about as bad as it gets. Luckily I was smart enough to check the barrel after every shot however, I should have been smart and stopped immediately. Thank goodness no one was harmed.

This is one of the 2 things that really scare me when reloading the other is a under charged load with a large case. I heard that certain powders can detonate although I have not seen it. Better not temp fate even if it is theoretical.

[Texas Sheepdawg]

Scroll down about 6 posts to Wildcatters post and advice.


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