Henry Rifle Forums

I’m just getting started reloading 45 cal ACP I plan on using 230 grain bullets is there a difference between jacketed and plated bullets?
I just bought a Lee loader and don’t want make any mistakes.
Thanks Bill

Jacketed bullets have a formed 'jacket' made of gilding metal which is a copper/brass mixture with a sized lead core pressed into it.
A plated bullet is just that - a swaged or cast lead bullet plated with copper compound or in some cases powder coated similar to the powder coating metal parts.
Plated/coated bullets are typically the domain of lower priced, bulk quantities made by a variety of manufacturers and largely in part dominate what shooters use when they reload. The plating offers the advantage of reducing leading, allowing to load a little higher FPS than plain cast bullets and for some who do not want to handle plain lead.
Typically plated bullets are only a few dollars more than say an equal amount of plain cast so it's really a no-brainer.
Unless one really needs a jacketed bullet for a specific purpose (high velocity loads for hunting would be one) plated bullets are an economical advantage for the reloader for low to medium speed target/field shooting.
Look up Xtreme Bullets for a good overview of plated bullets. Xtreme is a well know Mfg. of them with a lot of info on their site.
Berry's is another and are one of the more commonly stocked brands in stores with reloading supplies.
https://www.berrysmfg.com/item/bp-45-452-230gr-rn

Thanks for the info explains a lot . I was reading the reloading manual and found a load that I could use the powder that i have on hand Red dot but it calls for jacketed bullets the loading info for the plated info doesn’t list the red Dot powder. I guess that I will look into other powder.
Thanks again Bill

I have used both Berry's and Xterme with good results. The Xtreme supposedly has a thicker plating.
5.5-6.0 grain of Unique works well for me in .45 ACP with my Ruger 1911 and Springfield XDE.

You might also want to get a Wilson chamber gauge to do a spot check on a finished round to see if everything is within spec.
A good round should drop in and flush out on the case head.

Thanks for the info. I want to be safe than sorry

I was reading the reloading manual and found a load that I could use the powder that i have on hand Red dot but it calls for jacketed bullets the loading info for the plated info doesn’t list the red Dot powder

Here is data from Alliant's web site which shows Red Dot loads well below the 1250 FPS limit Berry's puts on their bullets.
Any of these loads would be ok with the Berrys bullets.
http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/ ... rtridge=35