BHN Number

[DAVIDF]

Plated bullets are not from cast lead. It is from lead billet that is extruded into wire then swaged into a core. The cores are then copper plated by dropping into an electrically charged bath containing high grade copper ingots. The longer they remain in the bath the thicker the plating. A huge number of manufacturers use copper plated bullets such as CCI-Speer, Federal, Winchester, Georgia Arms, Underwood, Freedom Munitions..... They all work great as long as they are not driven to too high a velocity or crimped incorrectly. Both of those requirements are extremely easy to meet as long as it is a decently manufactured bullet. Leading will not result, only copper fouling, as the copper is nicely bonded to the soft lead. Recovered bullets that have penetrated over four feet of properly calibrated organic gelatin shot out of a 10mm carbine show that the bullets copper plating remains intact and no indications whatsoever of copper plating separating. Recovered bullets after being shot into dirt berms have also shown the same thing. If you have any leading from using a copper plated bullet, then you are doing something wrong or using really poorly constructed bullets. Shooting plated bullets thru a polygonal barrel is absolutely safe unless you are doing something seriously wrong with your hand loading.

Speer Gold Dots are copper plated. They have a heavier plating (not a jacket) as do a number of other plated bullets and can be driven at higher velocities of course. The plated bullets I load for my .44's has a thinner plating and should be driven at about 1200fps or so for best accuracy. But they won't shed their plating unless driven significantly faster unless you try to use a heavy crimp.

I would recommend something slightly different for polygonal barrels such as Glocks than what you were saying. I would recommend using an aftermarket for lead such as one from Lone Wolf Distributors and using the stock barrel for plated/jacketed.