Polymer coated bullets
I loaded up 30 rounds as usual, and took them to the range with the chronograph. Zowie! 972 in the pistol and 1073 in the carbine. About 100-125 fps faster in the pistol and about 75 fps faster than I usually get from the carbine.
January 15th, 2018 at 5:31 pm
Same bullet weight? If so, reduced friction would be a theory. Interesting.
January 15th, 2018 at 6:06 pm
He sez it’s a longer bullet, therefore seated deeper and less volume for the powder to expand into. Could be, I guess.
January 15th, 2018 at 8:46 pm
would like to see a 90gr .3095″ RN……
January 15th, 2018 at 11:25 pm
Less friction. It isn’t like this is news. Been available for 20 years-ish. First discovered when they coated bullets with nylon to reduce leading and gained about 250 FPS.
January 16th, 2018 at 12:00 am
B, remember the hysteria about teflon-coated bullets “designed to penetrate police body armor”?
January 16th, 2018 at 3:03 am
less energy into deforming the bullet, better seal, and lower friction, I would imagine.
January 16th, 2018 at 12:10 pm
There are many other factors, from diameter differences coated to noncoated, to pressures generated with deeper seated bullets, to reduced friction, that could account for velocity differences. More study is needed.
And my aged Mom used to have Nyclad rounds loaded in her snubbie .38 Special, with soft lead for expansion at lower velocity from a short barrel, and a neat blue plastic coating to prevent leading of the barrel. So there are lotsa ways to go to achieve good results.
January 16th, 2018 at 1:42 pm
Very interesting result. I like to use coated slugs because it is easier to clean my shotgun after them.
January 17th, 2018 at 8:56 pm
@Mikee,
You clearly don’t reload, or you’d know this has been an established fact for years. These are the same profile lead bullets people have been using for decades, but with a polymer coating. These differences people talk about are for the same bullet weight, dimensions, profile, cartridge length. The general rule of thumb with 9mm, .40, and .45ACP are that a polymer coated bullet requires 0.2 grains less to get the same power factor as a plated bullet of the same weight and bullet profile.
There are years of data supporting this at places like the Reloading section of the Brian Enos forums.