Berry Bullets

[King Medallion]

Wondering if anyone has tried shooting Berry's plated bullets in their 76? I got a box of the "Round Shoulder" .458 350 gr bullets that I had loaded in my 45/70s, but theywould not chamber. So I tried one in a 45/75 case and it did chamber! So, just wondering if anyone has tried it, and what loading was used, and how it shot.

[SiringoMN]

Only time I tried these were in a 450 Bushmaster. Horrible accuracy and
Copper fouling shards abound. BUT that was at a muzzle velocity of 2200 fps. Way too fast as at pistol velocities they seem to be fine.

[larryo1]

To: Both of you.  I have been using Berry's Bullets for several years and have never had any of the problems that you folks say you have had.  I use these bullets in both my handguns and my rifles-ie-45-75, 45-90, and my 40-82.  again with no problems.  Why you are having these problems that you say you are having is rather discomforting.  I would say that perhaps  you should contact the company and let them know what the problems that you are having.  I would say, however, that were you to be going over the recommended velocities that you might be doing then that could be part of your problems.Just a thought.

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[larryo1]

One more thing, in passing.  In my handgun (45ACP) I use the hollow base bullet and about 6.5 grains of Unique.  N o problems other than my eyes are not what they used to be.. Velocities are in the 850-910 range. Again. no problems.  In the big bores, I use the 350 grain flat nose jacketed bullets and at velocities at about or near 1400 to 1500 fps.  Again, with no problems. In closing, it would be a good idea to mike the slugs just to make sure that they are of the  proper diameter that you think that they are suppose to be.

[King Medallion]

My problem was that the .458 bullets would not chamber in my Browning 1886's. They will chamber in my 1876 45/75. The Browning are notorious for having practically no throats. Found a use for them so no worries. All other Berry's bullets work great in all I've used.

[Dave T]

Ive shot a lot of Berry's plated bullets with smokeless powder (never with real gun powder) and my experience has been you have to be careful with crimping.  Too much, particularly too much roll crimp, can peel off the plating.

With revolvers I've had bits of the copper spit out of the barrel/cylinder gap and draw blood.  I can see where too much crimp with rifle bullets could seriously degrade accuracy.

My $.02 worth,
Dave

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Free advice is worth every penny spent. I suggest that these plated bullets, without any experience by me, should be considered as jacketted and deserve frequent barrel cleaning to remove  any copper left behind.

[matt45]

I've used these bullets, and have found that if one keeps the velocity with in reason (for me 1000 fps- an arbitrary figure, but I was unwilling to do extra cleaning and use extra bullets) they work good.  Obviously, with such a figure, one can surmise that my experience is with handguns.

[Classicflh]

I find the Berry 45-70 bullets troublesome to chamber as well.

From what I'm seeing, I think the reason is the wider meplat on the Berry.  It's quite a bit bigger when compared to any of my lead cast bullets.  All my lead cast bullets work just fine when at the same COAL as a Berry, which is usually between 2.26 and 2.30, depending on where I'm crimping - or not.  It appears the meplat is catching at the lip of the chamber - there isn't any feed ramp on my Uberti 45-60.  Not sure about any other 76'. 

I found if I tip my rifle to the left when cocking, the Berry will roll in just fine.  However, if I keep it vertical, they fail every time. 

Bench shooting a Berry isn't much of a problem as I find it easy to tip the rifle to the side when dodging that big empty case anyway.   I prefer not to use them though.  Have gotten very happy with the the powder coated cast bullets I'm making.

See if that wider meplat makes some sense in your case too.