I picked up a couple of boxes of Berry’s plated bullets to try out.

I loaded my first batch yesterday, and without a cannalure I was having a time deciding what a good enough crimp was.

Too much, they warn, it cuts the plating, leading to separation.

To little, the bullets could back out of the case inside a chamber while shooting the rounds in the other chambers.

Does a taper crimp help? I’d need a different crimping die but that is no problem. I compressed two cases yesterday while deciding what was “too much” of a crimp. Backed it out 1/2 turn or so and did the rest of them.

Do a search in the reloading forum using the terms plated and crimp and you'll come up with more than you can read.

This is one of those topics that gets beaten to death every month or two.

I've shot a lot of Berrys in the past and have always used a very light roll crimp, just enough to close the flair. I fired a few into a dirt berm and dug them out and there were no signs of separation using this method. IMO, Berrys plated bullets are tougher than most people think.

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"I gots to know"

Simple way to decide, if the bullet has a cannelure then roll crimp. If no cannelure then taper crimp. Buy a roll crimp die if you don't have one.

Except in magnum calibers, or Airweight revolvers, bullet-pull while firing is no issue with any bullets. Almost any crimp will be adequate.

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Gunsmithing since 1961

From the Berrys website Q&A:

You can use both the Taper and Roll Crimp on Berry's Bullets.

We recommend a light crimp on the bullet, just enough to put pressure against the bullet without denting or deforming the plating. If you were to pull the bullet out of a case with the proper crimp you would find no more than a scratch on the surface of the plating. If you are denting or deforming the bullet, your accuracy will suffer and the bullet may start to tumble before it hits the target.

You didn't mention caliber for .38/357 plated bullets I lightly roll crimp for 9mm its a Lee factory crimp die.

Attached is a chart I found somewhere along the way for a handy refrence

Attached Files

RL crimp_chart.pdf (13.4 KB, 57 views)

Whenever I want to load a handgun bullet with no crimping groove or cannelure on it, such as some .357 9mm cast lead bullets in 38 special or 357 magnum , I used the taper crimp die from a 9mm die set to taper crimp the smooth sided bullets ( 124 grain TC-GC) in the 38 special/357 magnum loads...worked like a charm, much better than trying to roll crimp without a cannelure or crimp groove.
Doing this would eliminate the cutting of the plated bullet.
Gary

I would have never thought of doing this but it seems like a great idea. I'm going to give it a try next time I load some 38s with no groove.

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"I gots to know"

I use a Lyman type "M" expander and taper crimp all my plated bullet loads, .357 and .44 magnum. These are lighter practice loads and a simple taper crimp works fine.

Basic crimping 101; bullets with a crimp groove or cannalure get a roll crimp. Bullets without a crimp groove or cannalure (including smooth sided plated bullets) get a taper crimp. Of course there will be departures from this rule, but this will keep you out of trouble...

M die plus a taper crimp is plenty to keep a 357/158 plated from pulling during recoil up to 1000 fps in anything other than an ultra light revolver.

The 'cannalures' on most plated bullets are just some marks in the plating, not a real recess to crimp into, so I just ignore them and seat and crimp where I want.

A light profile (roll) crimp works too, but I really like having a separate taper crimp die for plated.

Using a 9mm (.355'') die is going to swage your round DOWN

from .357'' to .355''.... Not the best for accuracy l think. imop