I recently bought 2000 Berry's plated 158gr HP in .38/.357. The HP was only a couple dollars more than their regular FP at the place I bought them, so I figured what the heck. They are VERY accurate in all my .357 revolvers loaded in a .357 case with 5.2gr Unique. A pretty nice, pretty mild load.

The big question is, will they expand if I have to shoot something with them? I already know all the stuff about using reloads for SD, but say, for example, I want to make up a hunting load with this bullet. Yea or nay? Thanks.

Bub

I recently bought 2000 Berry's plated 158gr HP in .38/.357. The HP was only a couple dollars more than their regular FP at the place I bought them, so I figured what the heck. They are VERY accurate in all my .357 revolvers loaded in a .357 case with 5.2gr Unique. A pretty nice, pretty mild load.

The big question is, will they expand if I have to shoot something with them? I already know all the stuff about using reloads for SD, but say, for example, I want to make up a hunting load with this bullet. Yea or nay? Thanks.

Bub

They expand to about the size of a nickle when I shoot a steel plate.

If you want to shoot critters with that bullet (something larger than a rabbit) you're going to need to put some serious horsepower behind it. Personally I prefer a hard-cast 158gr SWC over about 14.5gr of 296 for making holes in coyotes and feral pigs.

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Science plus Art

...in a word...no... Unlike the Speer Gold Dot HPs that are also a plated bullet, Berry's punches the HP before the bullet is plated...making it super tough... The shooters at the club I belong to buy a lot of Berry's and I've seen HPs sitting on the 50 yard berm that looked like you could reload them.

Bob

Do steel plates taste like chicken too? Too funny!

I haven't used the Berry's HP bullets enough to know yet but, the Ranier's are more like the Gold Dots and much more reasonable in price.

Here is a picture of them only in .40 caliber:

FWIW, their web site states not to push them over 1200 fps.

http://www.berrysmfg.com/faq.aspx?q=10&c=1

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Still Running Against the Wind

I don't load "expanding" bullets in anything these days, just swc's, tc's and various fp's. I simply believe that two holes are better than one, and that two hole penetration is awfully hard to achieve with hp's and most handgun loads.

I don't believe you will get significant expansion at the speed they can be pushed (1200fps). I shoot a lot of berry bullets and will try to load up a moderate and fast load and shoot them into water tomorrow or Wed. Then if I can figure out how to post pictures will post here. If not I'll just send them to you as an e-mail, pretty sure my tech is that savvy.

Berry uses 5% lead-antimony alloy in their bullets. It's a hard alloy and I wouldn't expect that it easily expands. Will be very interested to see rundownfid's water expansion results.

Mike

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9x19, 9x29R, 9x33R, 10x22

Keep in mind that Berry's does not recommend greater than 1200 fps. I think this not very fast for a hollow popint to exand much at all.

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Hook686

I'd save the plated bullets for plinking and go with jacketed bullets for hunting. Just my .02

Bob

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"Onward thru the Fog"

Thanks for the answers, guys. That's originally why I bought them was to plink/practice with. The HP were only a couple dollars/thousand more than the non-HP, so I thought what the heck. Then, I had the idea that, since they were HP, maybe they might be good for something. I didn't think they would expand after seeing how they were made but thought I would ask anyway. And rundownfid, if you do this, please post the results. I'm very curious. Thanks.

Bub

ETA- I already found out about the 1200 fps limit and how plated bullets aren't very accurate at high velocities anyway. I tried some near- and at-max .357 loads with them, just to see how they worked. HORRIBLE accuracy! Backed the powder charge down to 5.2gr Unique and am getting VERY GOOD accuracy, but the load is pretty mild for .357. It shoots good, though, so that's what I'm using them for till I run out.

Interesting point! I don't remember the gazillion (well probably not that many...) bullet stopping power articles I have read mentioning exit wound or exit wound potentials. Hmmm....Is the exit hole better served in the back or in the front.....

I have tried both Berry's and Rainier plated hollow points in .45 ACP, .38 Super, and .357 Magnum.

I can usually easily find a moderate load that is quite accurate. My informal experiments with water jugs show that these bullets do not want to expand. Its a shame, but that is the way it is.

One exception is the .50 Beowulf. The Rainier hollow point bullet expands quite well in that application. Of course, it is running over 1900FPS, so it should. This also shows that the 1200 FPS velocity barrier is a suggestion, a good suggestion, but not a hard rule.

Kinda like some of the more mundane 38spl loads in most modern manuals.

I have driven the Berry's harder than the Ranier's as their plating is much thicker.

FWIW

OK, apologies for this taking so long, this being retired is more difficult than it at first seems.
Good news I did the water jug tests with spectacular results. Bad news, I am having trouble transferring the pictures.
To the report; the Berry's plated HP over a stout load (1264 fps from a 4" Model 66) of 17.5 grains of Lil Gun penetrated into the 5th gallon water jug, however the whole nose of the bullet was sheared off leaving only a .357 cylinder (103 gr). The only plating remaining was a dot where the HP hole had been.
I did not believe the results so redid this with the same results.
I tried a Hornady XTP, as a comparison. This was a hot load of 158 gr XTP over 16.6 of 296. This generated 1217 fps from a 4" 66 and 1809 fps from a Marlin 1894. The XTP mushroomed beautifully, to .540" and retained 142 gr of weight. Really a beautiful bullet design, all 6 jacket petals peeled back and the soft core mushroomed out. It also penetrated into the 5th jug of water, so it would seem that the energy expended tearing the nose off the Berry's was approximately the same as that required to mushroom the Hornady??
These were both loaded in .357 Mag cases, as I do not think you can get 1200 fps from a .38, not even with "The Load".
Conclusions; not sure if there exists a sweet spot where the Berry's would upset and expand without tearing apart? I am sure that the Hornady is one extremely well designed bullet. I shoot 3 or 4 thousand Berry's plated bullets for IDPA and load 1 or 2 K more for my son in law, I like them for what they are, but I don't think one should expect them to expand.
I haven't given up on the pictures, but wanted to send something for now.

Great report ... thanks. I practice with the Plated bullets and use them in the club matches. But after reading your report, I'll not be leaving them in speed loaders, or moon clips.

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Hook686