I just tried out my first bullets coated with the Hi-Tek coating the other day. I had bought some 95 grain RN for 380/9MM, some 158 grain SWC for 38/357 and some 240 SWC for 44 Mag from Bayou Bullets. I went to the indoor range the other day, as it was rainy as heck around here, so I really didn't get to try out accuracy too much (lighting downrange is atrocious), but did get to shoot them.
The 95 grain RN shot well in both 380 Auto and 9 MM, with both loaded to pretty much max loads in their respective calibers. They shot a bit low which I expected, being light bullets running fast, but no problems with feeding or ejection. And no leading whatsoever in either caliber. And both pistols were pretty clean afterwards and easy to clean up.
The 240 grain SWC 44s were loaded over 17.0 grains of A #9, which is a moderate 44 Mag load. They seemed to shoot to about the same POI of my X-Treme 240 grain plated with the same powder load and no problems whatsoever in my 629 Classic. I can't say how clean they burned as I also shot some Nosler 240 JHP that were loaded with one of the dirtiest burning powders I've run across in recent memory; Alliant Power Pro 300 MP. Those Nosler/PP300 loads sooted the heck out of my 629, even though they were loaded close to max. I had the same results with that powder in 357 Mag in one of my Model 27's too. But it burns clean in non-vented pistols such as my Coonan in 357 and Desert Eagle in 44 Mag. I did not see any leading in the 629 after shooting the Bayou bullets.
And now, the 357 Mag rounds loaded with the 158 grain coated SWC bullets. I loaded them over 16.3 grains of 296 and used a firm crimp, as I usually do with loads in this category of powder load. This is a hot load, and I was trying to induce leading if it was going to happen. Instead of one of my 27s, I brought my Coonan Classic to the range instead, since I wanted to see how they would fare in a semi auto pistol and my brother was bringing his Colt Lawman to see how they shot in a revolver. At first, in the Coonan, they seemed to shoot well. But after running 4-5 mags of them I started seeing a few random stoppages, mostly FTF but with one FTE with the extractor jumping the rim of the case. Also, in my brother's Lawman, it was jamming up at about the 4th round. I started examining the cartridges out of his pistol when this happened and found that the bullets were pulling out of the crimp under recoil. This was making the cartridge too long and the bullet nose was protruding from the cylinder and jamming against the forcing cone. And I think that the one FTE I had with the Coonan was on a bullet I had pulled from his Lawman but before I noticed that the bullets were backing out. So I theorize that it was one of the bullets that had moved against the crimp and had loaded up to the lands in the barrel, making pressure rise enough to have the case hold tight enough to make the extractor jump the rim. I had also brought some jacketed bullets with the same powder load and crimp to the range and the Lawman had no problems with those loads with the bullet creeping forward under recoil. When they were able to be shot in the Lawman (and looking at the cases out of the Coonan), there were no over-pressured signs at all. The primers weren't excessively flattened and they weren't sticking in the Lawman's cylinder. Neither the Coonan nor the Lawman showed any signs of leading in the barrel and my Coonan was a snap to clean up after around 50 rounds through it. So, it looks like I might just have to use a very heavy crimp with these loads to make them viable. I am sure that if they are loaded down a little the bullet creeping under recoil will go away too. But, seeing how the coated bullets were creeping but the jacketed bullets held steady with the same powder load makes me wonder if the coating makes the bullets more slippery and have less grip at the case mouth.
I didn't see any heavy smoke out of any of the pistols while shooting the Hi-Tek coated bullets. They actually had less smoke than some of that cheap white box Win 9MM my brother was shooting out of his Glock. The 4 powders they were loaded with were Accurate #2, Accurate #9, WW 296 and CFE Pistol.
I have been impressed enough with the Hi-Tek coating to order some more bullets in the near future. The cost saving is pretty good as compared to even plated bullets and every little bit counts, especially if it doesn't affect accuracy from the switch. In 44 caliber the savings is pretty good. 1000 bullets from Donnie sells for $110. For X-Treme plated 240, it's around $123.50 and for Berry's (at Powder Valley) it's $141.58. And the savings holds true for 38 caliber and 9 MM too, to a lesser extent. So, except for the bullet creep I saw in 357 hot loads, these have performed well for me and I believe I am becoming a convert.
