Jacketed Bullets

While our preference for loading handgun ammunition is using lead bullets, we do see the need and desire for using jacketed or plated bullets as well. Between our commercial loading and the loading we do as individuals, we have come across a number of non-lead alternatives.

One of the best alternatives we've seen thus far are the CMJ bullets offered by Frontier Metal Processing. Frontier was started by an IPSC shooter from South Africa, who was offering bullets to his buddies. He eventually started to manufacture these bullets for resale, and is now exporting them to dozens of countries world-wide.

While technically a plated bullet, this is the absolute best plating that we have ever seen. In fact, the plating seems to be better than some jacketed bullets that we've come across. We've been using these in our over-the-counter loads here at the shop for the last 2 years, and have had no issues.

You can now get these on our website, shipped with 500 pieces of brass in a .30 caliber ammo can.

Loading for the .40 Smith and Wesson

As an ammunition manufacturer, we load a lot. We also have a vested interest in making sure our ammunition will function correctly in as many firearms as possible. One of our staples in handgun loading is the .40 Smith and Wesson. In reloading circles, there is a lot of myths around the brass from this cartridge, particularly the brass shot from a GLOCK. This is an attempt to dispel some of these myths.

We load on Dillon 1050s and use Dillon dies. These dies are set up according the Dillon's instructions. We use no other extraordinary means in our loading process. Before we set our ammunition out for sale, a second person performs a quality assurance check on every individual piece of ammunition. For ammunition for an semi-automatic handgun (9mm, 40 S&W, and .45ACP) this includes case gauging every loaded round. If the round does not fit properly in the case gauge, it is set aside, and later roll-sized. The brass we use has been shot out of who knows what, who knows how many times.

Since we case gauging every loaded round, I can give you an exact number of cartridges that have a bulge at the bottom of the case, or the infamous "GLOCK bulge." Out of our last run of .40 Smith and Wesson that I did, I loaded 3,000 rounds. 18 rounds did not case gauge. This is a less than 1% failure rate.


In the interest of data gathering, I took these and loaded a magazine for two different pistols before we roll-sized the rounds - a GLOCK 23, and a Kahr K40. I hand-cycled each round through the action, and they all went into battery just fine.

By comparison, when I last loaded 9mm, I did 3,000 rounds. Like the .40, the brass is from a variety of sources, and we have no idea how many times it has been shot, or what it has been shot through. By the time it makes it to the reloading machine, even the tell-tale H&K fluting marks have gone. Again, we use Dillon dies on the Dillon 1050, and case gauge each round. The above-mentioned batch had 23 that did not case gauge, still less than 1%, but slightly more than the .40 Smith and Wesson.

What does all of this mean? Simply put, .40 Smith and Wesson brass should not give you any issues, even if it has been shot from a GLOCK. If you set your dies up according the the manufacturer's instructions, there shouldn't even be enough of an issue to notice.

Working up a Load

Of critical importance to getting the most accurate round possible is working up your load. You can spend thousands of dollars on tools, measure the inside and outside circumference of your brass, cut individual sticks of powder in half to get just the right amount of powder in each case, or even weigh primers individually, but none of these will help if your rifle does not like the powder and bullet combination that you have chosen.

Why:
If you have ever used a tuning fork, you will know that it will only resonate when struck. If you've ever used a tuning fork incorrectly, you will know that you can change how it sounds by hitting it on different types of objects, or by changing how much force you hit it with. The sound you are hearing in all of these instances is the tines of the fork moving at different frequencies. The pressure of impact on the tines caused the change in frequency. A more forceful hit makes the sound last longer; hitting on a softer surface mutes the tone, so it doesn't sound as clear. The more forceful hits have more pressure, and the softer surfaces have a different wave of pressure.

The same thing is happening to your barrel when you fire a round. The powder burning in the case builds pressure. This pressure is what drives the bullet out of the chamber, down the barrel, and ultimately to your target. Different charges of powder will result in different pressures, which changes how your barrel vibrates. Different barrels, even from the same manufacturer will react differently to the same powder charge.

What You'll Need to Look For:

• Brass: You need to use brass in the same condition for the most accurate setup. If all you are going to do is shoot new brass, then that is what you need to use. If you are going to use all once-fired brass, then you will have to get once-fired brass of the same headstamp, preferably fired out of the same rifle. Each step away from new brass will decrease your accuracy slightly, but there are other methods to compensate (neck-sizing, concentricity gauges, etc.). The key here is get your brass as uniform as you can.
• Primers: Primers should be ideally of the same lot, from the same manufacturer. The beginning pressure that primers exert and the amount of spark they give off will vary slightly between lot to lot, and could vary significantly between manufacturers. A different lot of primers could cause a slightly different point of impact than previous examples.
• Powder: Like primers, powder can vary between lots. Ideally, you should use powder of the same lot for as many rounds as you are loading.

How to Do It:

1. Get 100 cases sized and primed. How you do this is not important in the focus of this article. The key thing to remember is it needs to be consistent with how you plan to load your ammunition after you have found your most accurate powder charge.
2. Using the reloading manual of your choice, find the minimum and maximum powder charges. This will be your powder range. Divide your range into 10 separate charges. These will be what you charge with in your next step.
   For example: If your minimum charge is 25.5 grains of powder, and your maximum charge is 30 grains of powder, your charges will look like this:
   
   • 25.5gr
   • 26.0gr
   • 26.5gr
   • 27.0gr
   • 27.5gr
   • 28.0gr
   • 28.5gr
   • 29.0gr
   • 29.5gr
   • 30.0gr
3. Charge 10 cases with each charge from the last step.
4. Seat and crimp your bullet as you normally would.
5. Clearly label your rounds with as much information as you can muster. Keep each set of rounds separated from the others, so there will be less chance of confusion.

OFF TO THE RANGE:
Your next step will be to do the most fun part, shooting your loaded ammo! You will want to take 10 targets and head to the range. Set your targets out at the distance you have zeroed your rifle. Single-load your rifle and fire ten rounds at your first target. Don't worry about adjusting your sights. There may be a small amount of difference from where you zeroed at to where it is impacting now. Mark on the target the load that you fired. Inspect each piece of brass for signs of high pressure.

Continue shooting 10 rounds at a different target, marking it, and inspecting the brass until you run out of ammo. Compare the targets. You should notice that two or three targets are giving much better groups than the rest. These are the sweet spot for your rifle. This load will perform adequately for your rifle. If you want to, you can take the ammo back to your press and start again.

EXAMPLE: 
Let's say that using our example from the previous range that 28.0 and 28.5 and 29.0 gave you the tightest groups, with 28.5 being the tightest. In this instance, I would repeat the above process with the charges by 0.1gr increments, and see which one of these is the best.

FREQUENT ISSUES:
Occasionally, the powder you chose just doesn't seem to work well. Unfortunately, this just means that you need to go back to the drawing board and start again with a different powder.

Let there be Light!

Have you ever needed to see something on your press? A bullet just dropped into your sized case, it won't rotate past a certain point, or the brass just won't fit into your shellholder. One way to handle this is to look for the flashlight on your loading bench, ask your wife if she used it, look in her makeup bag (why she needed a light for her makeup we'll never know), ask your son, look in the hole he dug in the backyard to play Indiana Jones (at least he's outside, and not in front of PlayBox), ask your daughter, and eventually find it being used as a chandelier in Malibu Barbie's newest condo (that is some of the strangest design sense you've seen). By this time, you have completely forgotten why you wanted the light to begin with. We've found a product to help with this.

This little light puts out about 5 lumens from three LEDs. While this isn't a lot, it is just enough to let you see a little better.  The bendable neck lets you aim your light exactly where you need it to go. The three LEDs increase the battery life, and last for much longer than an incandescent bulb, plus the light is much clearer.

Click here to get one.

Myths, Legends and Half-Truths about Lead Bullets

We've been casting, selling, and shooting lead bullets for over 20 years. During this time, we've heard a lot of wrong information about shooting and loading lead bullets. This is an attempt to dispel some of these myths.

• Loading lead bullets is more dangerous to your health.
  Ingesting lead is not conducive to your health. Lead can be transferred through your skin. However, bullets aren't the only place that you can get exposed to lead. Since your primers contain a lead-based compound (lead stefanite) even loading jacketed bullets doesn't make you safe from lead exposure. This is why we always recommend that you wear latex or nitrile gloves when loading ammunition.
• Lead is too soft to push to very good velocities.
  Depending on the hardness of the lead, this may be true. Slash K's Hard Cast Lead bullets are hard enough that you can push them to a decent velocity. Between the alloy of the lead, and the lube we use, we have been able to push some of our bullets to upwards of 1800fps without noticing any leading.
  As a local shop, we have noticed that often times, a customer will have a bad experience with lead, but not ours. He bought bullets from some guy at a gunshow, who cast them in his garage, out of random things he thinks are lead.
  
• Lead bullets require me to clean my gun more often.
  Shooting lead bullets will sometimes require you to clean your pistol more often, but not by the margin that people seem to think. I tend to clean the pistols I shoot lead through every 500 rounds, whether it needs it or not. I also clean my pistols I shoot exclusively jacketed bullets through every 500 rounds, whether it needs it or not. I don't notice a significant difference in accuracy between the first round and the 499th round.

What are other incorrect assumptions that people make about shooting lead bullets? Let us know in the comments.

How do You Make Your Ammunition?

We have been in the business of supplying customers with reloading components, supplies, and information for almost 20 years. During that time, we have learned that are two ways to look at the process of building ammunition: handloading and reloading. Both have their place in the world of shooting, and neither one is better than the other. In fact, most people who reload will often handload as well, and vice versa.

Slash K's bullets and brass can be used by someone who reloads or handloads, and Slash K has numerous ways to help you do either one.

Reloading

Reloading is simplest of the two. We define reloading as building ammunition efficiently, quickly and most importantly safely. While accuracy and consistency are important, they tend to take a backseat to the other being able to make ammunition quickly. When reloading, you have often already done all of the necessary work involved in handloading: you know what powder charge works best with your bullet, and your seating depth.

Handloading:

Handloading is a slow, deliberate process. When handloading, you are painfully crafting each individual round, ensuring that the powder charge is as close to identical as possible. The each bullet is set to as near the same depth as possible. Each piece of brass has been trimmed, sized, swaged, reamed, and uniformed to the greatest of your ability. By tightening your groups by a thousandth of an inch at a time, you are ensuring that the only thing that will be wrong with the round you fired will be the nut behind the trigger.

How Slash K Can Help:

In addition to our components, Slash K offers some tools that will work well to assist in either type of loading.

• The 550b Turbo Bearing: Our Turbo-Bearing helps significantly in both types of loading. For reloading, it allows a smoother rotation of the shellplate. This smoother rotation makes it easier to make ammunition faster.
  This will also help in handloading. Because you can get the shellplate tighter than you can with the factory indexing sprocket, you will notice less variation within the bullet seating and primer seating.

• Redding Reloading Dies: Redding's dies are precision engineered to exacting specifications. If you are handloading, these dies will assist you in getting the absolute best results available from almost any other dies on the market. Between neck-sizing, precision seating, or a taper-crimp, these dies will give you the best results.

Welcome!

Welcome to our new blog! Here we will give you technical articles about reloading, firearms, and shooting in general. Please check back often for more information, including sales at our online store.