Plated bullet reloads?

[sheepherder]

I am somewhat confused by what you mean by 'plated bullets'. A production military-type FMJ will be a copper 'cup' filled with lead. It is not 'plated'. I've never measured one but I'd bet the jacket is in the .010" - .015" range, at least. (Think 3 to 5 sheets of notebook paper thick). There's usually some copper jackets lying on the floor at the range; I'll grab one next time I'm there and measure it.

There is a kind of cheap bullet that is commonly called 'copper washed' which is exactly like it sounds. So thin you can pick it off with your fingernail. I would expect these to behave like a 'standard' lead bullet. I hate these; they will deform if you drop them, and sometimes just by loading them in a magazine.

Edit: I just walked over to the range (across the street; convenient, huh? If only there was powder available)...And picked half-a-dozen jackets out of the bullet trap...they all measure .012" - .015"...

Curiously, the .012" jackets were a gold color rather than copper, indicating a higher percentage of brass...The paper can had some 'Tulammo' boxes on top, I wonder if these Russian 9mm bullets are the gold ones???