Plated bullet reloads?

[ChrisLL]

Originally Posted by noylj

Why not buy real jacketed bullets from Montana Gold and Precision Delta instead of questionable plated?
All of my Lugers feed and shoot 115gn and 124gn L-SWCs with aplomb, so a truncated come or RNFP should not be problem. I find my Browning HP to be much more finicky feeder than any Lugers.
COL:
First determine max COL--the length that will just allow the round the chamber with bullet just touching the lede/rifling/lands.
Check if round will fit magazine. If not, adjust COL until round fits magazine.
With round in magazine, test feed and chambering. When everything functions right, this will be max working COL for this particular bullet and, in many cases, will also be the most accurate COL.
Keep seating bullet deeper until round no longer feeds/chambers reliably. Just above this point is the min working COL for this particular bullet. Somewhere in between "might" be a "universal" COL that will work in assorted guns, but it will not likely be optimum in any of them.
The main Luger issue I have is the toggle. I don't have enough leverage to pull back the toggle if the round jams, so I always ease the toggle down when testing.
There is reloading and there is handloading.

My main reason is cost. 500/115g from Xtreme = $42.22 shipped. Delta $55/500 (can't actually buy 500, that's the 1/2 of1000 lot price; Montana = $100.

Second reason is that we already load a lot of the Xtreme bullets, including 9mm so it would be nice to use the same bullet. If it doesn't work out the Delta's are not too much more so that is an option.

I guess another option would be cast, but most of those tend to be more than the plated, and we don't currently use any in 9mm (Glocks don't do well with cast in the factory barrels).

Thanks for the info on COL and the suggestions.

Chris