I usually only load rifle ammo, but with 9mm in short supply I may have to load 9mm target ammo for awhile. Does anyone here use coated bullets for target shooting? I wanted to make sure there is nothing I need to be aware of before trying it. Can these bullets even be purchased right now or are they sold out like everything else? I appreciate any info.

Costed bullets are soft just use the load data for lead bullets of the same weight as far as I know. I shoot a lot of the copper plated bullets and that is what I was told and have seen data for on them.

"IF" you can find the caliber/weight you want, look for ACME powder coated bullets. I use them and push them just as fast as jacketed. 30-30, 35 Remington, 45-70 and 45 Colt.



ACME BULLETS

Thanks guys. Will do on the load data. It looks like ACME is sold out. Even the Lead bullets may not be available at this point.

It's crazy out there. I spent THREE WEEKS looking for Hornady 100 grain .312 XTPs. You'd think "Who wants 32 caliber bullets?" HA! I still ain't found none.

Dsniper, copy the description from the Acme site for the bullet of your choice and plug that into your search engine. Pull the top off a cold one and relax. You'll be there awhile.

Depending on the brand and the powder you use some of the plastic or coated bullets can generate a lot of smoke. I was warned by a shooter that Titegroup burns too hot ( his words not mine ) and melts or burns coatings. I have no experience with this.

Are you set on coated bullets or just think that's the only thing available? I have been playing with some light for caliber 90 gr JHP and 95 Gr JSP originally made for .380 ACP. They shoot soft and I imagine they have to be flying! I found a nice load with Titegroup that worked quite well in 2 different 9mm pistols. They are slightly shorter than a typical 9MM load but they fed 100%.

I saw some 115 JHP bullets a couple days back, have to look to see where they were. I thought they jacked the price up a little from where they were 2 months ago.

I loaded several thousand coated bullets from Acme and from Black Bullet International and they shoot quite well.
There are some powders as mentioned that burn hotter than others so that is one drawback as you need to use cooler powders and they tend to be a little smokier but they work just fine.

Thanks for the info on the powders burning the coating. I was curious if that would happen. I’m not set on just coated bullets but I haven’t been able to find the cheap jacketed target bullets. I’ve never used the coated and thought I’d give them a shot.

Unique is a good powder to use

Look at bayou bullets

That's all I shot. I cast and coat my own. Bell the case mouth a bit more than you normally would.

Black bullets
Bayou
Blue bullets

Are all good ones.

Yes Sir, sure is.

Thanks for the info! I found two sets of 9mm dies that show to be in stock at different vendors. I ordered both with hopes that one will actually be available. Black bullets has stock so I’ll try them out. I’ll stay on the search for a pound of powder and primers now.

To those of you that vouched for Unique, have you tried Hodgdon Universal? They look to have a similar burn rate and I believe I already have some. I tried Blue Dot a few years ago for 9mm loads and I remember picking unburned powder off my arms. I don’t want to go down that road again.

Blue dot works well with heavy bullets and max ( or above Max ) loads. Folks shooting Major PF like to use it. So do folks loading the 10 MM to crazy above max loads. I experimented with Universal in 9mm and it works well with the 115 gr bullets, I did not try the heavier bullets. I found it to be cleaner than unique in those loads. I only load Unique in 38 special these days.

You will get unburned powder using a slow powder like Blue Dot and Long Shot at light loads and with light bullets. That's been my experience.

Blue Bullets are very popular in USPSA Action Shooting.

I use VV N320 with them. ;-)
Only down side....they smell funny. No joke, they have a distinct odor,