By Duane Thomas
In common with many of you, I’m sure, I have spent a considerable amount of time struggling over accuracy problems with plated bullets. In this article I will address one very particular concern: the thickness of the plating.
According to the friendly folks at plated bullet companies – and even non-plated bullet companies – which whom I’ve discussed the matter, typical jacket thickness on a jacketed bullet goes circa .012”. The typical plated bullet will go .003” to .004”. In other words, 1/4 to 1/3 as thick as a true jacketed bullet. This means the plating is terribly thin and fragile, leading to accuracy destroying deformation as the bullet hits the feed ramp and travels down the bore. Also, it’s quite easy to pierce the plating when seating the bullet during handloading, exposing the lead underneath and “smearing” the plating outward. At this point, not only won’t the bullets shoot accurately, that round probably won’t even chamber.
However, there are companies producing what are called “thick-plated” bullets, where the plating goes .007” to .008”. Okay, that’s 2/3 the thickness of a true jacketed bullet. But it’s twice as thick as standard plating, and that’s enough to make a HUGE difference in accuracy, and possible deformation – or lack thereof – at the bullet seating station on your reloading machine.Some people think the accuracy provided by thin plated bullets is “good enough for practice.” I don’t. I will be the first to admit this is only my experience, but from what I’ve seen, over a period of years, the typical plated bullet will be doing good to keep all five holes from a 5-shot group on a 14”x14” square paper target at 50 feet (the maximum distance possible at the indoor range where I do most of my shooting) from the bench. Switching to a thick-plated bullet, again in my experience, even if everything else in the loading process stays the same (and assuming everything else is good to start with) will, by itself, lead to greatly increased accuracy. It’s kind of like taking off clodhoppers and putting on track shoes.
