Xtreme plated vs. Polymer coated bullets

okorpheus · Jun 12, 2014

Anyone tried both and have an opinion? Most likely 147gr 9mm. Been using cast lead, looking for something less filthy.

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drmitchgibson · Jun 12, 2014

Coated are very good. Relatively clean, low smoke. Coated bullets have a very slight residue that can rub off, and whatever color you get, that color residue will show up in the bottom of your mags and will rub off a tiny bit on your hands when loading mags. VERY slight, not an issue. Plated are very clean and no smoke. I've only used Bayou and Precision Bullets in terms of coated, and Berry's and Xtreme plated. About 23,000 coated and 2,000 plated. I will probably stick with plated as long as I have my H&H discount.

mikey80 · Jun 12, 2014

Coated or plated, neither are really filthy. I'm switching to coated after shooting plated for years. Coated will let you use a little less powder.

okorpheus · Jun 12, 2014

I've loaded up a sample pack from thebluebullets.com and I'm hoping to try them out Saturday, I've started seeing prices for xtreme bullets in the same range so thought I might consider them as well

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Matt1911 · Jun 12, 2014

I recently went from lead, to coated, and now X-Treme plated.
Lead was really filthy and buildup in the bore was something I had to keep on top of and the smoke it created was a hindrance on occasion because I couldn't find the next target until the smoke cleared sometimes. Especially indoors.

Coated was much cleaner, but I still got some buildup in the bore, not much, but enough to keep an eye on and smoke was drastically cut.

X-Treme plated are just pure awesome. Clean bore without the smoke.
I think I'll be sticking with plated. The price isn't much different from just lead anyways.

Robaire Pullicar · Jun 12, 2014

I haven't had much luck with xtreme's accuracy in my sti tried tweaking oal and powder charge but my groups are still open quite a bit compared to the coated bullets I was shooting. When these are gone I'm going back to coated. I was shooting bayou's but I'll probably give BBI a try since price is comparable and they are a forum sponsor. FWIW I had little to no smoke with titegroup and bayous in 9mm and 40s&w

okorpheus · Jun 12, 2014

Did you have to tweak powder charge between lead, coated, and played, or were your velocities pretty similar?

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Spiff · Jun 12, 2014

Using the same crimp between Zero FMJs (which shot great) and Xtremes caused my groups to go from 1.5" at 15 yards to 8" at 15 yards...Xtremes won't tolerate much crimp, be aware of that. Bayous out of my M&P40 were great, they shoot well out of my 2011 also.

dennishoddy · Jun 12, 2014

I've recently started using the Black Bullets International coated bullets.

No more leading to clean from the barrel, and they shoot great.

Matt1911 · Jun 12, 2014

okorpheus said:
Did you have to tweak powder charge between lead, coated, and played, or were your velocities pretty similar?

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Powder charges and velocities vary with different bullet types, so be sure to study load data from the powder companies.

poopgiggle · Jun 13, 2014

okorpheus said:
Did you have to tweak powder charge between lead, coated, and played, or were your velocities pretty similar?

Both my cast lead and coated bullets come from the same Magma Engineering molds and I don't change anything on the press when I switch from one to the other.

grantwoodok · Jun 25, 2014

I've been trying out The Blue Bullets stuff. Used the 147Gr .356 flat point and have been impressed so far.
Seems to be very clean compared to lubed and seems similar to plated. With 5.7Gr of 700X Hi-Skor in a 38 Super I'm getting a PF of 173. Same bullet just lead and lubed I got 175 so not much different. The recently added a 147 and 125 grain round nose with no lube ring to their inventory. I have 250 of each arriving today. With their Logo discount of 10% off it makes a 3000 pack incl S&H $216.90 so about 7c a bullet. Not bad at all.

kansas · Jul 3, 2014

From looking around online, the blue bullets seem to be the most cost effective if you order 10,000 and find a couple buddies to split the order with.

kansas · Jul 3, 2014

Does anyone know if xtreme bullets gives price breaks on large orders of plated bullets?

jeffhughes · Jul 3, 2014

What is a "large order" to you?

drmitchgibson · Jul 3, 2014

He probably means over 10K or 25K projectiles, which some vendors used to do, and like Precision Bullets still does.

irons_shooter · Jul 3, 2014

Xtreme still does. Hopefully WillR can opine as he just ordered 200K, if I am not mistaken..

Matt1911 · Jul 3, 2014

I wish I could afford to buy 10k at a time.
Damn rich people lol

jeffhughes · Jul 3, 2014

10k won't do it with extreme. 25k might.

Scott Hearn · Jul 3, 2014

mike_pinto said:
Xtreme still does. Hopefully WillR can opine as he just ordered 200K, if I am not mistaken..

Sounds like a smart man, if I could I'd just up and buy a lifetime supply right now.

As to the O/P, it just doesn't get any cleaner than plated or fully jacketed. X-Tremes can be finicky but they can be fine too. My S&W 625 doesn't care much for them but my 686 shoots them just fine, actually pretty good. My Cyrwus built limited gun shoots any damn thing good so I can't compare with that. If anything plated requires a little more attention to detail in reloading and may need a bit more work to find your load than one of the coated lead cast bullets. But the new coated lead are almost as clean and generally a fraction cheaper. Like you I can't stand the nastiness of plain lead anymore and once I've shot up what I have loaded that's it. Unless I have no other choice that is...