I've been reloading some .45s with what I think are pulled Berry's 200gr RN bullets.  The manufacturer is the "I think" part, not the weight nor the shape.  I have a thousand of them.

Setup:  Two single-stage RCBS JR presses side by side; seating, and partial crimp in #1 (RCBS die), final taper crimp in #2 (Lee FCD).  Cases were sized and de-primed, then belled and primed in earlier sessions.  One procedure at a time.

About a hundred rounds done, and when I went to mike #95 last night the micrometer just kept right on closing after contacting the bullet.  Target OAL is 1.257".  The mike pushed it to 1.235" before it stopped (and it only stopped because I stopped squeezing).  The bullet was loose and would spin in the case.  I tightened the FCD a bit more, pulled the bullet, dumped the powder, re-powdered, reseated and recrimped.  Still too loose.  Tried it with a different primed and belled shell.  Did it again.  #3 was with a third shell and a different bullet.  Again, bullet wouldn't stay tight in the shell.

I thought I might have belled without first resizing, but the shells are .470" OD below the bell, before adding the powder and bullet.  And three in a row?  No.  The cases all have wall thicknesses of at least .010".  Different brands of cases.

I miked the OD of the bullets, and they're .450".  Where the mouth of the case closed on the first bullet I could see that the bullet was actually narrowed (slightly wasp-waisted).  Even with that, the case tension still should have been sufficient to squeeze the base of the bullet below the narrowed part enough to hold tension.  Though that particular bullet is probably headed for the scrap bucket.

Unless the bullet OD of .450" on those few I measured is the problem.  I know it's supposed to be .451". 

Any ideas?  I suppose I could pull a bullet out of one that is properly tight and mike that bullet.  I'm gonna be rather put out if I have to mike all 900ish for undersized bullets before I continue.

They're all belled, but dropping the micrometer blades 1/8" inside the case I read .448".

previous loading

  Missed that part.  That's your problem.  Toss 'em.  Call it a lesson learned.  By the time you squeeze the brass far enough to grab them, they'll be held by crimp only, neck tension will be zilch, and you'll have all kinds of trouble chambering them due to your case mouth being way too small.

Pulled jacketed slugs are a different animal than "plated".  Plated slugs are a one-shot deal.  Too soft.

Go ahead and mic a few, but I believe you'll find them undersized.

Heavy roll crimps are problematic with plated bullets.  But you might be able to get acceptable results in 45 colt with a fast powder, in a light to mid-range load.

Okay.  Here's the latest.

I originally had two Clays powder bottles which were reused full of these.  Roughly 500 in each.  I finished running the first bottle and the entire second bottle through the micrometer last night.  Results - probably 60% of the first bottle might be okay for reloading.  The other 40% and the ENTIRE second bottle are undersized.  Which means I have about 300 usable bullets.  I'll see if I can work some kind of deal with the friend I bought them from.  Not necessarily monetary, since he didn't create the problem, he just passed them on from a deal he got, but he's been at this a lot longer and might have had a few clues that they would probably be undersized.  I'll maybe ask about running a bunch of unsized lead bullets my dad gave me through his sizer dies.   Most of them go back to when I was casting bullets by the hour for him when I was a kid back in the early 70s.

Now there's something I hadn't thought of.  I'm sure I know someone who does BP, I just can't think of anyone at the moment.

I finished banging all of the bullets and dumping the powder out of the too short OAL rounds.  Then I miked every single one of the remaining 47.  Then I loaded them all in mags, took them out back and cycled them through the gun.  Only 10 survived.  So that meant I got to hammer out 37 more.  What a pain in the neck this has turned out to be. 

I'll mike 10 of the allegedly good bullets, load them then cycle them through the gun.  If they set back, I may just say forget it to trying to load up the rest.

Spending too much time?  You betcha!  But learning how things don't work together when the components are wrong?  Priceless.

I'm done.  There were 169 bullets of .451" - .4515" diameter.  100 are loaded up, ready to shoot.  I'll get the rest in the next few days or weeks.

My bench has been out in the unheated garage, so I really haven't done nearly as much reloading as I'd like, since to use it I had to uncover it (doubled as storage space, and we have cats) break out all the components, set up, fill the powder measure, make sure it was still properly set, load, then put everything away again.  It simply wasn't worth the hassle most of the time, or I simply didn't have the two hours necessary to get in one hour of actual reloading.  And the garage can be real cold this time of year.

A couple of weeks ago I disassembled it and cut it down to fit inside a spare bedroom closet.  I've loaded more in the last couple of weeks than I think I did in the last couple of years.  It's so easy now, just close the door when I'm done. 

And you're right. I'll never buy pulled bullets again.

I'll never buy pulled bullets again.

Pulled jacketed rifle bullets are usually just fine.  Lots of folks buy them that way.  But as you learned the hard way, pulled plated bullets are problematic.