It’s mostly the fact that the copper plated ammo isn’t sub-sonic and is non-target ammo. I’ve shot competition for years and it would be a rarity to find a top shooter using plated rimfire ammo.

 

Depends on the competition. The Sonza crew uses Mini Mags, which are copper washed (plated is a misnomer), but that's for rimfire challenge, where "big" steel plates are usually less than 35 yards, speed and reliability are key. We compete with the Sonza boys pretty regular, but we use 40gr Blazers.

We've never used copper wash ammo in competitions. I also shoot small bore Silhouette and "PRS" .22lr type stuff; all SV speed lead round nose for those.

 

Originally conceived as an alternative to lube, copper plated ammo still needed to be lubed , imho,it gained popularity because it resembled center fire ammo . If youve ever retrieved your bullets you will have noted that it is no loner copper plated. My guess is that it burns off in the barrel, just adding more residue for me to clean out. I use HV plated ammo in my semi auto pistols, just cause I.save the SV non plated ammo for rifle target shooting.

 

Burns off in the barrel? Or, could it be wiped off by the material you're shooting into? Ever shoot into a 55 gallon drum full of water?

 

My club has a monthly 200 yard rimfire match. The very serious competitors never use copper plated bullets. I asked about that, and got the answer of ‘the copper leaves deposits in the bore, which are difficult to remove and will adversely effect your rifle’s accuracy’.

Strut64, if you are just plinking and having a great time, shoot what you like and what you have, and have fun!

 

A 200 yd match sounds interesting. When you have time, please post more about it.

 

I shoot the CCI HP mini-mags (copper washed) in all 3 of the leagues I shoot in, in them it is the required ammo, for all to use

 

Just curious what disciplines require plated/washed ammo or is it a range or agreed upon to level the field?

 

If you want to mix and match, go ahead and do it! There's no big deal doing so! After all you're only plinking! I see no harm whatsoever to your firearms bore. Like I said if you take 40 grain Blazer (not copper plated) and CCI Mini Mag 40 grain (copper plated) they are basically the same thing, same velocity!

 

From a small bore book I have. It shows pretty clearly the first shots strip the copper until the barrel is seasoned for the ammo.

 

Does your small bore book mention what the top bullet is as it does not appear to be 22lr? The bottom bullets could be 22lr, does your book say what year the photos are from and who the bullet/ammunition manufacture is? Did they test more than one firearm and what was the firearm used?

 

The top bullet was 22 mag

 

I mainly shoot minimags. They typically have less wax than SV and cycle a bit better in my pistols. For practice I usually use CCI AR tactical since they have been a bit cheeper.

 

There are lots of variations in the shooting sports. If you like copper coated ammo.good for you. They make a lot of it. 😇

 

Plinking with what ever ammo you have is not an issue. As you pointed out, you aren't competing. Cleaning is cleaning. You either clean or you don't. Shooting long range competition. I probably have more experience shooting long range competition than 99.9% of the folks on this forum. From 2004 to 2014 I shot in 60 long range .22 benchrest silhouette matches from 65 to 200 meters. That's 3000 rounds in competition and maybe more than another 3000 in practice. In that time I won 45 of those matches and never placed lower than third and guess what. Every round I fired was subsonic lead, non plated rounds and I never saw anyone shooting anything but subsonic lead ammo and there were as many as 15 competitors sometimes. I have nothing against copper plated/washed ammo. It has it place. If we are talking about shooting smaller groups, it is going to be with lead subsonic ammo preferably match grade. But plinking, shoot what you have.

 

Some old wives tales here.

OP go out and do your own testing as the facts look like opinions here. And hard to tell from old wives tales.

Mixing lead and copper plated doesn't matter. There are no cons or pros on mixing ammo. Only opinions. Copper plating does not come off in the barrel or in flight. I have seen barrels lead up more with non plated bullets, but to be fair I have seen one rifle lead up with any ammo shot through it.

Some clean after every shooting session and some never clean. I clean every once in a while. An old time 22 competitor and gunsmith told me that more damage is done to a barrel by over cleaning.

 

OP go out and do your own testing...

That's the real answer.

Some will be more or less expensive, accurate or reliable in a semi-automatic, and it won't matter to you whether it has been plated or not.

I recently found part of a bulk box of Winchester Dynapoint 40gr CP from a lot I'd gotten 25 years ago or so. I remembered it as good, but maybe they had improved in my memory. After all, Winchester=bad, loose-in-box=bad, copperplated=bad and HV=bad. Turns out that was quite a bit better than current production Norma SV I tried, even though that Norma wasn't plated or HV and is boxed in trays of 50.

 

An old time 22 competitor and gunsmith told me that more damage is done to a barrel by over cleaning.

That isn't quite true. No barrel was ever ruined by "over cleaning", what ever that defination is. They are runied by poor cleaning practices. Not using a bore guide. Forcing a too tight patch through the bore and bending the cleaning rod until it scrapes the bore. Using cleaning rods that pick up grit. Cleaning with a bronze brush like it's a Roter Rooter. Regardelss of what people believe, not cleaning becomes an issue especially in hunid climates and any more than plinking and tin can precision, precision can be lost by not cleaning. BTW, I'm an old time .22LR competitior on and off since 1964, both position and benchrest.

 

Ah! the old copper wash or plating debate seems to go on forever!

 

I do the same, for plinking it really doesn't matter lead or copper washed/plated. (whatever) just shoot and have fun!

The pros verse cons: for plinking shoot whatever is cheap and will run in your gun. then clean it so crap don't build up. I'm tired of reading about carbon rings.

 

I say go with what shoots best in your guns. That said, and I don't really know why, but lead ammo also seems to shoot much more accurately in the cz rifles I own.

 

I believe some people hear plated and think jacketed. Different animals.
Copper wash and plated are easy to put in a similar category. Common mistake.

 

I've been shooting competition for years, and it's rare to find a great shooter utilising plated rimfire ammunition.

تنفيذ المفروشات في السعودية تصميم موشن جرافيك اسطنبول الدراسة في تركيا​

 

I've been shooting competition for years, and it's rare to find a great shooter utilising plated rimfire ammunition.

One reason for this might be both habit and a reluctance to modify whatever has worked for them in the past -- maybe even a bit of superstition tossed into the mix. A lot of experienced competitive shooters have been shooting for a long time, and most probably started with lead ammo. I know I did -- exclusively, since it was in the pre-plating days. I left the sport/hobby for a few decades and when I started shooting again, I was reluctant to try copper-plated ammo because I had zero experience with it, and lead had always worked just fine. But I read up on it and decided to give CCI Mini-Mags a try. So glad I did: my 50-ft NRA target scoring has improved, and I'm experiencing less residue when cleaning both the breech and bore.

In other words, many shooters stick with whatever has worked for them in the past, and are reluctant to venture into new types of ammo out of concerns for throwing their "game" off.

 

Copper plated is a little cleaner, doesn't lead up the barrel

 

If your wax lubed, unplated ammunition is leaving lead in your barrel, you have a bad batch of ammunition or a barrel problem.

 

Deep, deeper, deepest, more longer waders.

 

I believe technically a “ wash” is applied chemically while “plating” is done through electrolysis. You are pretty limited in how thick you can apply a wash, but you can plate on til you run out of material or size constraints of the object you are making.
Most if not all 22lr I’ve seen are plated, 22mag has an actual jacket in most brands as do 17 HMR, while center fire bullets are made with either method. The Speer Gold Dot and Federal Fusion are plated as, IIRC are a couple other bonded style bullets.
CCI describes their Mini Mags as plated on the label or the ones I have are so marked, while their Maxi Mags are claimed to be jacketed

 

I believe technically a “ wash” is applied chemically

That thought had also crossed my mind in the past and I do believe there is a process which uses chemicals exclusively, however at the moment everything I search comes back adding electricity? Would you have a link to the chemical only process?

 

If you're shooting plated ammunition regularly, it might be worth running patch with some sort of solvent specifically made to remove copper jacket fouling through now and then. Most of those will turn green if there's copper fouling in the bore, and if you see that, keep at it until it goes away. BTW, don't use a brass jag. Brass is a copper alloy, and you'll grow old and die before the solvent quits turning green.

 

Ruh roh, might be time to clean my RedRider after 1,000s of copper plated/washed bb's thru it. Before & after pix to follow.

 

Dear Lord..... Cabin fever already?

The Semantics Squad of Grammar Nazis are here early this year. Yaaaayyyy!!!

I don't recall where, but I copied this explanation from another forum years ago....

In one word 'Thickness " if referring only to the bullets outside covering material .

In more words , a copper jacket ( as in jacketed bullets ) which is not pure copper but gilding metal at about 95% copper and 5% zinc is a thick tube that encapsulates the core of a jacketed projectile . It can vary greatly in design and thickness and generally tapers in thickness getting thicker towards the base in hunting projectiles but may be parallel in thickness in some target bullets . Thickness can vary but is certainly much thicker and stronger than a plating process .

Plating would be an electrolytic process which can deposit metals as a layer over an object . Thickness will vary as to how thick you need and the time in the process . Typically thickness may only be a few thousandths of an inch to get the surface you want .

Copper wash is a chemical process possibly also having electrolysis in it of some kind but it's main difference is it's only a very thin deposit as the term "wash" kinda says .

I don't know of any plated projectiles in the true sense of the word off hand.

 

I use what ever rimfire ammo I can get mey hands on. Some is plate/washed etc some is not. I clean with a boresnake before i leave the range while the barrel/chamber is still warm. One or two passes, that's all. The i clean further at home using solvent and brushes/patches. I start with a nylon brush and use a brass brush once or twice too. I often times get micro flecks of "gold" on my patches after using the brass brush. It is definitely from the plated/washed ammo. So, there you have it. Does anyone really care? Thanks for listening, I think?

 

Wow, I can't believe the speculation on how this is done or the lack of understanding about "plating". Plating, is usually done by electrolysis which transfers one material to the surface of another. Lead does not lend itself to this process, and if it did, it would be highly costly requiring many caustic chemicals. Ever hear of the EPA? I once worked for an ammunition manufacturer many years ago. Their "plated" rimfire bullets were made by tumbling lead slugs in copper powder which caused the copper to be mechanically applied to the surface of the lead. The slugs were then swaged into bullets. This is a rather inexpensive process to create a cosmetically attractive product. Did these bullets work any better than plain lead? Nah! Just a marketing thing.

 

What you have described is one type of plating which is known as "Mechanical" plating and not the way the bullets in the CCI/Speer video are being plated. A lack of understanding? Dude: just look at the CCI video in this thread. The bullets shown are being electrically plated which is transferring the copper to the surface of the lead. Lead is a conductor of electricity; check out your car battery.