Thread: Berry’s Bullets vs. Frontier CMJ in 44Mag (0.429”)

I wanted to shoot copper plated bullets in my Bergara single shot rifle. I bought two lots of bullets of the commonly available brands of this type of bullet: Berry’s Bullets and Frontier CMJ.
When loading a series of 50 test cartridges (new Starline brass, sized) I noticed that four of the Frontier bullets seated with no more than finger pressure and checked their diameter and found it to be 0.428” (under the nominal diameter of 0.429”). I had already loaded some of the Berry’s bullets and none had been so far under diameter that they pushed into the sized case with just finger pressure.
Because of this anomaly in diameter I thought I should check which may be better bullets, Berry’s or Frontier CMJ.


I picked 10 at random from each lot of 200 bullets and measured the weight, diameter and length to check for quality control of manufacturing (and potentially, quality control of grouping on the target).

Weight, Berry’s 240gr 0.429” Flat Base, Hollow Point (measured on RCBS Rangemaster 750)
239.7 x 2
239.8 x 1
240.0 x 1
240.4 x 1
240.5 x 3
240.8 x 1

Weight, Frontier CMJ 245gr 0.429” Boat Tail, dished base, Flat Point , cannelure
243.8 x 1
244.3 x 1
245.0 x 1
245.2 x 2
245.3 x 1
245.5 x 1
245.8 x 1
246.6 x 1
247.0 x 1

Berry’s diameter (measured with Mitutoyo calipers)
0.4280 x 1
0.4285 x 2
0.4290 x 7

Frontier CMJ diameter
0.4290 x 3
0.4295 x 8

Berry’s length
0.6885 x 1
0.6890 x 1
0.6895 x 2
0.6900 x 3
0.6905 x 1
0.6910 x 1
0.6930 x 1

Frontier CMJ length
0.6820 x 2
0.6825 x 1
0.6835 x 1
0.6840 x 1
0.6950 x 1
0.6855 x 1
0.6860 x 1
0.6880 x 1
0.6895 x 1

I have not fired enough groups to get a complete picture of which is the more accurate bullet in this rifle but I think it may be the Berry’s bullet.
The Berry’s bullet appears to be a better made bullet. The all important base on the Berry’s is smooth and consistent. The rest of the bullet is similar in surface appearance to the Frontier CMJ bullet. The base of the Frontier CMJ bullet is dished and has a boat tail. The finish on the dished base is inconsistent from bullet to bullet with what looks like a varying amount of mold sprue which is not centralised.

For those wondering how fast they can push the Frontier CMJ bullets before t he bore starts to clog up with jacket material, I went as far as 1650 ft/sec and achieved a fair bit of clogged up bore (same velocity as factory PPU 240gr). So, 1650 ft/sec is too fast for these bullets.

I have tried those copper coated bullets in other calibres accuracy was not great, I cast .430" bullets 280gr FP 270gr HP 260gr HP some of the members on here have used them
with good results, get in touch if interested.
Robert.