40 S&W help

[TrophyCatcher]

Not a brand new reloader here, but I have never loaded for 40 before. I know the min-max spreads on 40 can be pretty small depending on the powder you are using. I have a couple manuals with plenty of loads, but am wondering what powders ya'll are having success with?

I am planning on loading up some Berry's 165f FP's. I'm not trying to make 10mm loads, or worried about major PF, just looking for a clean burning powder thats not gonna break the bank. Thanks!

[Gecko, Extra Crispy]

I have been using Accurate Arms #5 with very good results. I also use #5 for 38spl, 38 super, 45 and 9mm it's a good multi use powder. It flows well and consistantly thought my Lee and Dillon powder measures. It's clean and you have a wide variety of loads. Like you I started with Berry's (albeit in 155gr) and the deviation between rounds with them was much wider than it has been with a regular jacketed bullet. It will work but just make sure you chrono your rounds because I have been finding that they are running a little(and sometimes a lot) off from what the printed data says.

If you decide to go with #5 you should start at about 6.3grains of powder and work up from there if you need more "power" to cycle the gun.

Data can be found here:
http://www.accuratepowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/accurate_load_data_3.5.pdf

[Shipyard]

i use titegroup in all my 45ACP and found it to meter very well. cheap and you don't need as much as others. it works for me.

not the cleanest on earth, but an extra 5-10 min in the tumblers and all is well.

FWIW. word.

[dleong]

I shoot the .40 S&W the most as the majority of my semiauto handguns are chambered in that caliber. I've tried many handload recipes but the one that works best in all of them (save one) calls for a 155 gr. Berry's TCJ FP projectile atop 5.4 grs. of Universal powder at an OAL of 1.145" with a light taper crimp. This recipe yields a muzzle velocity of approximately 1050 fps out of the 4.7" barrel of my CZ 75B. This is a very clean-burning and soft-shooting round that doesn't beat up the firearm. In terms of accuracy, I can't complain about the offhand sub-3" groups it seems to consistently achieve at 25 yards through my CZs.

As an aside, in my experimentation I ascertained that substituting 5.5 grs. of Unique almost exactly duplicates the performance with Universal, except that Unique leaves an ungodly amount of powder residue all over the innards of the firearm.

[macphisto]

Power Pistol is THE powder for .40 S&W. Ya heard it here.

[monschman]

+1 on power pistol, awesome powder for 40s&w

[usnret]

Accurate Arms #5!

[gyrfalcon]

Blue Dot!

[mmcnx2]

i run 4576 for some powder puff loads for my kids and steel.

[crbutler]

I have used a lot of different powders with the .40 S&W. To be honest, I didn't find much of anything that didn't work for plinking type loads. Its pretty easy to make accurate loads with the .40. I will say that my experience with plated bullets was not that good (mostly accuracy problems). jacketed ones seemed to work best, but the plain lead cast bullets are just fine if you don't plan on shooting more than 200 rounds through it without cleaning it. Often hard cast bullets are the most accurate ones, just don't shoot them in a stock Glock.

As far as powders-

One of the ones I liked better was 800X. Its cheap as dirt, as its a shotgun target powder, and reasonably clean, BUT (you knew that was coming)it is a flake powder, and does not meter all that precisely. My velocities were a little erratic with it, but accuracy was better than OK. The erratic ruled it out for me as I don't want to bust major with a match, although I burned 16# of it as a practice load over the years.

The common consensus AA#5 I found pretty dirty, but it does work well.

Clays used to be the darling of the IPSC limited shooters with heavier bullets, but it was very narrow in its safety window at major velocities ( I was trying for 980 FPS with a 180 and 880 with a 200) but if you don't want major, its good with the lighter bullets. I couldn't get it to work to my satisfaction, so I stopped using it.

I am currently using VihtaVouri N 320, which is very clean, very consistent (SD's in the 5FPS range), and not cheap, so I think you don't want that.

Power Pistol I found dirty in my guns, but was about perfect in its filling the case and was very consistent. If you want to make major with the powder, it will do just fine.

Until they discontinued it Winchester's Action Pistol worked quite well with low weight bullets for me, if you have that around.

Auto Comp also works pretty well, but I haven't tried much of it.

Pretty much any fast powder will work well if you are not worried about top velocities, but as you know then the risk of undetected dangerous double charging comes in. 231, Bullseye, Titegroup, VihtaVouri N 310 all fall in here.

Hope that helps

[TrophyCatcher]

Thanks for the good start guys! AA#5 and Power Pistol are on my shopping list and see what happens.

[steve4102]

.

Until they discontinued it Winchester's Action Pistol worked quite well with low weight bullets for me, if you have that around.





Hope that helps

WAP is still available. According to Ramshot/Western Powders, Silhouette is the exact same powder as WAP +/- a few coatings to reduce flash. I use a lot of Silhouette in my 40 S&W, 10MM and high velocity 45ACP. Great stuff.

[Seismic Sam]

One thing to be particularly aware of: (and I don't know what gun you are shooting this in) is that you want to be absolutely sure your bullet crimp is good on ALL your rounds. If in doubt, crimp a dummy round, then use your bullet puller to get the bullet back out, and measure the depth of the crimping indent on the bullet. 40/10mm bullets are an even .400", and you want the groove to be at least 3 mils (.397" and maybe up to 5 mils .395") Stories abound about Glocks in particular blowing up in 40 S&W, and this can probably be attributed to bullet setback upon feeding coupled with a partially supported case. The other thing you want to know BEFORE you start loading is whether it's possible to double charge the case and still seat the bullet. If you choose a powder where this is impossible, you're protecting yourself from a very costly mistake.

http://www.mnguntalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=20264