Forgive me for bringing up what appears to be a well visited subject BUT I am new to reloading, to this site and have no mentor to ask. I am teaching myself by reading my Speer manual as well as reading posts here. I have also found watching utube videos helpful.
I began by reloading for my 45 ACP on a Lee single stage to learn/understand all the steps and have recently moved to a Lee classic turret. I really like the new turret for the volume I need and ease of caliber changes.
I picked up some Win 231 as an easy to get locally and seemingly universal pistol powder. I had good success loading and shooting my 45 ACP and 38spl loads.
I did some research and found a fairly wide range of load data.
I loaded a box (50) of .40 S&W over the weekend but haven't tried shooting them yet. I planned to shoot them in my trusty Glock 23 (GEN 1).
As mentioned I ended up using win 231 and Rainier Ballistics plated 165 gr RNFP but had limited success finding exact matches for my components...as follows.
Speer manual says:
JFN (close to Rainier 165 plated RNFP?)
Win 231 5.8 gr (*start) / 6.3gr (Max)
*Note says – approx 165gr law Enf loads (40 lite)
Lee says: (Instructions that came with 4 die set)
165 gr jacketed (XTP only other 165 gr ref and didn't seem as good a matach)
Win 231 4.8 start / 5.3 Max
With little else to go on I decided that the Speer manual was a safer reference and loaded the following for plinking use in my G23. (no chrono yet)
I Loaded the following thinking it was light based on Speer load data:
Rainier Ballistics 165 gr plated FP
Win 231 5.6gr
OAL 1.12
Note - I weighed every charge to be safe so know they are right on 5.6gr.
After loading them I did a bit more research on line and it seems from most forum posts that 5.6gr 231 may be excessive (contrary to Mr Speer). Is Speer that far off? The large spread in recommended start/max data now has me concerned for safety. For now I just want plinking ammo and will certainly learn and adjust my recipie from experience. That said, I don't want to risk safety.
If these loads are a bit snappy I can live with that for 50 rds and will load next batches lighter. I will also probably use Tight group (consistent recommendations) next time since now have some to try.
Since I have no mentor (yet) I need to ask this august group for opinions>
Should I just go shoot the 50+ I've loaded? ... Or should I go thru the frustration of pulling and reloading them lighter?
For what its worth I live in Woodinville (western) Wa. and would really appreciate hooking up with someone experienced locally.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Bob (Woodinville Wa)
I began by reloading for my 45 ACP on a Lee single stage to learn/understand all the steps and have recently moved to a Lee classic turret. I really like the new turret for the volume I need and ease of caliber changes.
I picked up some Win 231 as an easy to get locally and seemingly universal pistol powder. I had good success loading and shooting my 45 ACP and 38spl loads.
I did some research and found a fairly wide range of load data.
I loaded a box (50) of .40 S&W over the weekend but haven't tried shooting them yet. I planned to shoot them in my trusty Glock 23 (GEN 1).
As mentioned I ended up using win 231 and Rainier Ballistics plated 165 gr RNFP but had limited success finding exact matches for my components...as follows.
Speer manual says:
JFN (close to Rainier 165 plated RNFP?)
Win 231 5.8 gr (*start) / 6.3gr (Max)
*Note says – approx 165gr law Enf loads (40 lite)
Lee says: (Instructions that came with 4 die set)
165 gr jacketed (XTP only other 165 gr ref and didn't seem as good a matach)
Win 231 4.8 start / 5.3 Max
With little else to go on I decided that the Speer manual was a safer reference and loaded the following for plinking use in my G23. (no chrono yet)
I Loaded the following thinking it was light based on Speer load data:
Rainier Ballistics 165 gr plated FP
Win 231 5.6gr
OAL 1.12
Note - I weighed every charge to be safe so know they are right on 5.6gr.
After loading them I did a bit more research on line and it seems from most forum posts that 5.6gr 231 may be excessive (contrary to Mr Speer). Is Speer that far off? The large spread in recommended start/max data now has me concerned for safety. For now I just want plinking ammo and will certainly learn and adjust my recipie from experience. That said, I don't want to risk safety.
If these loads are a bit snappy I can live with that for 50 rds and will load next batches lighter. I will also probably use Tight group (consistent recommendations) next time since now have some to try.
Since I have no mentor (yet) I need to ask this august group for opinions>
Should I just go shoot the 50+ I've loaded? ... Or should I go thru the frustration of pulling and reloading them lighter?
For what its worth I live in Woodinville (western) Wa. and would really appreciate hooking up with someone experienced locally.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Bob (Woodinville Wa)