What makes a light-recoiling .40s&w round?

I load 170-180 grain lead or plated with 4.2 Grains of W231 for a light target load. Very easy shooting from my XD. Gives about 830 FPS near as i remember. You will have to experiment with your gun, that load would not cycle a FNX I tried it in.

Everything you need and probably some you don't

http://www.handgunsmag.com/2010/09/24/ammunition_40lite_091806/

You are correct, lighter bullets and smaller powder charges will aid in reducing the felt recoil. Even though slower powders will usually deliver less of a snap and feel lighter you don't want to use a slow powder when making very light rounds. I completely agree with using W231 or another powder in that burn rate range.

4grs of Bullseye under a 165 loaded to 1.150".

My 4gr load runs with a stock 17lb recoil spring. It feels like 22. U don't need lighter springs. They will make your Glock feel weird unless you install a lighter striker spring, but then you'll be limited to running soft primers.

Jim wrote:

I load 170-180 grain lead or plated with 4.2 Grains of W231 for a light target load. Very easy shooting from my XD. Gives about 830 FPS near as i remember. You will have to experiment with your gun, that load would not cycle a FNX I tried it in

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Exactly! Although I use 4.5gr 231 behind a plated or even jacketed bullet. The slow "push" of a heavy bullet seems to reduce recoil. You would think it would make recoil more harsh but it does not. Same goes for other calibers too.
I mostly shoot "light" .40 bullets because of cost. The Missouri IDP7 is a 140 gr lead truncated bullet that I shoot a bunch of. Even with a somewhat "light" load of 5.0gr of Red Dot it has a "snap" to it. Heavy bullets pushed lightly will give you less recoil and usually function you gun better than light bullets pushed soft.
In 9mm you can find all kinds of shooters really liking the 147gr bullets over the abrupt "snap" of a 115gr bullets.
Try them both and see for yourself.

I'm running a G24 as well so you should not have any issues. You could also try 3.7grs. Bet that would run too. The 4gr load is extremely accurate, though.

I ended up with a load that is nearly identical to the one Jim listed for my XD40. I had some good luck with WST with the heavier bullets as well.

U can try it. It might not generate enough pressure, though. Bullseye is better for mouse fart loads.

Btw, I experimented with 231 and it gave inadequate accuracy in my G24. The 4/Bullseye load shoots under 1" at 15 yards all the time, .5" at 15 yards occasionally.

918v said:

Btw, I experimented with 231 and it gave inadequate accuracy in my G24. The 4/Bullseye load shoots under 1" at 15 yards all the time, .5" at 15 yards occasionally.

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Interesting, I may try the Bullseye load, as I have about 5 pounds of it. How does the BE load feel compared to the 231 ?

JIM

SuedePflow said:

I don't have any 231, but I do have plenty of Bullseye and Unique. Looking at the burn rate chart, Unique is right there with 231, so maybe that would work just as well? 3.5 grains of Unique should be a good starting point for a 165gr lite load, right?

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I'm not sure which will be better but Bullseye might fit the bill although Unique might deliver less felt recoil. Try both and see which works better for you.

3.5 grains of Unique under a 165 is quite low. I'd start around 5.

The quickest way to soften recoil is to use a full-sized gun, typically 4" in a .40 S&W and not necessarily a composite frame. Beyond that you either use minimum published loads (that cycle the gun) or choose a smaller caliber.

All this minimum recoil business is either a gun that is too small or general mismatch between caliber and shooter. The demands of competition can misrepresent a caliber and real life shooting, but if qualifying "major", the load should be respected.

And that got me wondering what exactly makes a round recoil softly? Is it a lightweight bullet? Very small powder charge? Quick or slow burning powder?

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Relatively speaking, a modest charge of a fast powder over a heavy bullet will be soft shooting.

I just started loading for .40S&W (to be used in IDPA & Production), and went with 3.2 grains Clay's over a plated 180gr bullet. I haven't even chrono'd them yet, but they're fairly soft shooting and they cycle the stock gun reliably. I'm betting they'd chrono @ 750-800fps.

3.5g Unique will be a light recoiling load along with sooty cases, unburned powder and lots of smoke. Without buying new bullets, you can get lower recoil by using a smaller charge of a faster powder (no, not Bullseye, it will behave like Unique at those low pressures).

2.7 to 3.0g Red Dot/Promo/Clays/Clay Dot/Titewad/Extra Lite will get you about 750 fps with a 180g bullet which is just about the same power factor as a 120g 9mm bullet at 1100 fps. For me with my M&P 40, it gives a very low recoil, fully functioning slide and cases that fly 1-2 feet out of the gun. When I replace the 40 S&W barrel with the 9mm barrel and shoot the 9mm bullets, the recoil feels exactly the same. Same gun, same slide & spring, just different barrels, magazines and bullets. That's about as close to an A/B test as you can get.

Momentum is the equalizing factor (bullet weight X muzzle velocity). That's why competitive shooting is so focused on power factor to try to make the playing field equal.

A fast powder will expand the case, seal the gases and give a clean burn without driving the bullet out too quickly. Slower powders need bigger charges to get that pressure up which also drive the bullet out at a higher velocity -> more recoil.

Hope that helps.

Actually the original loadings of the 40S&W were fairly light recoiling rounds. A 180gr bullet at 950fps, and a 165gr bullet at 980fps. You can of course load much lighter if you handload.

Interesting, I may try the Bullseye load, as I have about 5 pounds of it. How does the BE load feel compared to the 231 ?

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The 231 load felt softer.