.40 carbine best load data

[heymarine1833]

thinking of building a 16" .40 caliber carbine but wanted to look at best powder/bullet combinations. not real sure where to start. reason for the .40 choice is a middle of the road caliber between 9mm and .45acp. however, if i cannot construct a decent load, i'll have to rethink this. any suggestions in regards to hand loading for the .40 carbine?

 

[RecoilRob]

The .40 doesn't have enough case capacity to do much with it trying to tailor the loading for a longer barrel. What powders will work in the pistol will work in the carbine and you might get a wee bit better performace from the slower powders. It'll no doubt pick up some velocity...which is good, but .40's are normally pretty high pressure ammo from the get go to achieve the factory velocities so not much room for hot-rodding.

 

[ColoradoShooter77]

Longshot is an excellent powder for loading 40 caliber. 7.5 grains under a 180 grain FMJ will deliver 1350 fps out of my hi-point carbine, 17" barrel.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I agree Longshot will probably deliver the best results. If you can't find any give AA#7 a try.

 

[rg1]

I've only been reloading 40 S&W for a couple years and what I've learned is that I highly recommend a Redding GRX base sizing die kit. I purchase

once fired 40 brass and find some or many that appears to have been fired in large chambers. Not so-called Glocked brass but big at the base of the

case next to the extractor groove. Regular carbide dies do not size down far enough to size down the case next to the base. 40 S&W is the only pistol

case I've had issues with. My carbide sizing die on many cases leaves a radius on the case where the carbide sizing ring stops. With the Redding GRX

carbide push through die you push the entire case through the GRX die and it sizes the entire case wall. For powders in my Beretta carbine rifle and

Glock 23 pistol my favorite powder is Winchester Super Field by a wide margin. 2nd favorite is Unique then Power Pistol. Some like AA#5 but I didn'

t care for it in my pistol. I shoot the same loads in the carbine rifle and pistol. I like the 165 grain bullets and have tried Hornady 155 gr but I'm

staying with 165 Gold Dots, 165 FMJ-flat nose, and Remington Golden Sabers, all 165 grain. Haven't shot any 180's. WSF powder gave me

predictable velocity increases with higher increment powder charges, good accuracy, and for some reason the recoil felt a little less snappy than the

others. Buy a Redding GRX carbide or I think Lee makes a bulgebuster and save yourself some trouble sizing 40 S&W brass. AA#7 seems to be an

ideal powder for 40 S&W too but I don't see it locally. Redding GRX link below: expensive but worth every penny loading 40 S&W and will make your

reloads more reliable. It's not worth it to use a super slow powder to try to gain another 50 fps in a rifle barrel.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2...e-sizing-die-kit-40-s-and-w-357-sig-10mm-auto

 

[heymarine1833]

thank you all so much for the info. feel better now as i have something to work with instead of a think-a-thon. next issue is getting a .40 bolt. found out only one company makes these...when they want.

 

[shooter1]

Nothing special about loading .40. At least that's been my experience for the last ten years. The .40 operates in the same pressure range as the 9mm. I use the Lee "U" die on both. Due to so many "Open" division USPSA shooters loading the 9mm to "major", I'm running into bulged cases loading 9mm. Can't remember the last time I found a .40 case that needed special dies to make it usable.
I'm in agreement with others that Longshot/Power Pistol/AA7 should give you max velocities in a carbine length barrel. I'm wondering how IMR 4227 would do in a longer barrel.
str1

 

[SDGlock23]

The .40 doesn't have enough case capacity to do much with it trying to tailor the loading for a longer barrel. What powders will work in the pistol will work in the carbine and you might get a wee bit better performace from the slower powders. It'll no doubt pick up some velocity...which is good, but .40's are normally pretty high pressure ammo from the get go to achieve the factory velocities so not much room for hot-rodding.

I'll disagree with you. It's true the .40 doesn't have a lot of case capacity but that doesn't mean there aren't certain powders out there than can maximize the .40. Also it's not fair to imply that for the .40 to achieve factory velocity that's it's doing so at high pressure.

Factories use somewhat fast burning powder because it takes less of it so from a cost perspective it makes the most sense, just like reloaders typically do when loading typical rounds. With factory ammo it's true that velocity increase from a carbine length barrel will be small, but with the right powder you can awaken the .40 BIG TIME.

With longer barrels the .40 can do quite well, I've ran 180gr past 1300 fps from a 5.3" Glock 35, not sure what that would equate to out of a carbine length barrel, but I'd say you could top 1500 fps with a 180gr .40 with the right powder (800x, Longshot, 3N38), even get surprisingly good speeds from 200gr bullets, which I've ran to 1300 fps in a 6" .40 barrel.

 

[RecoilRob]

Dude...you're running the 40 S&W to 10mm speeds...or over. They CAN'T be within specified pressure limits as the stock 40's are normally at or darn close to their maximums just to produce factory spec velocity.

Perhaps I should have said '40's don't have much overhead when adhering to standard pressure limits' or the like, but I kind of assumed that people here wouldn't be grossly overloading them like it sounds like you are fond of.

More power to you! Standard 180 grain 40's don't break 1000 fps, so saying that you're exceeding 1300 is pretty reckless and likely to cause problems sooner or later. As long as you're aware of this it's no business of mine what you choose to do. But..I stand by my statement that AT NORMAL PRESSURES there isn't a lot you can improve the 40 in a carbine barrel beyond what the usual pistol powders deliver.

 

[DHart]

Recoilrob... perhaps you are unaware of this: Longshot and CFE Pistol can produce much higher than "normal" velocities for .40S&W AND stay comfortably BELOW SAAMI maximum pressures. Some newer powders, such as these two, generate less pressure than many other powders do, at the same velocities, thus you can get higher velocities with them without venturing into unsafe pressures.