40 S&W load check

[Shrinkmd]

Before I start loading them up...

I have these bullets from Dardascastbullets.com:

They are 10mm 180 Grain Flat Point Bevel Base 0.401", and appear to be the same as #410638 in the Lyman manual. On p364 of the 49th edition, they list these as starting at Bullseye 4.0 -5.0, and Power Pistol 5.8 - 6.5. Max velocities 842 and 996 respectively.

They also list a minimum OAL of 1.100"

Does this sound right? Do people seat them a little longer, or keep it right on the nose? I was thinking of making up batches of 50 in 0.1 gr increments to test out of my 4006TSW. Am I good to go?

 

[Walkalong]

I load similar profile, although lighter, bullets at 1.150, and they work well in my XD SC .40 Cal.

 

[Claude Clay]

seat them as long as will fit in the magazine and feed.

strong crimp--set back increases pressure and a full strength 40
is already maxed out.

.3 spacing on powder to test is adequate.
.1 is finer than many powder measures can throw

good luck

 

[rcmodel]

Seat them as long as they will still chamber in your barrel.

The problem with TC bullets is that many guns do not have enough leade to seat them any longer then just past the break-over from full die. to the TC nose taper.

Color a long-loaded round with a magic-marker, and use your barrel out of the gun to chamber check as you seat deeper.
When you reach a point the marker is no longer getting scraped off by the leade & rifling, that is your OAL for your gun.

rc

 

[Shrinkmd]

.1 is finer than many powder measures can throw

With Bullseye I can differentiate an average 0.1 difference using my Hornady LNL with the pistol insert and the micrometer stem. I throw ten charges and weight, and get the average. Once the total is 10X the desired charge, I have then run cases through (past the powder cop die, which messes up the charge weight until the little plunger is covered in powder stuck to it, THEN all the future charges are uniform) and dump from the loaded case onto the scale ten time, to confirm. A little obsessive, but last time I did it with 2400 powder the charges were 12.6 on the dot, ten times in a row. Next time I hit the range I have a few batches of 45 acp 200 gr swc in 0.1 increments of Bullseye. We'll see if there is a statistically significant difference between batches. I'll post data after I go, hopefully later in the month.

As far as crimp, I have the Hornady Taper Crimp die. I adjusted it so that there is enough for a dummy round to slide nicely into and out of a case gauge. I thought that neck tension holds the bullet in (for autoloader rounds) and that the taper crimp is just to ensure correct feeding by removing the case belling you needed prior to seating the bullet?

Color a long-loaded round with a magic-marker, and use your barrel out of the gun to chamber check as you seat deeper.
When you reach a point the marker is no longer getting scraped off by the leade & rifling, that is your OAL for your gun.

Thanks for the tip rcmodel. So I should seat the bullet long, color the bullet with a magic marker, and then drop it into the barrel (outside the gun)? And then color in the spots which get rubbed off, reseat deeper, and keep going until the marker is unchanged? I will give that a try.

Until I get the chance to do that, will I be ok seating them to around 1.150" I will make up a dummy at that length and try chambering it through the magazine.

 

[Walkalong]

1.160 is a bit tight in my mag and can hang up, but 1.150 fits fine and feeds fine. That is why I chose 1.150, for pretty much the reasons rcmodel spelled out.

I also shoot the 180 Gr Berrys TrFP at 1.150 O.A.L. I was thinking of the 155 and 165 Gr TRFPs I load, and forgot about the Berrys 180 Gr TrFP earlier.

You are right. Neck tension is important. The crimp is just to remove the bell, and just a hair more, but is not there to prevent bullet set back. That is neck tension's job.

 

[rcmodel]

I will make up a dummy at that length and try chambering it through the magazine.

I would prefer to take the time first to insure I wasn't jamming a TC bullet into the rifling. That can raise pressure. And make unloading an unfired round pretty difficult.

Best to chamber-check first with the barrel removed then be sorry later when you get one stuck in the gun!

rc

 

[Shrinkmd]

I looked at the Hornady manual again, and they list 1.125 as the length for pretty much all their bullets in 40S&W. If the max is 1.135, how can people load 1.150?

 

[Walkalong]

If the mags and chambers will accept 1.150, there is no reason not to. Won't hurt a thing. Of course, I am sure there are guns out there where 1.150 is too long.

 

[Shrinkmd]

Ok, tonight I loaded up two 50 round batches with the above ingredients, 180 gr FP, Federal SP primer, Federal NT (once fired from TJ Conevera), and 5.8 and 6.0 gr of Power Pistol. I seated to 1.125.

They all gauged ok (well, once I wiped off the occasional blob of lube), but I noticed that they didn't slide into the gauge flush with the rim at the top. If I gave a little push, then they would be flush, but slip and sliding the top of the rim was just barely protruding from the case gauge. Is this a cause for concern? I think this happened sometimes with my 45 acp loads, but not on every single case like these. I don't see any bulging in the heads. We'll see how they look after I fire them in my gun and resize them again, to make sure there are no unsupported chamber problems.

Hmm, I am definitely a bit more skittish reloading these 40 S&W compared to 45 acp or 38/357. Hopefully they will all go bang and function nicely, and accurately.

What kind of velocity would people expect from these two batches?