AA #9 in 40 S&W

[XD-40 Shooter]

I loaded 25 rounds of Ranier 165 grain, 10.2 grains of AA#9, I'm curious as to how well it will perform. Since the 40 is a high pressure round, I'm thinking it should do alright. This isn't a load I'm going to adopt, I'm just curious.

The 10.2 grain load is from my Lee 2nd Edition book, its the minimum for 170 grain jacketed.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

IMO AA#9 is too slow a powder for loading the 40 S&W.

Hodgdon's HS-6 or Longshot are good powders for a loading the 40 S&W. Either will serve you well but stick with HS-6 if you decide to use a lead bullet. If you want to stick with Accurate Arms powders AA#5 or AA#7 will probably be better choices, again, IMO.

 

[moooose102]

i have used aa#7, which works quite well for me. but i have not tried #9. good luck, and let us know how it works out for you.

 

[Walkalong]

I have never tried it, but I suspect ArchAngelCD is right.

 

[scotty]

I tried AA#9 with 180gr cast bullets a few years ago.

From my 5" Para-ordnance, 9.0gr chronoed at 900 and 9.5gr went 965.

The loads performed just fine, but I agree with the other posters that AA#9 is a little slow for .40. The same velocities are easily attainable with faster powders using much smaller charges.

 

[SDGlock23]

I've had pretty good results with AA#9 in both .40 and 10mm. 800x, even though it doesn't meter well, is best for max. velocity if that's what you're going for. I've gotten some incredible speed using the LW 6" barrel in my Glock 35.