Increasing OAL

[qciceman]

I'm reloading for my 40 S&W, and an OAL of 1.135 seems to work well. I have some data for Berry's bullets, that has an OAL of 1.125. This shorter case length seems to lead to problems with the round failing to cycle correctly (the subsequent round will only chamber halfway before getting jammed).

Would it be safe to load my Berry's bullets at 1.135, keeping all else the same? I'd think that increasing OAL would lead to decreased pressure, and should be safe. Thoughts?

 

[rockhopper46038]

Longer is safer than shorter and with all else being constant you should be ok increasing your OAL by .01 inch, but you'll have to check and see if the longer length will reliable chamber in your pistol. I like longer OAL loadings myself. Sometimes the pressure drops off with the longer OAL such that the round will no longer reliably cycle the slide, although I do not think that will be a problem with what you are proposing.

 

[LiveLife]

What OAL to use should be determined by the barrel using the barrel drop test and then identifying the working OAL that feeds/chambers the dummy round (no powder/no primer) reliably from the magazine - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=8864541#post8864541


Although SAAMI max length for 40S&W is 1.135", I have found you can load longer depending on the barrel/pistol (for my barrels/pistols, that's max OAL of 1.149" and working max OAL of 1.145"). So use your barrel/pistol to determine the max/working OAL - http://www.saami.org/PubResources/CC_Drawings/Pistol/40 SandW.pdf


For the 40S&W Herco thread, to obtain greater accuracy than 1.125" OAL loads from Glocks, longer OALs were tested with increasing accuracy with 1KPerDay verifying greater accuracy of Berry's 180 gr TCFP at 1.140" OAL - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=9416978#post9416978

 

[qciceman]

Thanks for the input.