Least recoiling powder in .40 S&W?

[gahunter12]

Thats one thing I do not like about TiteGroup.
It has at most a window of .5 Gr from start to max charges. Very narrow and not for the beginner. I know .40 is a caliber you must be careful with do to its pressure being raised easily.

I did make some rounds with it but at start charge and verified each charge. I only made 5 rounds with it. We will see how it fares.

I agree. Not much room for era, but if you are looking at going the other way to reduce recoil, you should be ok. 99% of the Shooters I shoot with uses TG. I have really like WST, but it also has a narrow charge range. I'm loading .1g below Min to make Min power factor.

 

[birddog2]

My light 40 load is 6 gr Unique under a 135 gr Berry's plated. Around 1000 fps and recoil is nothing in my CZ 40B- sub 2" @ 25yrds. a little dirty though

 

[GW Staar]

Could it be possible the firearm itself is in need of new springs? I don't think I should be getting this much "Snappy Recoil" out of this gun. I did use some light charges last time but even they were snappy at least. Those were loaded with Power Pistol with 180 Gr bullets.

The gun is a Taurus PT-940. I think I may need to get a factory recoil spring unless someone knows where I can get a spring kit for it?

Wolff Springs lists a recoil spring for the PT-945 but not the 940??? I think I'd call them....maybe ones on the way.

While a worn out spring is possible, my Kahr CW40 is fairly new with a conventional spring. The .40 pops it pretty good. The recoil is controllable but less so than the CW45--same short barrel length.

Seriously try Unique. The recoil with a slower powder is not as sharp. I am amused by all the internet forum talk of how dirty Unique is. Never noticed until I got addicted to these forums.

Having used up all my old Unique finally, I bought some new "improved" cleaner burning Unique....I suppose it's cleaner....you ought to clean your gun after you shoot it with ANY powder for that matter. What's the big deal.

Unique is such a versatile and forgivable power, I can't understand this generation bad mouthing it and replacing it with something like Titegroup that snaps your hand off....or worse with a little setback. Win 231 is more forgivable, but I don't like it for heavy bullets as well as Unique.

 

[mizer67]

I've loaded ~75,000 rounds of .40 S&W and 9mm with low charges of Titegroup. Not one issue with it, other than the excess heat it dumps into the gun.

If you screw up, you've got issues. Just use good loading practices.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Check this out. It helped me a lot.


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

 

[beatledog7]

Thanks, AP. Interesting article.

Made me go back through my log and see if I've ever tried any .40 that light. Nope. Every 155gr round I've built was backed by Bullseye, and the lightest was a 5.1gr charge.

Probably the lightest of all .40s I've built is 4.0gr Bullseye under a MBC 170gr SWC-HP. That's a very manageable load through my G22 Gen4 with Storm Lake barrel and the Glock factory replacement spring.

But with the data from the article, I might try some of those lighter loads.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I'd say Red Dot. It's good for the .45 and 9 so why wouldn't it be good for the .40?

 

[TonyT]

Recoil pereption is highly individualized. Some people prefer the snap of a lighter bullet with slow burning powders while others prefer heavier bullets with fast burning powders. I am from the heavy bullet fast powdeer camp.

 

[BBDartCA]

Broken record here, but AA#7 is the best for recoil in my opinion with 9mm and 40. I loaded side by side to same FPS with Power Pistol and #7 with 180g copper plated and the difference was very noticeable. But Power Pistol was much more accurate through the range of powder weights. This was in a steel IMI Jericho sub compact.

Titegroup as others have said, also freaks me out on the low case fill.

 

[Josh45]

Maybe I should pick up some of AA powder that has been mentioned.
I have never used any of it before and there is always a lot of positive comments regarding AA.

Maybe if I can get some range time, I can go out and check out some loads.

 

[CGT80]

my favorite 40 load is berrys 135 over 5.3 grains of 231 seated to 1.125" in my 4" xd. My brothers 5" xd required 5.7 grains of powder for the same load.

 

[Huskerguy]

I have tried HS-6, Red Dot and Titegroup.

HS-6 was OK but I found it hard to find the sweet spot, recoil was not like.

Red Dot was a close second. Acceptable recoil and accurate.

Hands down was Titegroup. Recoil was much less and it is accurate. I am not new to reloading but not an "expert" by any stretch. I did reload 40 for the first time a couple years ago. Yes it is true the tolerances between a max and start load are not big. However, the comments about kabooms is overrated from what I have read. The powder just works well in many calibers. I should try some others and I get on a kick and do but always come back to TG.

BTW, the recoil between my loads and factory is not even close.

 

[Josh45]

Well, Personally I can tell you from range testing that TiteGroup, W-231 and AutoComp are good powders in the .40. I have used 180 gr bullets and some with 155 Gr bullets and the recoil still wasn't bad at all.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Maybe I should pick up some of AA powder that has been mentioned.
I have never used any of it before and there is always a lot of positive comments regarding AA.

Maybe if I can get some range time, I can go out and check out some loads.

While there's nothing wrong with AA powders I don't feel they will do what you want them to do. (light recoil) Of the powders you listed I have to agree W231/HP-38 will most likely fill your needs. It's a clean burning ball powder and works quite well in most handgun calibers. I have not used AA#2 but it's so close to W231 i see no reason to buy more powder. I have used AA#5 in several calibers including .38 Special +P ammo and it's a bit snappy.

IMO W231 will fill your bill and if you want more velocity give HS-6 a good hard look. I think Longshot is probably the best 40 S&W/10mm powder but it will produce snappy ammo too which is what you were looking to avoid according to your post.

 

[Josh45]

Thanks ArchAngel.
I appreciate the post. So far, Everything I have used W-231 in has been excellent.
That is going from 9mm, 40, 45, 38, and .357.

 

[JEB]

i used red dot in my light .40 loads. i used the start load and decreased a little at a time untill it quit working the slide, then bumped it up a bit. ended up at 3.3gr with an oal of 1.135" in order for it to run 100% in both my glock 22 and 27. this was with berrys 180gr fp.