ArchAngelCD said:
No offense meant but please, when you reload please be more careful than you are here in this thread. In a very short time you made 2 major errors. You gave us the wrong bullet weight and then the wrong powder. Either can cause major problems, both can be deadly under the right circumstances.
Joey, I'm not jazzing you, I'm just worried...
Please do not take this the wrong way. Having read your posts since you joined THR, I am genuinely concerned about you reloading near max/max powder charge loads -
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=9042297#post9042297
Kuyong_Chuin said:
Question is, is it possible to get the Magtech 155 grain GGJHP bullets at or above the DT 150 grain speeds and energy level safely out of the Ruger P944 and will work in a .40 S&W caliber carbine as well. Probably a High Point carbine but not sure yet since I am still looking for one.
When you are loading near max/max powder charge loads, there is no room for mistakes or accidents. Unless you have the means to verify, you could be off by few tenths of a grain of powder charge or more, you could be seating the bullet base deeper than published load data to significantly increase the chamber pressure, you could be working with reduced neck tension and not know it resulting in bullet setback which will increase the chamber pressures way high, etc. I have seen too many pistols blow up and some of the rounds were loaded by those not new to reloading (we are human and all make mistakes). I hate to read another "Funny thing happened at the range today" thread.
If you are new to reloading and going to be pushing the max powder charge envelope, especially with 40S&W, I would strongly suggest you get some reloading experience under your belt before approaching max loads. Why? Like the rest of us, you'll make some mistakes along the way and learn from them. There are reloading variables that will affect chamber pressures and case wall failures that you may not be aware of now. Making mistakes with mid-to-high range loads will possibly save you from trouble but if you are working with max load data, mistakes could result in damage to firearms and bodily injury.
If you can't wait, I would strongly suggest you at least consider these before loading max charge loads:
- Verify your powder charges are accurate to 1/10th of a grain. Just because your scale zeros does not mean that it is reading consistently and accurately. Heavy calibration weights won't ensure your scale is accurate at much lower weights of your powder charges. If you don't already have one, I recommend a set of check weights and verify scale accuracy more closer to your powder charge weight ranges (5 grains instead of 500 grains).
- Do not start with max powder charge but conduct powder work up from published start charge.
- Keep in mind that different bullet types and nose profiles will produce varying chamber pressures, even when they are the same bullet weight. Same weight bullets from different manufacturers can have different nose profiles (ogive) and bullet lengths that can result in different bullet seating depths. Different bullet seating depths will affect chamber pressures and some powders are more sensitive to seating depth variation than others. Working OAL/COL is determined by the pistol/barrel/magazine (not by the load data) and if you are using shorter than published OAL/COL for the same type/length bullets, consider reducing your powder charge. Be sure your calipers are reading accurately to .001" and you are using them properly.
- Use the most current published load data. Powder formulation can change lot to lot and powder manufacturers do change powder formulation over the years. If there is any change, published load data from powder manufacturers will be most current. Winchester/Hodgdon changed to using the same powder for W231 and HP-38 back in 2006 and has shown the same load data ever since. If your load data shows different powder charges for W231/HP-38, that may indicate it is using older data (Lyman #49 shows different powder charges for W231/HP-38).
And please, DO NOT exceed published load data.
- 40S&W load data in your Lyman #49 reloading handbook was tested using .401" groove diameter test barrel instead of more typical .400" and lists higher max powder charges than powder manufacturers' load data. Slug your barrels and if your groove diameter is .400", I would use the lower powder manufacturers' load data.
- Check bullet setback by measuring the OAL/COL before and after feeding the test dummy rounds (no powder/no primer) from the magazine (lock the slide back, insert magazine and release the slide without riding it). If you experience significant decrease in OAL/COL, I would seriously address the bullet setback issue before range testing the initial rounds.
- Use verified once-fired brass in excellent condition or new brass for max charge loads. If you are using mixed range brass with unknown reload history, you have no idea how many times the brass have been shot with hot loads in looser chambers and have stretched/thinned case walls that could contribute to case wall failure. Your eyes won't be able to tell overly stretched cases with thinned walls fixed with push-through resizing dies from other cases (Redding G-Rx/Lee FCD). BTW, I use mid-to-high range load data with mixed range brass and toss/recycle any case that I have concerns/issues with.
- As rcmodel suggested, use a chronograph to verify your loads with published load data.
YMMV - Be safe.
