New .40 S&W loader. (I think I'm prepared)

Shivahasagun said:
Heck, maybe I should mock up another one longer than the 1.1500 I tried? Might as well.
Click to expand...
Well I tried.

At 1.175" OAL my round fed fine many times!
But got stuck in the magazine.

By the time I got it down to 1.167 it started jamming again and was dragging in the magazine, too.

When I get my S&W M&P .40 I'll pick this up from there.
 
Shivahasagun said:
Heck, maybe I should mock up another one longer than the 1.1500 I tried? Might as well.
Click to expand...
Sorry about that - the longer rounds are definitely gun dependent and while fitting a chamber may not operate in the magazine. I should have mentioned I’m shooting a 2011 style .40 which I’ve heard is a .45 1911 wannabe. The strip and chamber dance that round does is a work of art.
 
lordpaxman said:
Sorry about that - the longer rounds are definitely gun dependent and while fitting a chamber may not operate in the magazine. I should have mentioned I’m shooting a 2011 style .40 which I’ve heard is a .45 1911 wannabe. The strip and chamber dance that round does is a work of art.
Click to expand...
It makes sense a long .40 would work better in a 1911 because it was designed with .45 and .38 acp in mind and 10 mm is also long and a good fit.

.40 & 9x19 being shorter I can understand why there would be more issues.

If I ever get another 1911 it will be a .38, .40, or 10 mm. Whatever is likely to be most reliable.
 
I got my S&W M&P 2.0 .40 Compact.

My 1.167" test cartridge did not plunk. But my 1.135" test cartridge fed so easily I couldn't make it malfunction. As in I could even slow-motion the slide forward and it would pick up the round and feed it without a problem.

So, now I will find out how long the chamber will allow and load some up to shoot!

The 4.2 gr of 700x gave @950 fps from the 4" PX4. I'm going to see if a heaping 3.8 gr on the .5 cc dipper will cycle the gun. My OAL is going to be somewhere between 1.135 and 1.150
 
Shivahasagun said:
I got my S&W M&P 2.0 .40 Compact.

My 1.167" test cartridge did not plunk. But my 1.135" test cartridge fed so easily I couldn't make it malfunction. As in I could even slow-motion the slide forward and it would pick up the round and feed it without a problem.

So, now I will find out how long the chamber will allow and load some up to shoot!

The 4.2 gr of 700x gave @950 fps from the 4" PX4. I'm going to see if a heaping 3.8 gr on the .5 cc dipper will cycle the gun. My OAL is going to be somewhere between 1.135 and 1.150
Click to expand...
Somehow I made a mistake.

A 1.180" cartridge plunked in my S&W!

But 1.75 is about the limit of the magazine. I pushed the bullet in a little further and 1.169" gives plenty of room in the magazine.

How close do I want to be to this? I am using mixed brass.

I can run 1.135" to 1.169"

That can have quite the effect on my powder charges. I'm going for mild practice ammo. I do like accuracy.

Run the 1.169? A little less to account for brass variations? Pick a length in the middle, like 1.150"?
 
Shivahasagun said:
Somehow I made a mistake.

A 1.180" cartridge plunked in my S&W!

But 1.75 is about the limit of the magazine. I pushed the bullet in a little further and 1.169" gives plenty of room in the magazine.

How close do I want to be to this? I am using mixed brass.

I can run 1.135" to 1.169"

That can have quite the effect on my powder charges. I'm going for mild practice ammo. I do like accuracy.

Run the 1.169? A little less to account for brass variations? Pick a length in the middle, like 1.150"?
Click to expand...
Lay the bullet on a mirror. Put a light source behind it. It doesn’t need to be any brighter than ambient room lighting but it needs to be behind the bullet relative to your eye. Look horizontally at the bullet and you will see the point where the shank begins to curve away to form the ogive. That’s where you want to seat the bullet, just a thumbnail before that curve begins. That’s going to put the most bullet in the case - good for preventing setbacks - and should give the best feeding.

Putting the bullet into the lands might be useful in benchrest rifles but it’s not going to make a difference in a pistol designed primarily for self defense work.
 
GeoDudeFlorida said:
Lay the bullet on a mirror. Put a light source behind it. It doesn’t need to be any brighter than ambient room lighting but it needs to be behind the bullet relative to your eye. Look horizontally at the bullet and you will see the point where the shank begins to curve away to form the ogive. That’s where you want to seat the bullet, just a thumbnail before that curve begins. That’s going to put the most bullet in the case - good for preventing setbacks - and should give the best feeding.

Putting the bullet into the lands might be useful in benchrest rifles but it’s not going to make a difference in a pistol designed primarily for self defense work.
Click to expand...
Looks like I'll be going with 1.160" first.

Thanks!
 
Shivahasagun said:
That wasn't my intention. I thought I followed your advice and set the shank just a tiny bit above the case mouth.

Isn't that right?
Click to expand...
If that’s where it fell then yes. But that means at 1.135 the curve of the ogive was inside the case. 😳
There would have been a sharp ridge.
 
GeoDudeFlorida said:
If that’s where it fell then yes. But that means at 1.135 the curve of the ogive was inside the case. 😳
There would have been a sharp ridge.
Click to expand...

Yea...hmm...I have a dummy 1.135 and 1.160 made. I'll set them side by side and take vfc a better look. I'll take a picture and magnify it.
 
Shivahasagun said:
I got my S&W M&P 2.0 .40 Compact.

My 1.167" test cartridge did not plunk. But my 1.135" test cartridge fed so easily I couldn't make it malfunction. As in I could even slow-motion the slide forward and it would pick up the round and feed it without a problem.

So, now I will find out how long the chamber will allow and load some up to shoot!

The 4.2 gr of 700x gave @950 fps from the 4" PX4. I'm going to see if a heaping 3.8 gr on the .5 cc dipper will cycle the gun. My OAL is going to be somewhere between 1.135 and 1.15
Click to expand...
Oops. Phone not playing nice
 
Shivahasagun said:
Sorty about the "vfc" typo. Not sure what that's about.

I took a picture with my phone and enlarge it but...I can't tell a difference as far as exposed shank
Click to expand...
That’s why I use a mirror. The tangent really jumps out at you. An old inspector at Boeing showed me that trick.

ETA: by the way, I am talking about just the bullet, not a loaded cartridge, on the mirror. I figured you probably know but reading back it might not have been clear.
 
Shivahasagun said:
Sorty about the "vfc" typo. Not sure what that's about.

I took a picture with my phone and enlarge it but...I can't tell a difference as far as exposed shank
Click to expand...

1.145" L, 1.160 R.

I can't see a difference in exposed shank.

These bullets have been moved around quite a bit in the cases, that's why the coating is messed up.
 

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I loaded up 30 rounds with 3.7 gr of 700x using a Lee .5cc dipper. (180 gr .401 coated Summit City) Will they cycle in the S&W? I'm gonna say...barely?

And 50 more with 4.2 hr 700x using a modified dipper.

All are 1.145 - 1.150 OAL. Just a little over listed max.

I may load some more with HP38 and the Lee Drum before trying them out next range visit.

I won't use fired nickel cases in .40 again. I've found a few cracked ones, and had a few crack, even when trying to work the case as little as possible. These are gonna be left on the ground.

I'll make a small effort to pick up my own fired cases when firing my factory ammo, which are Federal and PMC.
 
Sure don't know why you're having trouble with nickel brass, I have loaded a lot of it, and maybe it does split more often than brass, I've had no problems. I'm sure most all 40 cases I have gathered were once fired by local law enforcement. I do full size to ensure chambering in my Bar-Sto barrels, and for a while was loading nickel Federal exclusively! My standard (favorite) load is 5.4gr Zip with a 155gr LSWC, slightly over "Major" power factor, and shoots great!
(I have Federal brass cases that have been loaded until the headstamp is hard to see, finally made myself "recycle" them!)
 
Shivahasagun said:
I loaded up 30 rounds with 3.7 gr of 700x using a Lee .5cc dipper. (180 gr .401 coated Summit City) Will they cycle in the S&W? I'm gonna say...barely?

And 50 more with 4.2 hr 700x using a modified dipper.

All are 1.145 - 1.150 OAL. Just a little over listed max.

I may load some more with HP38 and the Lee Drum before trying them out next range visit.

I won't use fired nickel cases in .40 again. I've found a few cracked ones, and had a few crack, even when trying to work the case as little as possible. These are gonna be left on the ground.

I'll make a small effort to pick up my own fired cases when firing my factory ammo, which are Federal and PMC.
Click to expand...
That’s a very hard bullet - 15BHN - and it’s bevel based. With that shallow seating (Hornady lists 1.125” with the Berry’s NLG 180gr FP) and a light load of 700X (4.2gr is the starting load with a bullet seated to 1.125” COAL) you can expect some failures. Unless your M&P has a very light recoil spring installed?
 
GeoDudeFlorida said:
That’s a very hard bullet - 15BHN - and it’s bevel based. With that shallow seating (Hornady lists 1.125” with the Berry’s NLG 180gr FP) and a light load of 700X (4.2gr is the starting load with a bullet seated to 1.125” COAL) you can expect some failures. Unless your M&P has a very light recoil spring installed?
Click to expand...

The gun is brand new. I'll run some factory loads through it first but will test my reloads on the first trip out, too.

I cleaned & lubed it of course.
 
Ran into a problem!

What the hell just happened with my Lee Drum?!

I set my Lee Drum, that I've been using for a couple years now and have loaded thousands of rounds on my Lee 4-hole Turret press, and fill the hopper 1/2 way with HP38 to spend a couple of hours reloading .40 S&W. I made an adjustment to the little wheel so the drum arm wouldn't bump the Lee...
www.thehighroad.org
 
I just run 1.100 on all acp type pistol bullets plus the luger.

W231 for reduced or slower bullets. True blue for faster but it is pricy and I've switched to A#5 on several pet loads.
 
Shivahasagun said:
1.145" L, 1.160 R.

I can't see a difference in exposed shank.

These bullets have been moved around quite a bit in the cases, that's why the coating is messed up.
Click to expand...
I am not a perfectionist, but those loads do not looks good. Coating is missing and it looks like the bullet ogive is inside the case neck.

This is what I do to verify the ogive is outside the case neck. I use another resized case and put it neck down on the bullet side of the round. If the two cases touch and you you can turn the case without any issues, then I back out the bullet a bit. If the case cannot turn, then you have a good COL with the ogive outside the neck. Just remember to test a round with your longest case. This is a 357sig example of an ogive outside the neck.
rmr_9mm_124_fmjfn_03.png
 
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