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Old September 3, 2013, 05:07 PM   #26
57K
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Mountainman6, your father-in-law advised you correctly. If you must load with Bullseye, stay with Start to medium charge levels. Better yet, if you don't own the Lyman 49th edition or the Pistol & Revolver III, you might want to get one of them. Lyman's data is a good bit lower than SPEER's or SIERRA's. Lyman holds data down to 24,000 CUP specifically because of pistols that do not provide complete support of the case-head. Glock gens 3 and 4s give better support of the case-head then gens 1 & 2, but still not as good as aftermarket barrels. Unfortunately, Walther .40s have seen their fair share of Ka-Boom events as well with lack of case-head support deemed the culprit combined with fast burning powders or double charges where the brand of pistol or amount of chamber support will not matter in most cases.

There are a good many reloaders who just don't seem to understand the .40 S&W's unique pressure dynamics. Powder capacity is small in relation to the weight of the bullets used. No matter how a powder is rated on a burn rate chart, it will burn quicker in a .40 S&W cartridge than most other handgun cartridges giving it a faster pressure peak. In the vast majority of .40 S&W Ka-Boom events, fast burning powders are involved, i.e. Bullseye. This is something that is easily controllable by the handloader. If you understand the .40s unique pressure characteristics, it's no more difficult to handload than any other straigtwalled pistol case.

I've been shooting and reloading .40 S&W since the cartridge was introduced and have never had a single problem. BUT, I have never loaded a .40 S&W cartridge with any powder faster burning than AA#5. For light loads, others can be used, but I still wouldn't go to any powder faster burning than W231 or Ramshot ZIP and that would be for lightly loaded cast lead handloads. IMO, shooting JHPs while having to restrict performance is pretty much a waste of time and a good bullet. Also, I am referring specifically to Hodgdon's burn rate chart in relation to placement in order of burn rate. What I'd highly recommend to all newer loaders of .40 S&W is to use spherical powders just slower burning than Unique and nothing slower than Blue Dot is typically recommended. This gives you a good choice of powders from N330 down to AA#7 and LongShot. As far as factory level JHP performance, that is much better done with slower burners. As far as accuracy, few are better than True Blue and Silhouette is also very good and treated to have very low flash. WSF is also a good choice and capable of very good accuracy. If you can afford it, 3N37 is excellent, but it and Silhouette are close enough in charge and performance level that it's not necessary to spend the extra $ for 3N37. These powders are all very pressure stable in the .40 S&W cartridge and even though they are slower burning, their actual pressure peak characteristics will be faster than their burn rates indicate.

Since many of my handloads are defense oriented with some of them actually carried, I don't use bright flashing flake powders like Power Pistol and Blue, although I have in the past. The powders I recommended that are all spherical or ball type will give at least 50% case fill, meaning that if someone were to accidentally double charge, the powder would either overflow the case, or load density would be close to the casemouth which would prevent bullet seating. There are flake powders that will give good case-fill as well, but because their bulk density is much lower, they are much more easily compressed. Bulk density is measured in Grams/Liter or Grams/cc.

Last edited by 57K; September 3, 2013 at 05:17 PM.
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Old September 3, 2013, 11:28 PM   #27
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Two things for reloading .40 S&W -

Redding G-Rx push through sizing die (Lee Bulge Buster is similar)
Winchester WSF powder
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Old September 4, 2013, 08:54 AM   #28
schmellba99
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I have no dog in this fight here - but if any of you want to buy (for cheap) or trade me for about 400 rounds (give or take, I haven't actually counted - about a 3/4 full gallon ziploc bag's worth) of .40 brass, let me know.

I'll even run it through the tumbler for you so that it's good and clean.
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Old September 5, 2013, 12:19 AM   #29
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If it hasn't been said already, get yourself a case gage and a bulge removing die! Every .40 SW I reload (5k+/year) goes through a carbide Redding G-RX Push Through Die and case gage!
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Old September 5, 2013, 02:34 AM   #30
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A pass through die like the Bulge Buster or GRx doesn't re-thicken the brass, it just gets it to chamber again. That bulge thinned the brass, and it will always be a thin spot.
When I shot .40 I tossed any .40 case that had any noticeable bulge, why not, they're everywhere.
The old 2nd gen Glocks with the poor case head support are mostly gone (they usually blow up only once ), so most found brass these days looks pretty good.

I wouldn't use anything faster than Unique or Universal in the .40. So many good slow powders these days, no need for fast ones in the .40.
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Old September 5, 2013, 03:57 PM   #31
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I agree that severely bulged .40 brass is getting less common! It is however, nice having a die that can reform the entire case down to the rim even for the newer generation Glocks. A case gage just adds the extra degree of verification that is impossible with just a visual inspection IMO.
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Old September 6, 2013, 11:57 PM   #32
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Yeah, it can't be a bad thing compared to standard dies. I like cartridge gauges too, especially with autos.
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Old September 8, 2013, 05:56 AM   #33
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man I still gotta lotta WAP (left over from makin' 40)

(I have made very successful 'target' ammo in 40 using W231 or Bullseye and 180g bullets.
But they don't 'make Major' )
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