Reloading for a .40 carbine

[chrisflhtc]

Hi guys I am new to reloading and this site and want to reload .40's for My Beretta CX4 Storm(16 inch Barrel)

I plan to load for plinking and possible hunting. I have been doing a lot of reading and searching and have been told that some of the slower powders will preform better. I am looking at longshot,autocomp and possibly HS6 I want to go as high a velocity as practical with out stressing the firearm too much. I think the 155 gr Hornady XTP may be the projectile I am going to go with unless there is a better one. I only want to load one type for both plinking and hunting so I don't hart to keep changing my set up.

If I am going about this the wrong way I am sure one of you can set me straight. TIA.
I am really enjoying reading all the info here however there is just so much info I am being a bit overwelmed. Thanks
Chris

[Unclenick]

Welcome to the forum.

QuickLOAD thinks Alliant Power Pistol will be your best velocity-for-pressure producer with your bullet weight. Comments on hunting suitability will depend on what you are hunting.

[AlaskaMike]

I would also highly recommend Power Pistol. I would think that a 155 grain bullet would be a little light though. I'd probably go with 180s.

[Ozzieman]

Can’t help you with the 40, but mine in 9mm did some amazing accuracy (under 3 inches at 100 yards) with Penn bullets cast lead 147 and titegroup powder. One suggestion, don’t load light. Stay up in the upper loads what every your loading.
I tried some light loads that were still within book specs, but I had one fail to fully eject the case and the case jammed on the front of the opening damaging it. It didn’t hurt the function of the gun, the area damaged was only part of the outer stock but keep the loads above mid range.
I have a thread here some place that showed a photo but I can’t find it. If I do I will come back and post the thread.
Also for accuracy mine likes heavier bullets with longer length bearing surface.
Jacketed the most accurate were Hornady 124 GR XTP using W231. It liked them hot.
What I like about the Beretta carbine is that I think you could load a bullet into a garbage can and the gun would still feed it, reliably.
Good luck with your 40.
http://www.hornady.com/store/XTP-XTP-MAG/

http://www.pennbullets.com/40/40-caliber.html

[Crosshair]

Since this gun is a blowback, the rules are a bit different than with a locked breech when going for velocity. You are really loading for two bullets, the one that goes out the barrel and the bolt of the gun.

1. Light for caliber bullets. A 155 should be great for 40 S&W. I have tried heavier bullets in my 9mm carbine and the results are always disappointing. The bolt/bullet mass ratio just gets too low and you can't keep the bolt closed long enough.

2. Mid range powders. Blue Dot is my powder of choice and Power Pistol seems to give a similar pressure curve according to QuickLOAD. Too fast and you hit MAP too soon and can't take advantage of that longer bore. Too slow and you loose case occlusion and all that burning powder comes out the side of the gun. Like I said, you're loading for two projectiles with a blowback.

[zxcvbob]

I would recommend cast bullets to reduce friction in that long barrel.

[chrisflhtc]

Thanks for the replies, the guy at alliant seem to think power pistol will work too he told me when I decide on a bullet weight he would give a starting load.
Chris

[AlaskaMike]

Give him multiple bullet weights so you can get a variety of starting loads.

[WESHOOT2]

Power Pistol works exceedingly well under any bullet weight in the 40 S&W.
In carbine-length barrels to boot.

Are there potentially more optimum choices (3N37)?
Maybe, but that's why we handload.

[chrisflhtc]

I shot my first reloads Sunday.All went well I saw no signs of pressure as a matter of fact the first loads were a little sooty on the casings.
Here is what I am using 155 gr hornady XTP's over 8.5 gr of Longshot with an OAL of 1.128.I shot over my chrony I did not record all the data. I ended up clipping one of the sky screens wire supports. I was getting between 1450 to 1492 fps on that ten.
My second round had 8.7 gr of longshot there was still no pressure signs although these ten were not near as sooty. These were traveling from 1520 to 1562 fps. All the primers still had rounded edges and even though the extractor made some marks in the rim it was from the force of the recoil it was not the bolt face that was imprinted.
I guess I will move it up a notch to 8.9 gr and 9 gr.and see how they perform.
Chris

[Unclenick]

Pop down to the hobby shop and pick up some small diameter hardwood dowels to replace the wires. Shoot them and they break, where shooting the wire can pull on the chronograph housing and cause damage.

[joneb]

I vote for posts #2 and 5

[Miata Mike]

I have been loading the 155 grain XTP's at 6.5 down to 6.0 of Unique. I am going to watch this thread to see what direction it goes. It seems like even 6.0 grains of Unique seem awfully jumpy in my hand guns, and I am looking to add a Hi Point .40 S&W in the near future.

I might add that I am not against adding Power Pistol to my powders if it makes sense.

[sonick808]

i've been using 5.8 grains of Unique beneath a 165 grain rainier plated FN bullet, with cci #500 primers in my kel-tec sub2000 carbine for 2+ years. oal 1.13" Probably pushing 5000 loads of this config without any problems. Quickload shows params well within safety levels; fps at muzzle is about 1200 which is a bit quick for the rainiers plating, but no problems yet.

Hope this helps in some way

If more experienced reloaders see something wrong with this, please let me know. Quickload shows it as safe (for what that's worth), and I did a LOT of data parsing to come to a medium load that cycles. These reloads feel exactly like "regular old factory ammo" of any type in my glock, and the sub2000

I've not noticed the jumpiness with Unique that Miata Mike has.

[scsov509]

Another vote for 155 XTP's over a healthy dose of Power Pistol. I've loaded a lot of those and also a lot of Berry's 155's in tht combo and been really pleased. My brother in law has the same CX4, and we've felt like the velocity in the carbine is enough of a difference that it's worth stepping up from the plated bullets to the XTP's, YMMV.

[zplinker]

Generally a very good bullet, I've found the 155 gr. .40 to be extremely frangible. Running them at 1200 fps, shooting into 3-4 gallon milk jugs full of water, the bullets simply fell apart. Pushing them faster will only increase the problem. Try the 155 gr. Speer Gold Dot. It will handle velocities closer to 1500 fps before losing any weight at all, and then its only likely to be a petal.

Not picking on XTP's, as other weight/caliber combinations perform very well, and some Gold Dots do poorly. But then, testing them is half the fun, right?

[Jimbo-Indy]

I had a CX-4 for some time and it's favorite load was 7.5 gr. Longshot under a 180 gr. bullet, either Rainier plated or XTP. If memory serves, it crono'd about 1650 FPS form the CX4. Used the same load in my High Power pistol but is was down to about 1250 out of the shorter barrel
If you shoot 40 S&W, Longshot powder is your friend. Works very well in 10 mm and 45 ACP also.

[chrisflhtc]

I have graduated to 180 gr xtp's and 180 gr jhp Montana Gold and have settled on two different loads one runs around 1650 fps and one around 1200 fps I dont have my notes with me at the moment so I won't post any load data. That is getting into 10 mm energy if I recall from my manual. I have been having fun this summer

[destrux]

I loaded up some 135gr Rainier plated bullets with 8.0gr of Unique for my Sub2000, this was using pistol load data from my Lee manual (max load was 8.5), and I also tried them in my M&P40 pistol. They seemed pretty quick out of the carbine, and shot a nice fireball out of the pistol, but no signs of overpressure. I was still getting the usual soot on the entire sides of the ejected cases with the carbine, and they were only ejecting about 5 feet to my side. They shot to the same POA at 25 yds and 100yds, which is much better than my 180gr/5.0gr bullseye loads were doing.

I don't have a chrono or any load software, but I'd estimate they were doing 1500fps out of the carbine, at least.

Anyone with software want to see what it says as far as velocity and pressures?

[Unclenick]

Welcome to the forum.

Nobody has posted in this thread for over a year, so the chances are a number of the previous posters are no longer paying attention. You'd do better to start your own thread at this point.

If you do start a thread on this question, include your barrel lengths if you expect any velocity estimates. It would also help to have your bullet length and COL and the average water capacity of your cases as fired.