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Old May 3, 2013, 10:15 AM   #1
Barneveld
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Slow-Burning powders for .40 S&W

I'm trying to find the best powder for accuracy and low flash. I will be casting my own bullets in 175 Grain Truncated Cone. Any suggestions? I was looking at VihtaVuori powders, but they are a tad expensive. What would you suggest?
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Old May 3, 2013, 10:58 AM   #2
serf 'rett
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I mostly use Power Pistol, but it’s likely got too much flash to meet your specifications.

VV-N340 has tested well for me with Berry’s 180 grain FP bullets. The N340 also works well for my 9mm loads with Hornady 115 and 124 grain XTP bullets. Very good accuracy. Multiple groups, in both calibers, of less than 2” maximum spread off sand bags at 50 feet.

I have also tinkered with N320, but the groups were marginally larger in my 40S&W Baby Eagle.
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Old May 3, 2013, 11:45 AM   #3
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I like Hodgdon Universal.
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Old May 3, 2013, 11:49 AM   #4
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Sounds like you're looking for Ramshot Silhouette. Check out their website.
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Last edited by delta tide; May 4, 2013 at 05:06 PM.
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Old May 3, 2013, 03:19 PM   #5
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Longshot
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Old May 3, 2013, 03:30 PM   #6
Barneveld
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The Ramshot Silhouette looks perfect. Velocity is a little lower than I would like for 180 grain bullets, but the power it puts behind the bullet is phenomenal--at least according to their loading data. The price is very good as well. I will track some down ASAP.
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Old May 3, 2013, 04:37 PM   #7
Brian Pfleuger
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"Slow burning" and "low flash" are usually on opposite ends of the spectrum, since the flash is created by the unburned powder. Larger calibers, high pressures and shorter barrels all contribute. Your gun pretty much has all those things....
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Old May 4, 2013, 05:30 AM   #8
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hmmm....not guessing

"Accuracy, and low flash?"

In no particular order, except the best choice first:

-3N37 (yes, Vihtavuori powders cost more)
-Silhouette (also can be WAP )
-AA5

Suggest using 'Start' data with these choices and your bullet, and use .2g increments when working carefully upward.
Do NOT let you OAL get shorter than 1.115"; suggest start OAL of 1.125" minimum.
Sort 40 S&W cases for best accuracy; recommend Federal primers for accuracy development.
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Old May 4, 2013, 06:45 AM   #9
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Yup, Silhouette.
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Old May 4, 2013, 07:27 AM   #10
Misssissippi Dave
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Quote:
-3N37 (yes, Vihtavuori powders cost more)
-Silhouette (also can be WAP )
-AA5
I agree.
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Old May 4, 2013, 11:12 AM   #11
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I'll add to Weshoots 3N37 and say N340 or N350(if it fits in the case, might flash). Otherwise Silhouette will be perfect also, #5, #7 & WSF may be good choices as well. No Way Longshot, BIG flash. same as Power Pistol.
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Old May 4, 2013, 12:07 PM   #12
Barneveld
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Thank you everyone for all of the input. I'm glad that there is such a helpful community out there for new reloaders like myself.
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Old May 4, 2013, 03:25 PM   #13
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AA5 or the even slower AA7. Both work great in the .40.
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Old May 4, 2013, 08:06 PM   #14
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3N37 is an excellent powder for .40 S&W and flash is pretty low. I was at a gunshop in a small town here in Texas about 60 miles east of Abilene yesterday and found a pound of 3N37 that had evidently been sitting there for a long time. The pricetag said $24.95 which was good for 3N37 20 years ago, so naturally I left with it.

In later years, the best powder that I've found as a replacement for 3N37 at a much better price is Silhouette (formerly WAP as mentioned). I have used a lot of it in 9mm, .40 S&W and high velocity JHP loads in .45 ACP and performance and accuracy are excellent, plus Silhouette is chemically treated to give low flash. Luckily I have about 6# left on the shelf and I'll put the 3N37 to good use as well. They are very similar powders, IMO, and Silhouette is just above 3N37 on most burn rate charts.
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Old May 4, 2013, 09:29 PM   #15
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I have tried many powders in the .40, and my best results were obtained with Hodgden's HS-6.
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Old May 4, 2013, 10:35 PM   #16
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Universal will smoke with lead bullets not as bad as shooting black powder but quite a bit of smoke.

would suggest WSF

dont recommend longshot for this
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Old May 7, 2013, 04:44 AM   #17
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Handloader Mag has an artical in its current issue on the .40 S&W. As mentioned above, they recommended medium burning powders, although they did test Titegroup (looked pretty like pretty good results to me). Handloader suggested WST, Accurate #5, and Unique.
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Old May 7, 2013, 08:46 AM   #18
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N350 was my favorite powder in the 40 S&W no matter what bullet weight I was shooting.

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Old May 7, 2013, 05:02 PM   #19
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under_dawg, we'd need a list of the powders they used to draw any conclusions from that. I have seen accuracy tests conducted with various powders for .40 S&W where Silhouette was at least the equal of WSF and it gives better performance with lower flash. The most accurate .40 S&W powder that I've seen evaluated personally was True Blue.
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Old May 9, 2013, 09:12 AM   #20
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57K - You are correct. Handloader recommended medium burning powders in the body of the article. They tested Titegroup, AutoComp, True Blue, and Power Pistol. True Blue did very well. I tried to paste the table in here, but ran into formatting issues.

It's hard to beat experience! That's why this Forum is so valuable.
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Old May 9, 2013, 03:49 PM   #21
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under_dawg, I've burned a pretty good amount of True Blue in .40 S&W loads. It's the most accurate powder I have used for that, but Silhouette comes pretty close and because it's treated to have very low flash, it's what I would use for making my own defense loads. I very much agree with Handloader's opinion that medium/medium slow powders are best, so I don't know how TiteGroup found its way into their testing. I would never use TiteGroup in high pressure cartridges myself and particularly not the .40 S&W. AA#5 is the fastest powder I ever used in .40 and it can be considered a medium burner. Power Pistol can deliver the goods velocity wise, but at the cost of very high muzzle flash. WSF has always had a good rep for all-around performance in .40 S&W. Two others that I burned a lot of with very good results that gave low flash were V-V 3N37 and the no longer available Vectan SP2. HS6 is decent but pretty much superseded by Silhouette which is one of its offspring where I believe Primex, now St. Marks, was trying to create an equivalent powder to 3N37 when they developed WAP which was the forerunner of Silhouette.
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Old May 10, 2013, 05:57 AM   #22
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Silhouette is WAP with further enhancements for flash suppression and temperature reduction.

(I agree with Mr. Hunter about N350 and the .400" bores....)
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Old May 10, 2013, 08:45 AM   #23
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N340 works great in .40sw and 10mm auto
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Old May 10, 2013, 11:41 AM   #24
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I see Unique listed as a little slower than A#5. I bet you could get a nice load with it, but I also have several pounds of #5 and it meters better and shoots cleaner. But Unique makes for a good candidate.
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Old May 10, 2013, 11:54 AM   #25
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Silhouette was mentioned for greater temperature reduction...Is this in the actual burning of the powder, or the affect that ambient temp. has on the performance of said powder?
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