How hard the 40 S&W.....?

[philthephlier]

Lee's 175gr. TL SWC. @ 950-1000 fps, how hard should it be cast? Thanks in advance.

[Doby45]

Straight WW is fine. I water drop mine just due to the magnum characteristics of the cartridge.

[RobS]

It's not so much about hard but rather size. An air cooled WW alloy boolit 11-12 BHN will work providing it is .001-.002 over bore diameter once the boolit leave the loaded case. Reloading practices (case expanders other dies etc.), allowing the boolits to age, and powder selection goes along way too. Figure out what you need for a boolit diameter, load up a dummy round and pull the boolit to make sure the base is the intended diameter and hasn't been swaged down. Some have better luck with harder boolits such as water quenched WW.

[mpmarty]

I use that exact boolit in my 10mm over a max charge of AA-9 and get around 1350 fps. No leading and I air cool my WW and use 50/50 LLA JPW for tumble lube. The boolits drop out of my six hole lee mold at 4015 to 402 and I lube them and shoot as cast, no sizing. No leading and very nice accuracy. I find that AA-9 is the cleanest burning powder I've used.

[plainsman456]

I don't WC my boolits for this cartridge or my 41 MAG and they shoot just fine.

[Mavrick]

I cast with a Lee 6-hole for a TC conventional-lube 175gr boolit in a 10mm and .40 S&W. I prefer to add a little tin (about 2%) to increase castability (and MAYBE harden a bit).
The .40 is loaded to 950-1000fps, and the 10mm is loaded to 1200-1300fps, but this alloy works just fine. I prefer a little harder, most of the time, for the 10mm, but it's more to settle my mind, than an actual difference that I can prove.
I use either Red Rooster or BAC to lube them, but will try other lubes/methods over the summer to compare.
Fit is king!
Have fun,
Gene

[geargnasher]

I don't WC my boolits for this cartridge or my 41 MAG and they shoot just fine.

Yes, but at what pressures? You haven't told us much here.

Gear

[geargnasher]

I cast with a Lee 6-hole for a TC conventional-lube 175gr boolit in a 10mm and .40 S&W. I prefer to add a little tin (about 2%) to increase castability (and MAYBE harden a bit).
The .40 is loaded to 950-1000fps, and the 10mm is loaded to 1200-1300fps, but this alloy works just fine. I prefer a little harder, most of the time, for the 10mm, but it's more to settle my mind, than an actual difference that I can prove.
I use either Red Rooster or BAC to lube them, but will try other lubes/methods over the summer to compare.
Fit is king!
Have fun,
Gene

Prefer to add a little tin to what?

Gear

[geargnasher]

Lee's 175gr. TL SWC. @ 950-1000 fps, how hard should it be cast? Thanks in advance.

15 bhn. Make it FIT. Use Universal or Unique and good lube.

Gear

[sqlbullet]

Not sure anyone has mentioned it yet, but fit is what matters most:bigsmyl2:

I too shoot this bullet in my 10mm. Have a starving med-school buddy who I give bullets to who shoots them in 40S&W. Unique is a good powder for your needs.

Water dropped will lead a little worse if they are too small. Air cooled WW will 'bump' up and still obturate the bore, but water dropped may not.

[plainsman456]

I found my load data for the 41 MAG and so far I have used these:2400-19.0grains,Unique-10.5 grains and HS-7-14.5 grains of powder.
I don't know what pressure they are but no leading with air cooled cast out of WW.
When next in my shop I will look for the 40 S&W loads.

[Cadillo]

It's not so much about hard but rather size. An air cooled WW alloy boolit 11-12 BHN will work providing it is .001-.002 over bore diameter once the boolit leave the loaded case. Reloading practices (case expanders other dies etc.), allowing the boolits to age, and powder selection goes along way too. Figure out what you need for a boolit diameter, load up a dummy round and pull the boolit to make sure the base is the intended diameter and hasn't been swaged down. Some have better luck with harder boolits such as water quenched WW.

I've had more leading trouble with my .40's than any other caliber. I would like to try sizing at .402 or even .403, but have not found sizing dies other than .401 for my Lyman.

Any ideas regarding a larger sizing die?

[Mavrick]

Geargnasher- Ooops, thanks for pointing that out. WWs, sometimes a bit of antimony if I think it's been burned out of the alloy, or some of the newer WWs that seem to have less to start with.
So, WW+2%.
Have fun,
Gene

[plainsman456]

For the 40 S&W with 180 grain cast boolits the powders and loads I have shot so far are:
Bullseye-5.5 grains
Bluedot-8.9 grains
Unique-6.7 grains
HS-7-9.2 grains
Please work up to these loads these were safe and worked well in my Browning HI-Power 40 S&W.
I can't tell anyone what pressures are with these loads but they worked without leading.

[Doby45]

I've had more leading trouble with my .40's than any other caliber. I would like to try sizing at .402 or even .403, but have not found sizing dies other than .401 for my Lyman.

Any ideas regarding a larger sizing die?

Contact Buckshot, he makes Lyman dies and can make it to whatever size you want.

[geargnasher]

It's the expander that's the problem, guys.

You're welcome, Maverick, hope you'd do the same for me!!

Gear

[Doby45]

I make these with a .401 expander and the boolit sized to .402, my Glock eats'em like candy..

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b327/Doby45/fae67711.jpg

[geargnasher]

Hey Doby, is that one of Tom's moulds? I really like the "ogive" it has, much better than the true TC design like the Lee which needs all the help it can get transitioning to horizontal when the boolit nose contacts the barrel hood, and a little roundness there would help keep the mouth of the case from snagging.

Gear

[Doby45]

It is actually the Mihec 401-165 mold cast as a solid. Comes in right at 170gr.. Very nice little boolit.