Which 40 S&W subcompact for cast boolits?

[Idaho45guy]

My primary CCW pistol is a S&W M&P40 compact. It's a great pistol and I have started gathering components to start reloading for it in addition to my .45 colt Ruger.

I have a Shield 9mm and I love the smaller size and decided to buy another similar sized pistol in .40 S&W. Not sure which would be the best choice for shooting .40 S&W reloads through as far as chamber support and rifling design. Looking at the Springfield Armory XDS and Walther PPS. Which would be better as far as reloads using cast boolits?

[DougGuy]

Any of them will do well once the barrels are properly throated for cast boolits. In many cases the throat won't allow anything larger in diameter than what a factory j-word measures to chamber without seating deeper in the case. XDS would have a very short throat where the rifling runs right to the headspace ledge for example. You would want enough freebore ahead of the chamber to be able to "plunk" your handloads for reliability at the very least. Once this is done you should be able to find loads that perform well in any of them, they are all well made pistols.

[Tackleberry41]

You wont really find a new gun thats throated for cast. I tried cast in my 9mm shield, work fine in my old Browning HP, but not the shield, needs to be throated.

[Idaho45guy]

Hmmm... These are all unfamiliar terms to me... "J-word", "plunking", "headspace ledge"... Didn't realize there is apparently machine work involved in shooting cast boolits out of a modern pistol.

[jcren]

Ok, j-word=jacketed bullet, plunking just means that a loaded round will drop into the removed barrel with a plunk and come back out( not sticking), and the ledge refers to the end of the chamber where a straight wall cartridge stops. Modern guns are mass produced and they save money by reducing machining steps. Most modern guns transition from chamber to rifling with almost no blending, taper or lead. This is where Dougguy has us covered. You can shoot cast in just about anything, but Doug can make your gun shoot the bullet and load YOU like, instead of the other way around.

[bedbugbilly]

Tackleberr41 - why won''t your 9mm Shield shoot cast? My 9mm Shield only gets cast reloads and I use a variety of different designs, weights. Lee molds, Lyman/Ideal, etc. Never had a problem, 100% reliability, no leading, etc.

[Rockwell]

I shoot cast in a Shield .40 with good results. It likes both 155gr and 180gr boolits from a variety of molds.

[Texas by God]

I intend to try cast in both 9&40 Shields when I run out of j-words.

[Tackleberry41]

Tackleberr41 - why won''t your 9mm Shield shoot cast? My 9mm Shield only gets cast reloads and I use a variety of different designs, weights. Lee molds, Lyman/Ideal, etc. Never had a problem, 100% reliability, no leading, etc.

It would fire them, just didnt like to cycle. It would hang up the last little bit so wouldn't close all the way. Same 147gr Lyman that plunked in my browning wont in the shield. Would imagine it can be hit or miss, new chamber reamer or whatever. I could get it throated or buy the tool, or just shoot the cast in my other 9s. The shield is a carry gun, not much of a target gun, spends 90% of its time in my center console. So really only sees some factory HP in the mags most of the time.

Was odd tho that the 147gr had more velocity out of the shield than my longer barreled high power. 124gr got the expected velocity boost in the longer barrel.

[DougGuy]

It just needs throating and it will run like a Singer sewing machine. BTW, that is a hardened barrel and will completely destroy a Manson reamer in the first 1/4 turn.. I have Pete at Pacific Tool & Gauge custom make coated carbide reamers for doing the hardened barrels. Cost is 3x or more what a Manson reamer costs.

[LabGuy]

I have a 40 Shield, it seems to have a generous chamber. I'm currently shooting a MiHec that was made for 10mm, but when I use tha HP pins it runs about 185 gr. with BlueDot. I have made up some test loads with HS-6, but have not tested them yet. I am trying to mimic the Speer Gold Dot short barrel loads.

[Lloyd Smale]

my 40 shield has ate probably 5000 cast loads over the last two summers. Never misses a beat.

[Moonie]

I really like my SA XD subcompact Mod.2 in 40. I also have a 9mm extended ported barrel for playing around with. It came with both the short and full size magazine and shoots all my cast loads great.

[35remington]

Is there some reason you are not considering a Shield in 40? Seems obvious.

[dubber123]

Is there some reason you are not considering a Shield in 40? Seems obvious.

S&W's customer service has soured him on them lately.

[35remington]

I empathize, but my Shield 40 has been great and eats everything I put through it cast included. So no need for me to deal with customer service.

[dubber123]

I empathize, but my Shield 40 has been great and eats everything I put through it cast included. So no need for me to deal with customer service.

My Shield .40 has also been excellent, and is great with cast. Getting it like new for $299 didn't hurt either. I know how he feels, I once got 3 lemons from Ruger in a row, and it was a long time before I could part with cash for another one.

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive got a shield 40 and its a great little gun and is a bargain for what you can pick one up for. I wish Glock made a 40 in a gun the size of the 43. If they did that id have one in a heartbeat but cant really fault my shield