40 S&W loads

[hornet112]

Going to start loading for my 40 using 180gr bullets and 231 powder. Any recommendations on a type of bullet or manufacture? Just looking to plink with it.

[308Jeff]

I've never loaded 40 S&W with 231, but I've tried a lot of bullets. Berry's, Frontier, and Rainier RNFP all run well as plinkers.

If at some point you want to get some ridiculous velocity along with good pressure (jacketed bullets), pick yourself up some Longshot. It's pretty much my exclusive powder for 40 S&W now.

[Jniedbalski]

I had real good luck using rainier plated hollow points with HS6

[popper]

4.5gr 231/hp38 under any 180 gr. Xtreme work good too but are a few more $. Cast work fine when you can find them, MBC does good, got 401 sized.

[sandman228]

I no longer own or load for a 40 but i have in the past . the best loads i ever loaded/shot were with the lee 175 gr swc bullet .its been a while but I'm thinking i used 4.5 gr of 231 it was a mild load but pretty accurate .the same bullet also shot well over 5.6 gr of herco , i also had good luck with red dot and power pistol . i also experimented with berrys 155 gr plated round nose hollow base bullets ( i got them cheap they were 2nds ) over bullseye powder i cant remember the exact load though .

[jdfoxinc]

Any one use green dot? I ask because I found I have over 17 lbs. Left over from selling components.

[hornet112]

4.5gr 231/hp38 under any 180 gr. Xtreme work good too but are a few more $. Cast work fine when you can find them, MBC does good, got 401 sized.

Thanks that was the answer I was looking for!

[Grmps]

[Motor]

We just starting casting the Lee tumble lube bullet for the 40. I don't have the mold here (we cast at my brothers place) but the powder coated bullets weigh almost 183gr. IIRC it's a 175gr mold. It's a SWC design.

I haven't loaded any yet but I see a lot of good powder choices in my Lyman Cast Handbook.

The last thing I did load was Berry's 155gr. I tried 7, 7.5, and 8gr loads using A-No.5 they all shot well from different pistols and a Hi Point carbine.

BTW: Hornady does not list W- 231 for ANY jacketed loads in 40 S&W. However it is listed for their 180gr swedged bullets. The Lyman cast bullet manual lists W- 231 for every cast bullet weight. I'm seeing a pattern here.

Motor

[rsrocket1]

I've put about 60,000 rounds through my M&P40 the majority of which has been with the Lee 401-175-TC which for me weigh 180g. I have lots of chrony data from plenty of powders that I've used mostly because I was picking up just about any compatible powder I could find during the powder shortage. My mainstay was 5g Unique or 4g Red Dot for a mild mid 900 fps load. Now it's 5.6g BE86 for 1000 fps which to me feels just as mild as the Unique and Red Dot loads.

With W231, 5g gave me 950 fps out of a 4.25" barrel with the bullet seated to where the cone meets the rim (0.293" seating depth).

4.3g Green Dot gave me 920 fps. Green Dot is a very nice powder. It burns a little faster and cleaner than Unique but has a little more headroom than Red Dot in small cases like 9mm. I was about to commit to an 8 pound jug when the powder shortage began to ease up and I snapped up an 8 pound jug of BE-86 when I saw it and will be using it for all standard handgun loads having developed loads for it when I started out with a couple of 1 pound bottles when it first came out.

Here's an old picture I used to show where I seat my bullets. I now size all my PC bullets even though the picture shows what I used to do without sizing.

[scattershot]

Xtreme markets a 180grain rnfp that works well for me over 4.0 Red Dot.

[popper]

MBC IDP#5 hitek coated 180gr $48/500.

[308Jeff]

I've put about 60,000 rounds through my M&P40 the majority of which has been with the Lee 401-175-TC which for me weigh 180g. I have lots of chrony data from plenty of powders that I've used mostly because I was picking up just about any compatible powder I could find during the powder shortage. My mainstay was 5g Unique or 4g Red Dot for a mild mid 900 fps load. Now it's 5.6g BE86 for 1000 fps which to me feels just as mild as the Unique and Red Dot loads.

With W231, 5g gave me 950 fps out of a 4.25" barrel with the bullet seated to where the cone meets the rim (0.293" seating depth).

4.3g Green Dot gave me 920 fps. Green Dot is a very nice powder. It burns a little faster and cleaner than Unique but has a little more headroom than Red Dot in small cases like 9mm. I was about to commit to an 8 pound jug when the powder shortage began to ease up and I snapped up an 8 pound jug of BE-86 when I saw it and will be using it for all standard handgun loads having developed loads for it when I started out with a couple of 1 pound bottles when it first came out.

Here's an old picture I used to show where I seat my bullets. I now size all my PC bullets even though the picture shows what I used to do without sizing.

Awesome post. Thank you!

[Motor]

rsrocket1, Thanks for the tip on seating depth. My mold (along with the last few I got from Lee) actually drops a little undersized so the PC is helping with size. I haven't bought a .401" size die yet.

I will definitely take your advice and plunk test these for each of our 40's to assure proper function.

Motor

[Outpost75]

Anybody shooting one of the Ruger Blackhawk convertibles in .40?

I have one coming...

[Lloyd Smale]

I shoot a ton of cast through 40s using 5.0 grains of aa2 and a 180. Or 6.0 and a 150. both are pleasant practice loads that run in all my guns.

[Rompin Ruger]

Been reloading and casting for a goodly while but just getting started with the 40.

I fell in love with hitec coated boolits. Been pounding the gold coated outa my NMBH 45 LC at hotter levels with ZERO leading!

Recently, working with the 40, I shot some factory 180's in my cop buddy's Glock and felt it was a bit "stout" so I ordered 165's from Bayou in red copper to handle higher pressures, etc and prevent ANY leading...so far so good.

Lots of ideas above, but a lot of data on 180's... I expect to punch paper and as I age, recoil isn't that much fun anymore... so I opted for a lighter grain weight bullet to reduce thump...

I tried some 165s under minimum HS6 loads (7.0 where min was 7.4) behind the 165 hitec FNose. Those were sorta dirty... min on the hodgdon list was 7.4 and I also shot a bunch of 7.1 and it jumped some but the bbl had flakey soot or (?) inside ...didn't notice smoke but was focused more on brand new cases going into "low orbit" (read that term somewhere and liked it)

I also have some 231 Win...so I tried 4.9 gr. I just shot 3 into the dirt floor of a friends barn floor to see if it would cycle..they did... I read that the faster powders tend to burn cleaner but give a more "snappy" recoil. Yes???

Those using the HS6, any reason why that was so "dirty" for me? Too light a load, but it sure threw cases helter skelter and seemed to jump a good bit... Surely didn't seem mild

I have LONGSHOT, which is much slower then HS6, but it takes a good bit and I read it's efficiency is low till you get it nearer to top end loads... I don't think I want "hotter" loads, especially since shooting a Glock Gen 3 mdl 22.

Thoughts?

[Followme438]

I just recently started loading for .40 myself. After a little bit of experimentation, I have settled on either 3.8gr of E3 under a .401 sized 180gr, or 3.3gr of E3 under a .401 sized 200. Both are very soft shooting, and for anyone shooting USPSA, they do make major out of my RIA Pro Match Ultra.

[Rompin Ruger]

Thanks for your post, Followme438,

I have a LOT of 165's to shoot off before I buy heavier... I was operating under the viewpoint that a heavier slug tends to generate more recoil..

Personally, being an old(er) fart, I don't have a clue what E3 is or who makes it...here in this region of NE TN, any supplies are few and far between!