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Thread: .308 Win and .40 S&W load questions

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy
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    .308 Win and .40 S&W load questions

    I have been searching everywhere and even called Hodgdon today on the phone - no help was received. I have searched here on CB and could not find applicable info other than powders I dont have now, I have been to Castpics, tried an excel program I found in this forum, I have the Lyman cast book and Hodgdon's manuals, as well as several other manuals. I do not know where else to go looking for reliable load info.

    I have cast some boolits for both calibers and have several powders on hand. I know I can go to 2400 for one of the calibers listed but really dont want to add yet another powder to my supply. First I will list the boolits I have cast with all avail info and then list the powders I have on hand. If anyone could help me out with starting loads and max loads I sure would be appreciative.

    Boolits:
    .40 S&W - Lee TL 401-175-SWC (plain Base) cast weight of 177 Gr. - to be used in a Springfield Armory pistol w/4" barrel

    .308 Win - NOE 311407 (Mod) - slightly modified version of the Lyman 311407(first two bands are .308 instead of .311) - Gas Checked - Cast weight of 178Gr - to be used in Ruger American rifle.

    Available Powders
    CFE Pistol
    CFE223
    H335
    IMR4350
    Titegroup
    HS-6
    Longshot
    H110
    Leverevolution

    Any help would be appreciated.
    Ron
    Last edited by rdwarrior; 04-24-2018 at 03:24 PM. Reason: additional info

  2. #2
    Boolit Bub
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    Speer #12 & Hornady #9 had nothing. Lyman #47 had one load for each.

    308 Win. 178gr Lyman mold #311467 H-335 - 26.5gr 2007fps 29500cup / 40gr 2575fps 46400cup

    40 S&W 175gr Lyman mold #401638 HS-6 - 7.0gr 976fps 18600cup / 8.4gr 1129fps 22800cup

    As always, work your loads up from min. load to max. Newer Lyman manuals may have some other loads using some of the newer powders. This edition was last printed in 1994.

  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy
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    Hairy Dawg - thank you for the info. I do not have that manual but do have the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook , 4th Edition. I know folks have listed CFE Pistol, Titegroup, and Longshot in their .40's - but I cant find any data for those anywhere. Have no clue where they found their data.
    Ron

  4. #4
    Boolit Master rsrocket1's Avatar
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    Titegroup will work very well with 40 S&W with the Lee 401-175-TC seated to 1.10" COL (where the cone meets the case mouth), 4.0 gives me 800 fps and 4.5g gives me 900 fps out of a 4.25" M&P 40.

    You can also use Titegroup as a low recoil powder for .308. 8-12g will be a nice low recoil load that is a good plinker from 100g-200g bullets. You can even go subsonic with a low charge and a 200g bullet. For medium speed loads, I really love Reloader 7 with the Lee 309-170-F, but you can certainly use H335. You can start with 32g of H335 for about 2000 fps and can work up to 39g for 2400 fps. My GC'ed Lee bullets can hold a pretty consistent 2" group at 100 yards at this speed.

    These are 100 yard shots @ 2000 fps with the 170g Lee bullets through a 24" Remington 788 using Rx7. Not spectacular, but certainly fun to shoot.


  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master popper's Avatar
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    Hodgdon reloading site, 335 for 308, cfe pistol for XD.
    Whatever!

  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master tazman's Avatar
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    For the 40S&W--go to the Hodgdon data site and use the data for the 180 grain bullets listed. Four of your pistol powders are listed. CFE Pistol, HS-6, Longshot, Titegroup

  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by tazman View Post
    For the 40S&W--go to the Hodgdon data site and use the data for the 180 grain bullets listed. Four of your pistol powders are listed. CFE Pistol, HS-6, Longshot, Titegroup
    I looked at that data, and called Hodgdon on the phone today and gave them all the info that was in my original post above. The guy was very short and said I could not use any of my listed powders with my lead cast boolits. He did say I could use a reduced charge of 4198 but said I was not interested in yet another powder. So everyone is saying I can use j-word data but stay in the low to mid range in powder charges?

  8. #8
    Boolit Grand Master tazman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rdwarrior View Post
    I looked at that data, and called Hodgdon on the phone today and gave them all the info that was in my original post above. The guy was very short and said I could not use any of my listed powders with my lead cast boolits. He did say I could use a reduced charge of 4198 but said I was not interested in yet another powder. So everyone is saying I can use j-word data but stay in the low to mid range in powder charges?
    Yes as far as the pistol load is concerned. I don't have experience with the rifle.

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master popper's Avatar
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    So everyone is saying I can use j-word data but stay in the low to mid range in powder charges? Yup, even for rifle.
    Whatever!

  10. #10
    Boolit Master redhawk0's Avatar
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    I don't have the pistol any longer but for what its worth. I used to shoot 8.0gr of HS-6 with that Lee 175gr bullet.

    redhawk

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  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    I can't help you with the 40 but I have two 308's using CB's. Every barrel has a personality and the two 308's prove it. The longer barrel Remington loves 19-20 gr of 2400 with 165 gr gr. boolits. The shorter barrel Mossberg loves 21.5 gr of 5744 with 190 gr boolits. Both have the same twist rate. Both will shoot 158 gr RFGC boolits with an RE-7 load good enough for field work but not for serious paper punching. Given how hard it is to find 2400 these days and sometimes 5744 but RE-7 seemingly readily available, I would start by using about 20 gr. of RE-7 without filler and work your way up to where you find something close to what you want.
    Last edited by quilbilly; 04-28-2018 at 12:48 PM.

  12. #12
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    I don't remember where I found the data, but I was using Longshot with 180 J-word bullets in my Glock G22 with excellent accuracy. I also tried Longshot in .45 ACP, but that was much less successful.
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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check