.40 S&W (yet another caliber)

[Dieselhorses]

My Gen 4 40 S&W has a supported barrel. What generation are you shooting. Generous chamber dimensions isn't the same as "The Smile".

Does it still look like the pic? or does the ramp meet an entire 360 degrees of the end of chamber?

[44MAG#1]

Here is my Gen4 40 S&W barrel.

[Taterhead]

I guess now what I'm trying to determine is how many actually shoot cast handloads through Glock barrels? Yesterday I shot several handloads and had no issues as far as feeding, firing and hitting paper. It's the infamous "Glock Smile" that worries me. Although I examined the cases I shot and no noticeable deformities. I am aware Glock manufactured their barrels with lee way in chambers, supposedly for reliability, and disclaims that only factory ammo should be used. Heard "Redding" makes a case sizer as well as Lee for the .40 but despite returning the case size back to spec, does the case wall actually become thinner in the bulged area? Not trying to "re-invent the wheel" here, just seeing how many of us in fact shoot reloads through a Glock OEM barrel.

Virtually 100% of my ammo through my OEM 40 bore Glocks are handloads. Most of those are coated cast bullets. If a loader stays with sane book loads, there are no Glock bulges. I load some of my ammo pretty hot too. Many thousands of loads downrange. The 40 brass is mostly all range pickups.

Smiles indicate loading way beyond sane levels. But that's not exclusive to Glocks. Way back when the first Glock 22s emerged, coupled with early poorly designed brass gave birth to this Glock bulge thing. Really, a thing of the past. I wish it would just die off because it causes unnecessary worry and expense on aftermarket tools.

I own a G-Rx die, but it is totally unnecessary. My RCBS sizers get brass sized so that it drops right into a gauge with boring regularity. It would be inadvisable to use a pass-through sizer to cleanup a case that has been smiled. That case is starting to sheer. It hurts nothing though to use such a tool in normal circumstances. Not me. I resize in station 1, prime in 2 and proceed around the 5 stations to the bin. NO ISSUES.

Advice? Use normal sane loading techniques and you'll have no problems.

My G23.4 OEM barrel.

[Dieselhorses]

Virtually 100% of my ammo through my OEM 40 bore Glocks are handloads. Most of those are coated cast bullets. If a loader stays with sane book loads, there are no Glock bulges. I load some of my ammo pretty hot too. Many thousands of loads downrange. The 40 brass is mostly all range pickups.

Smiles indicate loading way beyond sane levels. But that's not exclusive to Glocks. Way back when the first Glock 22s emerged, coupled with early poorly designed brass gave birth to this Glock bulge thing. Really, a thing of the past. I wish it would just die off because it causes unnecessary worry and expense on aftermarket tools.

I own a G-Rx die, but it is totally unnecessary. My RCBS sizers get brass sized so that it drops right into a gauge with boring regularity. It would be inadvisable to use a pass-through sizer to cleanup a case that has been smiled. That case is starting to sheer. It hurts nothing though to use such a tool in normal circumstances. Not me. I resize in station 1, prime in 2 and proceed around the 5 stations to the bin. NO ISSUES.

Advice? Use normal sane loading techniques and you'll have no problems.

My G23.4 OEM barrel.

So if the few thousand supposed “once fired” brass I just bought from S&S exhibit a slight “curve” around the middle then this doesn’t really compromise it after normal resizing? I normally load for accuracy vs velocity and not interested in “hot loads”. Don’t mean to sound like a broken record and I am grateful for all the useful info from everyone.


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[Hanzy4200]

I will NEVER load .40 S&W. Ever. I don't fully understand why, but I despise it.

[44MAG#1]

I will NEVER load .40 S&W. Ever. I don't fully understand why, but I despise it.

Definitely to each his own. I do. Really no different loading than 45 Auto except smaller in diameter and shorter. I am on the careful side of loading.

[onelight]

If the brass sized in your sizer still has an obvious bulge or won't drop in a barrel pitch the bad ones. I have seen more bulged 40 but I have found bulged 9mm 40 and 45 acp through the years.
If the badly bulged brass slips through your process it probably won't chamber anyway.

[Taterhead]

So if the few thousand supposed “once fired” brass I just bought from S&S exhibit a slight “curve” around the middle then this doesn’t really compromise it after normal resizing? I normally load for accuracy vs velocity and not interested in “hot loads”. Don’t mean to sound like a broken record and I am grateful for all the useful info from everyone.


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Can you elaborate by what is meant by, "slight curve?" Even better would be a pic.

[Dieselhorses]

Can you elaborate by what is meant by, "slight curve?" Even better would be a pic.

max in curve is .432

[Taterhead]

max in curve is .432

Deleted per the post below.

[Dieselhorses]

Something looks off with that brass. In my 40 bore Glocks, the max expansion, in the area that you measure, is 0.424. The pic is a but dark, by there seems to be a pronounced ring (bulge) around the circumference.

I wouldn't load that brass if I'm interpreting the photo correctly. Was that shot in a Glock?

Yes a Glock 22. (If you click on image makes it bigger.) Considering the difference from my brass and your .424, that's .008 difference (.004 on each side. Now that brass (for what it's worth) has now been shot twice. This was a case I resized normally and loaded with 5.3 gn's of Unique.

I guess if I can't resize and at least shoot brass I have one more time (using a supported chamber/aftermarket barrel), then I have a lot of unusable .40 brass!

[Taterhead]

Yes a Glock 22. (If you click on image makes it bigger.) Considering the difference from my brass and your .424, that's .008 difference (.004 on each side. Now that brass (for what it's worth) has now been shot twice. This was a case I resized normally and loaded with 5.3 gn's of Unique.

I guess if I can't resize and at least shoot brass I have one more time (using a supported chamber/aftermarket barrel), then I have a lot of unusable .40 brass!

APOLOGIES!! I reviewed my reloading notes. My max expansion is 0.434". I will modify my earlier post. Also, I downloaded the image and enhanced it a bit. That looks different than what I was initially seeing. It was a bit backlit, but I can now see in the enhanced image that it is a shape consistent with Glocks.

As I've done load development in 40 and 10mm in Glocks. 0.432" has correlated to moderate pressure loads. 0.434 correlates to max. It has been a rare occurance, but 0.435 is where smiles form, and that gets scrapped. 0.435 also correlated to loads in excess of book maxes.

Sorry to have confused earlier. If you don't see a smile or anything indicating a sheering of brass, it should be good. I've loaded many tens of thousands of Glock shot brass in 10mm and 40. No issues. Resizes and drops right into the gauge. Some cases have 20 or more loadings.

[Dieselhorses]

APOLOGIES!! I reviewed my reloading notes. My max expansion is 0.434". I will modify my earlier post. Also, I downloaded the image and enhanced it a bit. That looks different than what I was initially seeing. It was a bit backlit, but I can now see in the enhanced image that it is a shape consistent with Glocks.

As I've done load development in 40 and 10mm in Glocks. 0.432" has correlated to moderate pressure loads. 0.434 correlates to max. It has been a rare occurance, but 0.435 is where smiles form, and that gets scrapped. 0.435 also correlated to loads in excess of book maxes.

Sorry to have confused earlier. If you don't see a smile or anything indicating a sheering of brass, it should be good. I've loaded many tens of thousands of Glock shot brass in 10mm and 40. No issues. Resizes and drops right into the gauge. Some cases have 20 or more loadings.

No problem! So anything under .434 shouldn’t compromise thickness? Looks like I have a lot of measuring to do!


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[Taterhead]

No problem! So anything under .434 shouldn’t compromise thickness? Looks like I have a lot of measuring to do!


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Right, above that is when the case starts stretching down into the feed ramp.

Nah, I wouldn't bother measuring. Just toss any with a smile. But if you're loading to sane levels, you won't have any with smiles.

I was merely providing that data point for reference to state that it is likely indicative of pressures below max. And your charge weights are consistent with that.

Recommend not worrying and carrying on!

[mvintx]

Yes a Glock 22. (If you click on image makes it bigger.) Considering the difference from my brass and your .424, that's .008 difference (.004 on each side. Now that brass (for what it's worth) has now been shot twice. This was a case I resized normally and loaded with 5.3 gn's of Unique.

I guess if I can't resize and at least shoot brass I have one more time (using a supported chamber/aftermarket barrel), then I have a lot of unusable .40 brass!

What bullet are you shooting with 5.3 grains? I'm working up a cast 165 grain load and it shot pretty well with 5.2 and 5.4 Unique.

[Lloyd Smale]

I run all once fired brass through a bulge buster before loading it and then like taterhead said load them to sane velocitys (maybe one grain under max book loads) and you wont get a bulge. At least I don't in any 40 I own and that includes 4 glocks. Actually very little of the once fired brass I do get is bulged but I just got in the habbit of doing it to insure none slip by.

Right, above that is when the case starts stretching down into the feed ramp.

Nah, I wouldn't bother measuring. Just toss any with a smile. But if you're loading to sane levels, you won't have any with smiles.

I was merely providing that data point for reference to state that it is likely indicative of pressures below max. And your charge weights are consistent with that.

Recommend not worrying and carrying on!

[Dieselhorses]

I run all once fired brass through a bulge buster before loading it and then like taterhead said load them to sane velocitys (maybe one grain under max book loads) and you wont get a bulge. At least I don't in any 40 I own and that includes 4 glocks. Actually very little of the once fired brass I do get is bulged but I just got in the habbit of doing it to insure none slip by.

I was just concerned about thickness in case wall and fatigue. I just dropped the empty case I photo'd in previous post back in chamber of Glock. It still fell in without being resized. Didn't have to nudge or push it in. You said you were loading 5.8 Unique for the Lee 401-175 TC? That's at the top end isn't it? I started at 4.7 but stopped at 5.5 gn's of Unique. Groups were closing tight between 5.1 and 5.3 but I know every gun is different.

[Dieselhorses]

What bullet are you shooting with 5.3 grains? I'm working up a cast 165 grain load and it shot pretty well with 5.2 and 5.4 Unique.

It's a 175 gn SWC and they weren't "Berry's"! They were from Bayou Bullets! My bad.

[Lloyd Smale]

heres aliants top load for a 180 with unique http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloade...29&bulletid=42 Im about a full grain lower and that's with a cast bullet so its actually less pressure then there top end load with a jacketed bullet.

I was just concerned about thickness in case wall and fatigue. I just dropped the empty case I photo'd in previous post back in chamber of Glock. It still fell in without being resized. Didn't have to nudge or push it in. You said you were loading 5.8 Unique for the Lee 401-175 TC? That's at the top end isn't it? I started at 4.7 but stopped at 5.5 gn's of Unique. Groups were closing tight between 5.1 and 5.3 but I know every gun is different.

[Dieselhorses]

heres aliants top load for a 180 with unique http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloade...29&bulletid=42 Im about a full grain lower and that's with a cast bullet so its actually less pressure then there top end load with a jacketed bullet.

Sure enough! Another question was BHN but there is a lot of references on here about that, looks like straight COWW. Tested one of my ingots and it's around 20. I powder coat everything so don't know if this is too hard.