Titan ReloadingReloading EverythingLoad DataInline Fabrication
RotoMetals2MidSouth Shooters SupplyRepackboxWideners
Lee Precision
Results 1 to 13 of 13

Thread: Light 40 S&W Load

  1. #1
    Boolit Bub Cmemiss's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Houston, TX
    Posts
    72

    Light 40 S&W Load

    Hello. I've been skulking for a few weeks now, trying to pick up as much knowledge as I can before showing my ignorance. I've been away from reloading for 10-15 years and with the price of boolits (make that bullets, boolits are inexpensive) being what they are I have taken up casting. Currently I am casting 158 gr. 38 spl. with an RCBS 2 holer, and 205 gr. 45 acp with an aluminum NIE. I'll have questions about that later.

    Until I can get a mold for my 40 S&W I'm buying boolits from a local caster who has a nice fp 140 gr. that looks like it would be good for plates at the gun club. My question is what to put in the case. I've had two case head seperations with the .40 S&W, both in an older SIG 229 using commercial reloads I bought 15 years ago that are loaded with 170 gr lead fp. I'm looking for a clean load that is reasonable and will function okay in the weapon. I'm thinking of starting with 5.8-6.0 gr of WW 231. Can't find any loading info for this weight boolit so I'm extrapilating on the load based on published 135 JHP and 150 JHP loads. I'm using range pick-up brass. I'm not attached to 231 so any other powder would be okay. What's the thinking. Too much--too little, start lower? I just don't want another seperation. Thanks in advance for the help.
    Last edited by Cmemiss; 07-28-2010 at 09:54 AM. Reason: typos.

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master
    Shiloh's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Upper Midwest
    Posts
    6,763
    I have used Unique and AA #5. 231 would be about as fast as I would go.

    Shiloh
    Je suis Charlie

    "A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves."
    Bertrand de Jouvenel

    “Any government that does not trust its citizens with firearms is either a tyranny, or planning to become one.” – Joseph P. Martino

    “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert , in five years there would be a shortage of sand.” – Milton Friedman

    "Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns; why should we let them have ideas?" - J. Stalin

  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Eastern Washington
    Posts
    290
    WST is a fine target load powder for .40 S&W. I use a lot of it with a 180 grain boolit.
    "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive".

  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy dogbert41's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Reno, Nevada
    Posts
    109
    I bought the Lee TL401-175-SWC 6 banger mold. After Leementing it they pop out at around 180 grains in Wheel weight led.

    Now I don't often load them up for bear. In fact, I adore shooting .40 light loads. I like it when the brass just tinkles down around my feet in a neat pile for easy pickup, and I like it when the recoil is more pleasant to shoot than a 9mm.

    There's an article complete with load data that is still accessible:

    http://www.handgunsmag.com/ammunitio...06/index1.html

    Follow any of these recipes and your brass will live forever and you should have no problems with excessive pressure or case separation or blown/flattened primers.

  5. #5
    Boolit Bub Cmemiss's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Houston, TX
    Posts
    72

    Thanks for the tips

    Shiloe and Dogbert I really appreicate the information. I bought a pound of AA#5 and tested it out. It seems to work okay, but I really appreicate the .40 lite article, that gives me a lot more information. I still haven't found any loadings for a 140 gr. lead boolit,, so I'll keep extrapolating. Again, thanks all.

  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master
    9.3X62AL's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Redlands, NorKifornia
    Posts
    11,551
    Those extrapolations with WW-231 might be a little warm. I'm running a Glock 23/Storm Lake barrel using 4.0 grains of 231 and the Lee 175 TC boolit. My CZ-75B needs 4.2 grains to run reliably and lock the slide back on an empty mag. 4.8 grains duplicates my carry load closely (180 grain WW Ranger SXT JHP). OAL is 1.135".
    I don't paint bullets. I like Black Rifle Coffee. Sacred cows are always fair game. California is to the United States what Syria is to Russia and North Korea is to China/South Korea/Japan--a Hermit Kingdom detached from the real world and led by delusional maniacs, an economic and social basket case sustained by "foreign" aid so as to not lose military bases.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master in Heaven's Range
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    HELL
    Posts
    118
    Quote Originally Posted by 9.3X62AL View Post
    Those extrapolations with WW-231 might be a little warm. I'm running a Glock 23/Storm Lake barrel using 4.0 grains of 231 and the Lee 175 TC boolit. My CZ-75B needs 4.2 grains to run reliably and lock the slide back on an empty mag. 4.8 grains duplicates my carry load closely (180 grain WW Ranger SXT JHP). OAL is 1.135".
    Same load works great in my 40. 4gr 231 with the same lee 175 tc boolit. A joy to shoot with very little recoil.

  8. #8
    Moderator Emeritus


    JonB_in_Glencoe's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Land of 10,000 Lakes
    Posts
    15,832
    I prefer Hodgdon Titegroup
    below is from Hodgdon website.
    this is MAX load.
    I'd start with about 4.0 gr.
    I don't have my reloading log handy to share my pet load, sorry.
    Jon

    40 S&W
    CASE: HORNADY
    BBL: 4"
    PR: WINCHESTER SP
    135 GR. NOS JHP
    COL: 1.125"
    ***THIS IS MAX LOAD ***
    Titegroup 6.4,
    1251 FPS,
    33,200 PSI

  9. #9
    Boolit Mold
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    4
    Quote Originally Posted by Cmemiss View Post
    Shiloe and Dogbert I really appreicate the information. I bought a pound of AA#5 and tested it out. It seems to work okay, but I really appreicate the .40 lite article, that gives me a lot more information. I still haven't found any loadings for a 140 gr. lead boolit,, so I'll keep extrapolating. Again, thanks all.
    Here you go. The full manual is available on Accurate's website as a pdf download.

    Here is the 40 S&W Lead Bullet data



    Bill
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 40 SW AA load data.jpg  

  10. #10
    Banned

    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    The Great Land
    Posts
    998
    I'll second the 'TightGroup' load.
    But 4g is a little light.

    Berry's 135 FP 5.2g 1.125" with 5.8gmax

    a 700x load that does ok is
    4.5g

  11. #11
    Boolit Master

    mtgrs737's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Kansas land of OZ
    Posts
    1,940
    I don't know how heavy your gun clubs plates are, but I needed a 200gr. boolit to reliablably knock mine over in the shorty 40. I am loading 6.5grs. of Blue Dot behind the 200grs TC style boolit. I also cast the Lee 175gr. TC and use 7.1 grs of BD or 5.1grs of WW231 but find that it isn't a reliable plate tipper on any hits on the bottom half of the targets.

    I have some Hodgon HS-6 loads that I am going to try with the 175gr Lees, one at 7.1grs amd one loaded to 7.4grs. HS-6 seems to be a good fit for the upper end of the scale loads but until I do the test I won't be sure.
    Mtgrs737
    Still Learning!

    NRA Life Member
    Life long OZ resident

    Personality type: Compulsive/Excessive - I don't know what that means, all I know is, if I like something, I want a lot of it!

    Pray to put "One nation, Under God" back in our country! We will never be a Great Nation without HIM!

    SOCIALISM is a PHILOSOPHY of FAILURE, the CREED of IGNORANCE and the GOSPEL of ENVY, It's inherent value is the EQUAL SHARING of MISERY. -Winston Churchill

  12. #12
    Boolit Man
    kavemankel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    82
    I have a great load for the 180 TC lee Mould using AA#2 at 5.0 grains. It shoots out of my 40SW at 945fps through my chrony. No signs of overpressure and clean.
    I was able to get my standard velocity deviation with this powder to 31FPS with 20 rounds.
    Great accuracy and recoil feels comparable to the 45acp.
    Dropped a 350lb pig in my driveway with one shot at 35yards with one through and through.
    Got the picture to prove it.

  13. #13
    Banned


    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    29˚68’27”N, 99˚12’07”W
    Posts
    14,662
    Quote Originally Posted by mtgrs737 View Post
    I don't know how heavy your gun clubs plates are, but I needed a 200gr. boolit to reliablably knock mine over in the shorty 40. I am loading 6.5grs. of Blue Dot behind the 200grs TC style boolit. I also cast the Lee 175gr. TC and use 7.1 grs of BD or 5.1grs of WW231 but find that it isn't a reliable plate tipper on any hits on the bottom half of the targets.

    I have some Hodgon HS-6 loads that I am going to try with the 175gr Lees, one at 7.1grs amd one loaded to 7.4grs. HS-6 seems to be a good fit for the upper end of the scale loads but until I do the test I won't be sure.
    HS6 is my favorite for the .40, and I've run the gamut. Longshot is a close second. I've gone as far as eight grains of HS6 behind the Lee 175TC with FWFL and WDWW, but that's a bit hot even though I've seen max data for that boolit at 8.4 grains. MY combination with an M&P worked best with about 7.4 grains.

    Gear

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
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