40 minor / light 40 loads

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

some one here must shoot production class and have developed some 40 minor loads

I tried the one I found online for 4.5gr power pistol , nice shooting but , smokey , dirty started having rounds not fully chamber because of the crud that was building up run a brush though it every 30 or so rounds and have very good ventilation and it was decent shooting

but that smokey is probably not going to be appreciated on the indoor range

my normal load is 6.3 gr power pistol under a Lee 401-175tc and this runs great , but I have the 40 and I am shooting against a bunch of 9mm so I thought I might play with some lighter loads even in formal competition 125000 / 175gr = 714fps given that I think the bullet is actually 180gr I would only need 694 fps to make pf125 some margin for error and all 130000/180=722fps

[mattw]

5.8 grains of WSF with a 175 is one of my favorites. You could go with a lower charge, but this is pretty good.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

5.8 grains of WSF with a 175 is one of my favorites. You could go with a lower charge, but this is pretty good.

sadly WSF has been dropped from the hodgdon family

[Ford SD]

some one here must shoot production class and have developed some 40 minor loads

I tried the one I found online for 4.5gr power pistol , nice shooting but , smokey , dirty started having rounds not fully chamber because of the crud that was building up run a brush though it every 30 or so rounds and have very good ventilation and it was decent shooting

but that smokey is probably not going to be appreciated on the indoor range

my normal load is 6.3 gr power pistol under a Lee 401-175tc and this runs great , but I have the 40 and I am shooting against a bunch of 9mm so I thought I might play with some lighter loads even in formal competition 125000 / 175gr = 714fps given that I think the bullet is actually 180gr I would only need 694 fps to make pf125 some margin for error and all 130000/180=722fps

I had not heard about the WSF being discontinued :sad: I will have to use wisely What I have

I have used the WSF , the lee 170 and made 176 pf in a 4-1/2 in barrel by going only 1/10 of a grain over win published max loads and showing no pressure signs

But here is some reading material for you

http://www.handgunsmag.com/ammo/ammunition_40lite_091806/

[mattw]

No, that is Winchester Super Field... It can deliver awesome velocities with relative low pressure.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I had not heard about the WSF being discontinued :sad: I will have to use wisely What I have

I have used the WSF , the lee 170 and made 176 pf in a 4-1/2 in barrel by going only 1/10 of a grain over win published max loads and showing no pressure signs

But here is some reading material for you

http://www.handgunsmag.com/ammo/ammunition_40lite_091806/

thanks I had read that article and was looking at the 4gr power pistol my 9mm load for power pistol was 4.5 gr and I already had that measure set up so I tried it and it was the smokey one

I should probably try and find some of the other powders they used

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

not seing WSF on Winchesters powder site anymore http://www.wwpowder.com/pistol.html

[Ford SD]

not seing WSF on Winchesters powder site anymore http://www.wwpowder.com/pistol.html

Winchester Super Field
WSF is labeled as a shotgun powder first but has applications in handgun

http://www.wwpowder.com/shotgun.html

it is still listed

but I could not Find it at

http://www.hodgdon.com/shotpist.html

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

thanks I had not seen it and though I had heard talk of some of the Winchester powders going away

[garym1a2]

Try 3.8 gr WST, 4 gr bullseye also works OK for 40 Minor. I have done over 10K of the WST for 40 Minor in a Glock 22.
Nice and soft, like a 45acp in recoil.


some one here must shoot production class and have developed some 40 minor loads

I tried the one I found online for 4.5gr power pistol , nice shooting but , smokey , dirty started having rounds not fully chamber because of the crud that was building up run a brush though it every 30 or so rounds and have very good ventilation and it was decent shooting

but that smokey is probably not going to be appreciated on the indoor range

my normal load is 6.3 gr power pistol under a Lee 401-175tc and this runs great , but I have the 40 and I am shooting against a bunch of 9mm so I thought I might play with some lighter loads even in formal competition 125000 / 175gr = 714fps given that I think the bullet is actually 180gr I would only need 694 fps to make pf125 some margin for error and all 130000/180=722fps

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I will have to see what the shop has for powder , how does WST meter

[garym1a2]

For some reason in my Lee pro1000 I get a lot more spliage than with bullseye. I think WST is like tiny round flakes,

[Sgtonory]

I use 3.3 grains of Tightgroup with a Lee 180 boolit. Makes minor PF out of my G35 also works with factory spring. Clean cases and soft shooting. It shoots the same as my 3.1 grain tight group 147 9mm. Going to try a 157 grain boolit for shooting steel matches with same powder charge.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I shot some more of the 4.5 gr power pistol loads , but this batch didn't smoke , then i realized I must have had to much lube on the others

so 4.5 gr power pistol is a good load

[robertbank]

I use 2.8 gr of Titegroup under a Lyman 401638 175 gr TC Bullet. PF Avg 130. Accurate out of my 5" Tanfanglio and 5" M&P Pro. Standard Deviation 7. Very light recoil, works well for steel shooting or IPSC Minor in Standard Division.

Take Care

Bob

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I had some so I worked up a load of tightwad for the 40 , no there isn't data but working from the 9mm data I found what will work , I loaded a TW PP TW PP round in the magazine and TW is definitely softer shooting than the power pistol load

now to load up a bunch more and go practice then see what I can get times down to.

[FergusonTO35]

As much as I hate shooting factory ammo in this cartridge I'm interested in the idea of a lower pressure .40 S&W. A 175 grain slug propelled by HP-38 cruising along at 900-950 fps should be accurate, easy to shoot, and smack targets with authority; kind of like a downsized .45 Auto. Like the 9mm there is an endless supply of free brass at the range. Do you think most stock .40 pistols would function well with such a round?

[garym1a2]

Gen3 Glock 22 will cycle pretty soft loads.
If your load is too light a reduce weight recoil spring will probally work. On Glocks they are dirt cheap.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

the gun is using the stock recoil spring , it actually has a fairly low round count under 1k
the only changes have been polishing of parts related to trigger pull, a apex spring kit for trigger pull related springs and an apex trigger

but it still runs the factory s&w captured recoil spring

I looked over my loads 2.5gr titewad did cycle the slide , but I am currently loading 2.7gr titewad recoil is soft but if cycles and locks back on an empty mag and produces no soot on cases and mild recoil , I think this is about as far as I care to push with a heavy bullet and fast powder but as long as it keeps running well I will probably at least use up this container of powder at a bit more than 2200 rounds per container 14oz of titewad with the tax for what I paid for this 14 oz can that puts powder cost at 0.7 cents a round

I just looked at an 8pound jug , that would make 20740 rounds and still only drop the per round cost to 0.6 cents

[FergusonTO35]

Titewad is one of the best kept secrets in powders, especially for the .32 Auto.