What OAL for Lee 401-175-TC in .40 S&W?

[FergusonTO35]

Hey folks. I have a Lee 401-175-TC mold (not tumble lube version) and use it to feed my Glock 22 with LWD barrel. Usual load is 4.3 grains Bullseye and 1.115 OAL. I have experienced a couple of nosedive jams, and you can induce this by riding the slide when chambering a round. I'm thinking that a little more OAL may fix this. What OAL works best for this boolit in .40 S&W? Seems like OAL for this cartridge is all over the place and I have never seen a published OAL for this particular boolit. Otherwise, this boolit shoots great!

[Ed_Shot]

I have a G22 w/LW barrel. When I used the Lee 401-175-TC my notes say I had problems with OAL 1.115 but got perfect function with OAL 1.110. I've switched to Lyman 401043 and 401654.

If your LW barrel is not an Alfa Wolf the folks at LW used to lengthen the chamber to your spec for $30. Had this done to my LW 9MM Conversion barrel for my G22.....worked perfect.

[FergusonTO35]

.005 difference, interesting! The gent I got the barrel from said it had been throated by LWD. 1.115 plunks perfectly, mebbe I should load some test batches increasing the length by .010 at a time until I find what works best.

[Walks]

I use Linotype for all auto-loading pistol cartridges. The harder a bullet is the less chance of hanging up on the feed ramp.
I have Wolf bbl's for .9mm, .40 S&W & .45acp never had a problem.
I use that same bullet in 40cal for 10+yrs, 1.110-1.115 works well for me.
I even use the #452488 over 3.5grs of Bullseye in Wolf .45acp bbl, with a light spring. Feeds fine.

Starting to test PC'ed Bullets. No problem with those either. Gonna try COWW PC'ed next.

[Ed_Shot]

I bought a LW barrel for my G21 when I got it. Read here about folks using the Glock OEM barrel for 45 ACP so I switched and never went back. Believe I get better accuracy with the factory barrel and for sure have more room at the chamber throat.

[FergusonTO35]

My pistol is a Glockenstein built entirely from used parts, I don't have an OEM barrel for it. It shoots great, better than my shaky hands can take advantage of. I think I will try seating a bit longer and see how it does, certainly can't hurt anything.

[igolfat8]

When I was loading .40 I did what Dillon taught me. Seat bullet so that a thumbnail thickness of the driving band sticks out past the mouth of the case. This method has always worked well for 9 and 45 too.

[FergusonTO35]

Thanks, that's pretty much what I have always done. Sometimes I do seat it out further if it will chamber freely.

Lee did reply to my message about what OAL to use, here is what they had to say:


The load data you are using for a 175 Gr lead bullet, will tell you the min and max OAL.

So, I'm pretty much where I started.:???:

[Moonie]

As long as the loaded rounds plunk and fit in the magazine I would continue to try them longer until your function is 100%. I would not use a load anywhere close to max for this though.

[emorris]

I used 1.120 to 1.125 for the lee mold in my storm lake G23 barrel. When I started powder coating I had to shorten them to 1.110 to allow for the thickness of the powder coat. This was just for them to "plunk" test. It had nothing to do with feeding from the magazine. When you say nose dive, I read it as your saying that the nose of the bullet gets hung up on the feed ramp?
I hate to be that guy that responds to a question with another question so please bare with me. You said that yours is a "Glockenstein". So what's your parts list for this gun. Such as Slide, extractor, magazine, and frame.

Is the slide a true 40 S&W slide and do you know it's history? The reason I ask is it is common to use a caliber conversion barrel to shoot 9mm in 40 S&W guns. One part that is swapped is the extractor in the slide. If yours has a 9mm extractor it may not allow the rims on some rounds to slide between the extractor and breech face. As a result you will have a similar failure to feed as you describe.

Is the frame a Glock frame or a Polymer 80 type?

Next how about the history of the mags and recoil spring. The earlier Glock 22 mags had a weaker 10 coil mag spring than the current 11 coil springs. They would cause problems with the Gen3 guns when a weapon light was attached. My duty weapon (gen3) did this when we were first allowed to have weapon mounted lights. The jams were like you described. The newer gen 3 mags have a window cut in the front in the polymer, exposing the metal liner. The older ones didn't have this. Gen 4 mags have duel cutouts for the mag catch.

Two other things is the recoil spring may be old and in need of replacing. Finally you purchased a used barrel. Do you trust the seller? Unfortunately some people will pass on a problem to an unexpecting buyer.