40 S&W BHN magic number and pet loads

[yobohadi]

Hello all, I have been lurking as a member here for a little while now and never really posted until now. I would like to say thank you for such a great forum!

Now onto my request/question... After getting sick of cleaning a huge amount of lead out of my 40 S&W using hard commercial lead boolits, I just bought a 6 cav lee 40 cal 175 grain TL mold and wanted to get opinions on what everyone is using for alloy hardness and powder charges for their pet loads to reduce leading.

Thanks!

[Bass Ackward]

Hello all, I have been lurking as a member here for a little while now and never really posted until now. I would like to say thank you for such a great forum!

Now onto my request/question... After getting sick of cleaning a huge amount of lead out of my 40 S&W using hard commercial lead boolits, I just bought a 6 cav lee 40 cal 175 grain TL mold and wanted to get opinions on what everyone is using for alloy hardness and powder charges for their pet loads to reduce leading.

Thanks!

What diameter do you need going by your slug of the throat?

If your diameter is right, then leading is much less dependent on hardness or over hardness in this case.

[Trey45]

You're not shooting lead in a polygonal rifled barrel are you?

[yobohadi]

I will cast a pure lead bullet in my mold to slug the barrel with (unless that is a bad idea) to get the diameter... Shooting in a Glock but it is a Lone Wolf replacement barrel but I am getting leading in both barrels.

[yondering]

I will cast a pure lead bullet in my mold to slug the barrel with (unless that is a bad idea) to get the diameter...

That will work fine, except that the throat in your gun may be larger than the mold. If you stand the bullet on a hard surface and whack it once with a hammer, you can bump up the diameter a little bit to solve that problem.

Soft lead balls for muzzleloaders work pretty well, as do fishing sinkers.

Re. your original question, I lean towards harder bullets (water dropped wheel weights) in the .40, not because of the velocity, but because of the high pressure of that cartridge. Just make sure the bullet is slightly larger than throat and groove diameter, and you should be OK.

The Lone Wolf barrels are a little tight chambered, and the throats are tight too. You might benefit from having that barrel throat extended a little. My Para P16 has a long throat, which really helps with cast!

[HammerMTB]

The Lone Wolf barrels are a little tight chambered, and the throats are tight too. You might benefit from having that barrel throat extended a little. My Para P16 has a long throat, which really helps with cast!

I found my LWD barrel quite tight throated. When I brought it to the attention of LW, they offered to throat it out for me. I sent it in, and bought another bbl at the same time. Thought it a "gesture in kind" as they were trying to help me out.
Both bbls came back. One was OK. The other had been deep chambered by .050", and was no longer a 40S&W, nor a 10MM, but something in between.
When I pointed that out to LW, they got all mad, said send the bbl back for a refund. I did. 3 months later, no money, no contact, nothing. I had to badger the he|| out of them to get any response. Finally settled, but didn't get my shipping back. No more LW bbls for me.....
Since then I have seen a lot of machining accuracy complaints of LW products. :sad:

[d_striker]

Hello all, I have been lurking as a member here for a little while now and never really posted until now. I would like to say thank you for such a great forum!

Now onto my request/question... After getting sick of cleaning a huge amount of lead out of my 40 S&W using hard commercial lead boolits, I just bought a 6 cav lee 40 cal 175 grain TL mold and wanted to get opinions on what everyone is using for alloy hardness and powder charges for their pet loads to reduce leading.

Thanks!

Just curious...What size boolits is this mold dropping?

[yobohadi]

Just curious...What size boolits is this mold dropping?

Dunno yet, I just got it, I need to clean it and do some test casts to see.

[ebg3]

Just bought a Lee 6 cavity 175gr mould too. Cast a batch off bullets with it last night and it actually worked well. Alloy is medical "isotope" lead that should be 10-11 brinell. I just air-cooled these hoping that's all I'll have to do. Bullets measured an oval from .401 to .404. The Lyman sizer I'll use is .401. I'm going to size/lube with my home made "lithibee" lube. The gun they'll go through is an SVI Limited .40S&W. I hope to get out this afternoon to try these out.
EG

[truckmsl]

Beerloaf,

Harder boolits (sized to .4015, water dropped) in .40 auto loader work best for me. My Lone Wolf barrel has served me well for many, many thousands of rounds. My target load is 3.9 grains of WST with an OAL of 1.135. I use a conventional lube boolit with White Label BAC lube. No leading, great accuracy, very pleasant load.

If you're using softer lead, be sure to pull a loaded round and measure the boolit to be sure that your brass isn't sizing it back down - been there!

[fredj338]

I shoot a Lyman & Saeco 170-175gr, cast form ww, aircooled, sized 0.401" & lubed w/ CarnubaRed. With 5.8gr of Unqiue or 5.9gr of WSF @ 1.125", they will shoot into 1 1/2"@ 15yds from my very acg 4006 & my USP. Both go just under 1000fps.

[TRshootem]

OP: I spent a fair amount of time with that bullet this last summer/fall. Leading was a problem early on until I got the TL mix right. In my Sig229 this has proven to be a very accurate bullet. 4.6-4.8 gr of 231 was awesome (1.8" avg @ 25 yds). 5.5 gr of AutoComp avg @ 2.00". 5.4 gr N340 avg @ just under 2". 4.5-5.0 gr of WST was about the same as above in the Sig and a M&P. I settled on the 231 load for consistent POI @ 25 yds. They come out of my mold @ 175 gr and about .404, so I size 'em to .401. BTW, BHN was about 14. Have fun :)

[Bret4207]

Do as the guys say and fit the boolit to the gun first. Then shoot and see. WW alloy should be able to work for you. The exotic 22+ BHN stuff is rarely needed. OTH, if you WANT to use really hard alloys, they can work too. You still need to fit them first.

There is no "magic" BHN.

[Lloyd Smale]

first thing id do is dump the tumble lube. Just to messy and will gun up a semi auto in a short period of time to be honest i dont even care for the softer conventional lubes in a semi auto. I usualy go more toward something like corduba red or lbt commercial. I like them on the hard side but a bullet 15bhn is plenty hard. I most use #2 for them. I size to 401 or 402 depending on the gun. Im just not a fan of tumble lube or even tumble lube bullet designs.

[ebg3]

Just back from the range where I shot 55 of the Lee 175gr TC bullets. BTW, they
weigh 180grs when sized and lubed. Bullets were cast and air-cooled then sized with a .401 sizer and lubed with my "lithibee" type lube. After 55 rds, there was not a speck of lead in the barrel! I'm amazed and very happy. The load is 3.8grs e3 and a CCI small rifle primer with an OAL of 1.18". Velocity is a little over 900fps out of my 5" SVI pistol. BHN of my bullets is around 10, I think.
The above combo is working for me, it may be the right set up for you.

[ebg3]

Hey Beerloaf,
I went out and practiced this afternoon, shot 200rds of the above load and the barrel had ZERO leading! I am very happy with this load. Shooting at 10yards, the targets were getting little splats of lube on them. The gun was like new clean when I went out and after 200rds, there is very little crud in the slide or frame. The 50/50 lube is working great...I may try to harden the lube just a little to make the bullets easier to handle after sizing.
EG
EG

[migtek02]

Guys what boolit are you using?

Lee 6-Cavity Bullet Mold TL401-175-SWC 40 S&W (401 Diameter) 175 Grain Tumble Lube Semi-Wadcutter or *
*Lee 6-Cavity Bullet Mold 401-175-TC 40 S&W (401 Diameter) 175 Grain Truncated Cone

Sounds like 401-175-tc needs to be sized and TL401-175-swc is usually loaded as cast?
Thanks.

[popper]

Lee 401-175 T/C, 98/1/1 Pb/Sb/Sn @ 25 yds. My lube, sized .401 and I'll a poor shot. No leading. Circled ones have the rear drive band purposely cut 1/4"

[gray wolf]

CCI small rifle primer
May I ask why ??

[Muddydogs]

May I ask why ??

Not much difference between small pistol and small rifle primers, lot of guys just stock the rifle primer for easy. I do stock both small pistol and small rifle but all my primers are mag CCI just to make it easy.

I shoot the TL .401 175 TC out of my XD .40. Bullets are sized to .401 with a Lee push through die. 5.2 grains of unique with a CCI small pistol mag primer get it going. My mold makes 180 to 183 grain bullets with WW lead.


The best way to slug your barrel is to pour pure lead into a .40 case that has a spent primer in it. Use a kinetic bullet puller to remove the slug. The case web gives the slug a nice tapered end to make it easer to start and if the lead is flush with the case mouth there is a nice flat end for the dowel to set on while driving the slug.

[williamwaco]

I agree hard cast commercial bullets S**k.

I do not agree with all the opinions that the .40 is hard to reload.

I have chronicled my experiences here from unpacking the dies to testing the loads.

http://reloadingtips.com/pages/loading-40-sw.htm


.

[MBuechle]

I shoot the TL .401 175 TC out of my XD .40. Bullets are sized to .401 with a Lee push through die. 5.2 grains of unique with a CCI small pistol mag primer get it going. My mold makes 180 to 183 grain bullets with WW lead.


Ditto this. My 4" XD doesn't lead with water dropped WW. It drops at about .404 - .406 out of the TL mould and about 183 gr., so I size to .401 with Lee die. I use 50/50 Alox / Johnson wax. I tried 50% WW 50% pure lead water dropped but get some leading with that. Am going to try 75/25 next. I currently load 4.5 gr. Power Pistol for 860 fps., shoots real nice. 6.2 gr. gave best accuracy at 1050 fps., SD of 13, no leading, lots of flash and recoil. My notes show that 8.0 gr. Blue Dot also worked well with this boolit, 1010 fps., a little dirty though. Have tried HP-38 and it works well but I haven't done any load development with it yet. Use it in the 9mm as PP leads too much in that gun.

[blikseme300]

I agree hard cast commercial bullets S**k.

I do not agree with all the opinions that the .40 is hard to reload.

I have chronicled my experiences here from unpacking the dies to testing the loads.

http://reloadingtips.com/pages/loading-40-sw.htm


.

+1

.40 is much easier than the 9mmP. I use the Lee 175gn TC sized to .401 and lubed with BAC loaded over 5.0gn of HP38. Stout load that is accurate with no leading out of a few 40's I own. People are afraid of this round for some reason and I don't understand why.

Bliksem

Disclaimer added: My loads work for me in my guns. Your Mileage May Vary. Use at own risk.

[geargnasher]

The magic number for the .40 S&W is the same as for Life, the Universe, and Everything: 42.

Gear

[popper]

MBuechle - 75/25 is harder, did you mean 25/75 with a little tin? 42 - like chicken foot or mexican train?

[Muddydogs]

I agree hard cast commercial bullets S**k.

I do not agree with all the opinions that the .40 is hard to reload.I have chronicled my experiences here from unpacking the dies to testing the loads.

http://reloadingtips.com/pages/loading-40-sw.htm


.

I didn't know the .40 was hard to reload for either. On my LnL AP I loaded up and shot most of 1500 rounds through 3 different .40 pistols before I started reading on the web that the .40 was hard to load for. Not sure what I'm missing but I can't seem to make it hard.

Ive shot Gold Dots, plated, FMJ and cast lead with no problems what so ever, O wait I did have one round fail to fire. When I ejected the round that failed to fire the bullet was also set back in the case. Once I pulled the bullet with my fingers dumped out the powder I could tell the primer had went off. Well upon further inspection it appears that the primer had been hit twice. Some how a once fired case missed the sizing and priming station but got powder and a bullet. Must have been during a press problem and this case got put back in the shell holder at the wrong place.

[ku4hx]

175 grain Lee TC, 5.3 grains Unique, 10 yards offhand. I don't think the 40 cal is a bit of trouble.