40 s&w 180 berry's bullets

kman300

kman300

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I'm looking for a light recoil 180gr berry's bullets load for a 40 s&w g22.

I have no desire to hot rod, make major, push the envolope etc. I just want a low recoil "safe" load to make 125 power factor at least and reliably cycle a stock g22. Will be shot in ipsc production minor class.

What powder do you recommend? Should be something wss or cabelas carries. Shipping on powder is bad. I would also like something that meters well. Using a rcbc meter (the one that came with the rockchucker supreme kit). I've loaded rifle and shotgun for a long time. New to pistol reloading.

Thanks
 
To start, there is no minor or major in production, see rule book appendix D4 ..

At any rate, you only need about 700 fps to make 126 pf ... So you have tons of options. I would suggest going a bit heavier, say up to 730 fps to give you some insurance that you will make that 125 pf.

That titegroup load would be nice and light. You could also try 3.7 grains of Hogdon HS-6. Only thing about HS-6 is that I find it really dirty. If you want to try a slightly more expensive (but really not that significant IMO) get some VihtaVuori N320. 4.1 gr of N320 would shoot really soft and make your 125 pf no problem.

HTH
 
I did some workup with win 231 and unique. 5.9 grains of unique gave me 800 fps and I ended up running with 4.7 of the win 231 (860 fps) I found that lighter charges were inconsistent in velocity and feel, more so with the Win 231. Unique performed well at lower charges, but I neglected to chronograph those loads at the time. Unique was also much cleaner.

I have charted my load/velocity data if you are interested for these two powders, although I started at 800 FPS and went up from there.

I should mention that this was with a G22 Gen4 and 180 gn Berrys plated.
 
I have been shooting 40 minor for IPSC and switched to Clays from titegroup. I run 3 grains of clays with a 180 grain from Aim and Cam pro. I found the titegroup got fairly sooty and the extreme spread opened up at minor PF. Lots of people will warn you away from Clays in 40. For shooting minor you will be fine.
 
I ordered the caliber conversion and dies for my Dillon. Will be loading n320 starting at 3.4gr and going from there. Will post results and chrono data when I get to the range.

Thanks
 
4.5 grs of Bullseye under the 180 Berry's works great in my XD.
Powder availability seems to be hit and miss lately...every time I go to either store they have no stock, so when you find it buy an extra can.
 
Skip the 180's

Skip the 180 grain Berry's altogether. Recoil for the 180 grain bullet in 40S&W is almost the same as a 200grain 45acp bullet. If the recoil is the same, why not just shoot a 45acp?
Berry's makes a much lighter plated bullet for the 40. It's either a 155 or a 160 grain bullet. Way better. In my opinion, for target work and recoil reduction, the 155 or 160's are the way to go. Drop 3.7 or 3.8 grains of RedDot behind a 155 or 160 and watch your scores go up and recoil go down...
 
Im in the same boat so might as well post here. Bought the powder, bullet, case and press. I have 2k of berries .40 180 gr (so ill be sticking with this for awhile), powder is titegroup, primer is CCI for pistol.

I was thinking 3.5 to 3.7 grains, not too sure of the OAL for this though. Same thing I want to achieve, low recoil, flat trajectory and minimum power factor. Shooting on a glock 35.

Anyone has load data for this bullet?
 
just dug out my loading log.
any tightgroup loads under 4 grains for me had extreme spread of between 75 and 100 fps. this may be ok for practice but could bite you at the chrony stage.
for me loads in the 3.7 grain range would make minor. I just didn't have that much confidence in them making PF considering the spreads I was seeing. Add in some temperature change or some elevation change(I shoot in BC) and this wasn't my powder for minor. As I mentioned earlier that at the lower charge weights there was quite a bit of soot. This was also a factor in my decision to switch to clays.

with clays my etreme spread was arounf 12-20 fps. Much more consistent and cleaner.

I have my data if you are are interested.
 
My loads were done with Aim not Berry's but as they are both plated I believe the loads would be comprable.
Firearm used is my baby eagle. It has the polygonal rifling. Barrel is about 4.4 inch.
All rounds were loaded on my loadmaster.

First attempt
3.7 gr titegroup 1.12 overall length
180 grian Aim
Mixed brass
10 round average velocity. 782
High was 812.4
Low was 729.9
Extreme spread 82.5
Std dev 23.7
PF 140
This was a little hotter than my target of around 130 to 135 PF.

Next load all things equal with powder at 3.4 grains

10 round average was 707.2
High was 746.6
Low was 642.2
Extreme spread was 104.4
Std dev 30.3
PF 127

This one was too low.
 
just be careful with clays. it is not a powder for making full power loads. the pressure curve spikes really fast with clays. Stick to published maximums and you will be ok.
Just don't try the 190 pf loads with clays - for that i recommend power pistol
 
I agree ampegor. Clays is not the powder I would use for loading major. Especially not at spec overall length.
As I said in my earlier post it works great for minor. It is a lower density powder than titegroup but at such a low charge weight a double charge is possible. Look before seating bullets. I run a lockout die myself and visually inspect each case before seating. A double charge of clays will result in tragedy.
At the 3.5 grain loading it is possible to double charge titegroup as well.

That said clays at minor is a very controllable loading and very economical as well.
Be safe and have fun!
 
Loaded up 10 each at 1.130" with N320 and 180 berrys.

3.4gr didn't cycle at all
3.5gr stovepiped
3.6gr cycled ~650 fps
3.7gr cycled ~680fps

Ejection was weak and basically just dropped the brass next to the gun. Will load 3.8 and 3.9 and see how that goes.
 
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