40sw loads

dearslayer

dearslayer

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Anyone have any favorite recipes to share for .40sw with a 175gr cast lead bullet? Looking in the Lyman cast bullet hand book 4th edition, it has a recipe for a LYMAN#401043 175GR #2 alloy with a starting grain using Win231 of 4.3 and a Max of 5.8. I guess it would be best to start at the bottom at 4.3 or could I safely start closer to say 4.8 and work up? I do have some other powders such as Titegroup/Power Pistol/ CFE pistol and a few more that I can't remember while here at work.
 
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WW231 should work famously in 40S&W with the 175 cast bullet. I prefer RedDot or PROMO as it is a little more economical via lower powder throws.
5.8 grains of 231 is way too hot, I would stick to 4.0 grains of 231 & perhaps move up to 4.5 grains if you need more velocity, or want to knock over bowling pins, or plates.
TiteGroup would also be a winner at almost the same powder charges. Suggest you try both & see which powder your 40 likes better.
 
Not trying to be a smart-ass so legit question... Is there a particular reason you suggest starting at less than the minimum charge of 4.3? Also because I'm fairly new at this what signs should one look for in deciding which powder would be better or which one I would like more? Would it be things like how dirty one is compared to the next or the recoil on one versus the other etc?
 
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I find that titegroup causes more leading. I’m a fan of 231, wst, and 800x for boomer loads. 700x is good too. Power pistol and cfe pistol are great powders but I haven’t used them with cast loads, and mainly use them in 45 super and 10mm.
 
I haven't settled on a favourite yet, but here are some charts to show what I have learned thus far.

I am showing here the full range of my test results. I do not suggest that all of these loads are safe. To the contrary, I am quite certain that several of them go well over SAAMI max.

This is using a 170 grain bullet dropped from a MP mould. Mixed 50-50 pure-COWW and lubed with LSS Carnauba Red, they all lead to some degree near the top end.

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Over on Castboolits.com there used to be a lot of very lively discussion on loading for .40 S&W. Many people consider it a very challenging cartridge to load with cast to full power. What it comes down to is the right load is one that gives you the velocity you want with as little leading as possible.
 
So what is the correlation with speed versus leading? I'm not sure about the whole velocity thing as I'm just target shooting. Should I be trying to reach a certain velocity to minimize or eliminate leading? Please excuse my ignorance in these matters.
 
I think it’s dependent on how hot the powder burns. Titegroup is a very (temperature) hot powder. I don’t think velocity really plays a huge role in pistol calibers.
 
Conventional wisdom is that higher velocities translate to more leading. Whether or not that's a direct result of velocity or of something correlated to velocity, such as pressure, I don't know.

If you are not trying to take advantage of the power potential of .40 S&W it eases the task quite a bit. Use a modest charge of a fast burning powder, and paper punch away.

One factor that can raise its head regardless of speed is sizing. Cases for the .40 are said to be drawn quite hard, and seating will sometimes swage your carefully sized bullets to a smaller diameter, which promotes leading regardless of how fast you are pushing them. Some people have had to go to custom expanders to bell the case mouth in such a way it holds the bullet without resizing it.
 
dearslayer said:
Anyone have any favorite recipes to share for .40sw with a 175gr cast lead bullet? Looking in the Lyman cast bullet hand book 4th edition, it has a recipe for a LYMAN#401043 175GR #2 alloy with a starting grain using Win231 of 4.3 and a Max of 5.8. I guess it would be best to start at the bottom at 4.3 or could I safely start closer to say 4.8 and work up? I do have some other powders such as Titegroup/Power Pistol/ CFE pistol and a few more that I can't remember while here at work.
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Experimented with TG and 231 and since I had an old can of Bullseye on the shelf thought Id give the old Bullseye a try. My go to load now for 40 S&W is 3.8 grains Bullseye with 180 grain DRG TC bullet.
There is not a lot to not like about this load. Reasonably mild to shoot and number 1 in the accuracy department.
 
BattleRife said:
Conventional wisdom is that higher velocities translate to more leading. Whether or not that's a direct result of velocity or of something correlated to velocity, such as pressure, I don't know.

If you are not trying to take advantage of the power potential of .40 S&W it eases the task quite a bit. Use a modest charge of a fast burning powder, and paper punch away.

One factor that can raise its head regardless of speed is sizing. Cases for the .40 are said to be drawn quite hard, and seating will sometimes swage your carefully sized bullets to a smaller diameter, which promotes leading regardless of how fast you are pushing them. Some people have had to go to custom expanders to bell the case mouth in such a way it holds the bullet without resizing it.
Click to expand...

I am only punching paper so velocity for any other reason isn't as important as much as trying to prevent leading . I will try 10 rounds each of the Win231 at .2gr increases starting with 4.1 up to 4.7 and see how it goes.
 
You gotta start somewhere. Published reloading receipes at the starting load has to work in a vast variety of autos, reliably. So the starting load is the so called *benchmark*. However that doesn’t mean that a lesser charge might also work. That is one reason persons reload.

Seasoned reloaders use published data to gauge what they might want a loading receipe to accomplish for a particular situation.
4.3 might be a terrific load for the 175 & you should try it. Personally I would start with 4.0 & see how it goes, you don’t have to make 50, make 5 & test.

On the powder front, all powder is dirty, the combustion process & the powder formulas vary widely, some making more particulates, some less. 40S&W is IMNSHO the easiest case the reload. Fast burning powders like SMCX’s 700X, Bullseye, TiteGroup, WST, RedDot, all have great energy with light powder throws making a pound last much longer. Use what you got, experiment & find a decent load, & post your thoughts here……
 
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