Reloading S&W .40?

[rep308]

When I first started reloading 15 years ago there was some concern about reloading for the Smith and Wesson .40. It's a high pressure round, and 15 years it was relatively new. We'll time marches on, I own a couple of .40's and I wanted some opinions here on reloading the .40. What is a good powder to start, what is the case level of a typical powder charge, and does the powder get compressed during the load process?

 

[tele_mark]

.40 S&W was the very first round I loaded for, as a rank beginner with no reloading experience. That said, I'll keep it simple, and rather than offer up recipes, I'll say that 2400 is a good powder to start with, as the charge is so big (around 10 grains if I recall correctly), that it's virtually impossible to overcharge.

 

[Adam_MA]

I load for the 40 as well. My preferred round, is 4.7 grains of titegroup, under a 165 grain bullet.

 

[EddieCoyle]

For an experienced reloader, the .40 is no harder or easier to load than any other caliber.

The reason for the bad reputation it's that there's little room for error WRT charge weight and OAL. Also, the bullet-to-case tension needs to be sufficient to prevent setback during recoil.

If you pay attention to what you're doing you should be fine.

 

[Scrivener]

10 grains of 2400 will certainly prevent overcharging the case, but it might to that to your wallet!

I started with Red Dot, but wanted less smoke. I have used 231 and WST with success; more so the latter because - until October - it was cheaper per pound AND used a tad less powder per charge. Both meter well, both are clean and both will do a good job for you.

I'm using 4.3 grains of WST under a 180 grain poly-coated truncated cone bullet.

If I want to pretend I'm serious, I'll load up my 180 gr. JHP's with Vihta Vuori N 350. I bought an 8# jug to feed the race gun with while waiting for 3N38 to come in, and found a load on Jeff Maas' old site using it.

My loads are designed to "make major" (165 PF) in USPSA, in a double-stack gun. Read: "long-loaded." I also use Small RIFLE primers in all my small primer loads; it isn't worth the trouble to stock both SP and SR. SR's do everything SP primers do, with a greater margin of safety. It simplifies inventory, which is A Good Thing.

Do NOT start with my loads; use the minimum shown in the manuals and work your way up!!!

 

[howie]

I use 231 4.5 with 180 gr fmj works great and 4.1 with 180 gr lead.I am happy with both.I just pick up a 1000 200 gr 40/10 mm bullet and winchester say to use 3.0 of 231 i will post feed back on the 200 gr lead when i load some up and try them
Howie

 

[wiskie762]

i use titegroup 4.4 grains for hornady 180 grain xtp bullets

 

[Lugnut]

IMHO you should prepare and develop .40 S&W loads the very same as others. Check cases for any defects, make sure you work up to an acceptable load using good equipment. Reloading is not a race so take your time.

 

[wiskie762]

IMHO you should prepare and develop .40 S&W loads the very same as others. Check cases for any defects, make sure you work up to an acceptable load using good equipment. Reloading is not a race so take your time.

good post i started loading on a single stage press and 40 was the first bullet i loaded it took me about an hour to load 50 rounds now that im a little more confident i can use a progressive