Best .40 S&W loads?

[Grantness]

What do you guys reccomend? 155-165gr and fast, or 180gr and slow? (yea,yea...I know option C: 180gr and fast :laugh: ).

Anyone got any pet loads to start me off? I've been searching around and it seems like Longshot, Blue Dot, Power Pistol, Acc #7, V N-350, V-3n37, HS-6 (havnt seen much HS-7, but from my experience its often better), Universal, and Unique all look to be some of the best powders.

[t1210]

Grantness,
What lengh barrel ? I normally go with the lighter bullets in the smaller guns to lessen recoil and still keep enough speed to upset in the target.

[Grantness]

I believe its about 3.5 inches (Glock 27). I just ordered some 165gr golden sabers in bulk...

[stg2ahn]

I personally would stick with 180 grain because most target ammo is 180 grain.

Hydrashocks and HST are great defense loads.

[fatherfoof]

Unique to play with in my 27. I cannot make it malfunction. For carry I use Winchester Silvertips in the DeSantis Nemesis (about 13 bucks). In shorts and tucked in tee shirt all summer nobody can tell you're armed and the beauty is you actually forget it yourself it's so comfortable. Great thing, as I'm sure you know, you can if needsbe use any 40 SW mag Glock makes regardless of which gun they're designed for.

[Holliday89]

I shoot 40 for my limited gun in USPSA. here are the loads I use for Major power factor and Minor.

IPSC/USPSA Major Load (.40 S&W)

Bullet Excel - 180 Grain copper plated Truncated Cone
Primer Winchester Small Pistol
O.A.L 1.19 (medium - light crimp)
Powder Titegroup
Powder Charge 5.2 Grains
FPS 998 - 1008 fps = 180 - 181 PF



IPSC/USPSA Minor Load (.40 S&W)

Bullet Excel - 180 Grain copper plated Truncated Cone
Primer Winchester Small Pistol
O.A.L 1.125
Powder Clays
Powder Charge 3.4 Grains
FPS 695 - 700 fps

[Grantness]

cool...thanks guys :thumb:

Im looking for self-defense loads mostly. From looking at load manuals, it looks like the lighter bullets are winning out in the ft/lbs area. I havnt seen any 180gr loads much over 1100fps (484ft/lbs) , but ive seen a number of 155gr loads in the 1250-1300fps (538-582ft/lbs) range.

....and I realize most of these loads are standardized for a 4 inch barrel, but I can still get an idea how the different loads are going to perform relative to each other.

[ArtosDracon]

I recommend any .40S&W load that's been necked down to fire 9mm/.355 bullets.

All joking aside, they're pretty pricey, but I've had good luck with double tap ammo.

[Grantness]

I know, Im planning on getting a .357 SIG barrel eventually....

double tap? are you talking about Hornady TAP?

[stg2ahn]

double tap is a brand. ( think Ford)

Hornady TAP is a type of ammo Hornady makes.

[ArtosDracon]

Double tap is in fact a brand:
Double Tap .40S&W loads

I like the 165gr Gold Dot's for .40 personally. The 125gr Gold dots in .357Sig. They offer a lot of good options though, just depends on what you're looking for.

[Grantness]

cool, ive already got some 180gr Gold Dots, cause thats what my sheriff's deputy buddy says he carries. I will have to try the 165gr variety. Does anyone know if the Gold Dot bullets are sold as components and where?

[ArtosDracon]

Midway's got them, so I'm sure just about any reloading supply place will have them. They're extremely popular. They're my standard carry in everything .355" and up. I generally go for the higher velocity lower weight, though not neccissarily the lowest weight, gives a higher muzzle energy, though the lack of weight means that the energy falls off faster, but I generally don't shoot at people outside of 20-25 yards, so I'm not so worried about that, and the higher velocity will mean greater expansion out of the gold dots. It's a lot of personal preference and what you and your gun run the best with. I say pick up double taps sampler pack and see which ones run the best through your gun. My G35 with lone wolf barrel will fire anything I've put in it thus far, but it really likes the higher velocity rounds, probably due to it's being compensated internally. Double tap builds all of their rounds with a full size glock in mind, and tests them with the full and the baby glock. Find one you like, tear down a spare and see what it uses, and go from there.

[Grantness]

I've noticed that in my Lee and Hodgdon manuals there is a warning under the 40 S&W that says something like: Do not use in Glock or similar huns with chambers that do not fully support the cartridge due to the intrusion of the feed ramp.

Am I going to run into problems using reloads in the Glock 27?

[LK45s]

I don't know much about glocks but I found this site http://www.glockfaq.com/default.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and there is some interesting info there.

[Holliday89]

I have been reading my USPSA/IPSC fourm for some helpful info.
Most of the shooters who shoot 40 out of a glock, (mostly the 35) switched to a KKM barrel because the aftermarket barrel for the fully supported chamber because of running major PF. Most IPSC shooters that get an aftermarket barrel do so becasue of shooting lead bullets.

When I shot a 35 in Limited class with major Power factor I used factory loads with the glock factory barrel. I shot what ever I could find at the time before i started reloading. Federal, Winchester, Hornady, PMC, & speer never had a problem with Factory 40 making major PF. I reload it to get a "softer feel" and better recoil control and more acuracy from round to round.

I did sell my 35 and got a custom 2011 STI .40 to use in Limited class once I really got into setting up my own ammo.
Here is quote from Kevin C about the barrels. from the forums
I think a big reason for aftermarket barrels (besides the common impulse to tinker with our guns) is ammo related. Some want to shoot lead, and there are a lot of folks, including the good folks who make these plastic bullet spitters, who advise against using cast in a polygonally rifled bbl. Some dislike the assymmetrically bulged ("guppy bellied") brass that the generously cut Glock chambers produce. Some worry that those "unsupported" chambers lead to KB's. Glock after market bbls have standard rifling in which lead can be shot, no questions asked, and tighter chambers.

Accuracy is often quoted as a reason to get a new bbl, but Glocks are not bad straight out of the box, and I believe it's the fitting of an oversized aftermkt bbl that makes it more accurate than the stock one.

I have good aftermkt bbls (BarSto) for my Glocks, but they aren't more accurate in my guns, are more finicky on ammo, and are definitely slower (the polygonal bbls reportedly obturate better and get more velocity out of the same powder charge). I will be going to the Nats this fall with my 35's sporting the bbls they came with.


Hope this helps

[Grantness]

Thanks guys. I dunno if im gonna get a new barrel anytime soon. I read somewhere that Federal has improved the webbing on their .40 brass to help prevent this problem. I guess I will just use good brass and common sense...

[fatherfoof]

Grant, I have 4 glocks in different calibers, and have reloaded without problem since the first year they were imported. One sidenote on my faith in the 40... We were issued 357 magnums, and then were switched out to the Ber 96 in .40. Quite often, we had to dispatch some cow or deer that wandered onto the highway. The deer was the same, but on cows we took a heart shot--just one, and it died. With the 40 Black Talons they gave us, we kept shooting and the blasted things would not die. First time it happened we had three cars there and put 30 rounds into the cow before it died. After that I have had no faith in the round unless the bullet sits atop a full power 10mm. Just my personal opinion based on observation.

[Walkalong]

I really like Universal Clays in .40. It shoots great with Zero 165 Gr JHP's. I like slow 180 Gr loads for plinking. They are more comfortable than peppy 155 & 165 Gr loads in my XD SC. I had a Witness Elite Match and everything was OK in that since it was fairly weighty, but even in it leisurely 180's were preferable for plinking.

AA #5 is next.

[ehryk]

With the 40 Black Talons they gave us, we kept shooting and the blasted things would not die. First time it happened we had three cars there and put 30 rounds into the cow before it died. After that I have had no faith in the round unless the bullet sits atop a full power 10mm. Just my personal opinion based on observation.

actually, I bet those rounds performed exactly as they were intended to. They penetrated 12"-16" and no more in a human and I bet its more than 16" deep to a cows heart. I have treated people shot by a .357 when I was a medic in Detroit back in the mid to late 80s. Every one exited the bad guy, regardles of his build and placement. Dont take this wrong, but it was just the wrong bullet for the job on the cows.

[fatherfoof]

No argument there. We simply had to use what was issued. They tested for a considerable time and the 180 gr Talon was best for carstops in the 40. Our attitude was since we were out of the city, overpenetration wasn't very important to us. The 357 mag never failed, never jammed, but a few guys wanted to carry ten rounds rather than six. You be safe over there and Godbless you for serving us in the military! FF :patriot:

[Buffman]

HSTs or Gold dots

[fatherfoof]

These were the origonal Black Talons restricted to LE. 180gr HP. Later Wichester changed the bullet color and called them Rangers. Now I am showing my age (sigh).

[ehryk]

heh, yeah, I can understand using what you have and the wheel gun was generaly more reliable than the autoloaders back then (showing my age too I think lol).

Thanks for the thanks, it's an honor to serve. :patriot: ~7 months to go, half way there lol

[Grantness]

Thought Id share some of the loads Ive worked up for my Glock 27 in the past couple trips to the range. Ive developed a habit of throwing together at least one .40S&W load to try whenver I head out to test 5.7x28mm. They're not 700ft/lbs or anything, but I like them better than most any factory ammo I can find. The trick is to find something that will give me a good amount of energy, but will also be controllable out of the little G27 and not risk a case seperation out of the unsupported barrel.

Even though I am working off of published loads, its always nice to know how they perform in MY gun. The Hodgdon loads were worked up out of a 4" barrel. It seems there wasnt as much velocity loss to the 3.45" barrel than I expected.

Hodgdon Longshot. 165gr Golden Saber OAL: 1.125 Trim: not really :laugh:

Glock 27 3.46" factory barrel.

7.6gr: 1069fps
7.7gr: 1080fps (427ft/lbs) max: 1100fps (43ft/lbs)

*note* the latest Hodgdon manual lists the max for Longshot and a 165gr bullet @ 7.8gr and 1185fps. Interstingly, the list the max for a 180gr bullet @ 8.0gr and 1159fps It seems I may be able to take it a little higher, despite my reluctance to push the envelope w/ the unsupported chamber of the G27.

VVN350: 165gr Golden Saber Oal: 1.125

7.5gr: 1047fps

*note* The Speer manual lists VVN350 as the powder w/ the most velocity for this bullet weight. Their max load is 7.5gr @ 1106fps.

180gr XTP
6.5gr: 936fps (350ft/lbs) Max:946fps

I did an initial workup w/ the 180gr bullets at a medium load. Everything functioned fine. Max load listed in the Speer manual is 6.9gr @ 987 fps. Obviously this is the wrong weight bullet if you want to achieve max energy (although I may try to give N105 a try since Lee lists a 200gr N105 load @ 1132fps & 569ft/lbs...and if I can fit enough powder in the case it should do just as well w/ a 180gr bullet).

[munoz]

I personally would stick with 180 grain because most target ammo is 180 grain.

Hydrashocks and HST are great defense loads.

Yeah I agree with you it's really good in defense load.

________________
*Edited out link, stop spamming. - jmz