40 S&W reloading thread

[Irving]

I've been saying for years that I'm going to start reloading. Well, I actually have all the components I need now to do so. I've been reading different sources and trying to find a place to start. Here is what I'll be working with initially. This is going to be pretty beginner stuff, so I apologize in advance for asking the day one stuff.

RCBS turret press
Lee dies
Mixed .40 brass
CCI small pistol primers
Accurate Arms #5
Berry's plated 180g (also have 135g plated, but I'm going to start with 180)

I'm going to start with 180g and 1.125 OAL.
Trying to set everything up to get a consistent OAL tonight and ran into some things I wanted to ask questions about.

First, while loading empty cartridges to establish a baseline OAL and get my flare where I want it, I had some bullets have some plating scrape off due to no flare. This caused an issue with the bullet, and the case. I assume that the bullet on the left is no good with the gash in the plating, even though the bottom is in tact. All the pulled bullets that didn't lose any plating, still have this heavy ring around them, are they still useable?



I'm unsure of the brass, but the crease worries me. This picture was taken after running it through the resizing die.



Here are some measurements I took of 10 bullets, 10 cases, and 10 cartridges. I have one outlier in case size (and don't have a trimmer). The OAL is more consistent than I thought it would be, but is it consistent enough? It looks like I need to bring the bullet down just a hair. What can you tell me about this information that I've gathered tonight as far as consistency and acceptable variation?


Here are the pictures of the 10 rounds I made tonight (no primer, no powder).



This first one on the left looks a little bulged.

[Great-Kazoo]

Heavy ring is from over crimping. The OAL variation is from the bullets. Very rarely have same exact OAL on plated bullets.measure a few, you'll see what I mean. Don't bother trimming pistol brass, Like the bullets all your brass will not be consistent. When I started I did the same as you and I went crazy, trying to get a uniform OAL Regarding the bulge, I don't do 40, need one who does to chime in. However 9mm had that "bulge" once finished.
Measure .005 on paper, it's like 2 - 3 hairs thick.

[BuffCyclist]

Okay, for starters, your brass is TOO clean, stop it, you're making me question my brass cleaning habits.


For what its worth, I load my 40 with 180gr and seated to 1.125", so that part is at least in the ballpark. I haven't used AA#5 for more than 9mm when a friend was using it, and we found the Lee Pro Auto Disk powder measure to have difficulty with dropping consistent charges with AA#5. This Lee powder dropper works PERFECTLY for Win WST (which is my normal powder for 40).

The scraped plating is due to, as you found, not enough flare, but be careful to not put too much flare. The heavy ring around the bullet is as kazoo said, from too much crimp.


Not sure what to say about that ring around the brass, but it looks more like a discoloration than a physical ring that has a larger OD than the case diameter. That is probably due to the bullet being larger and expanding out the brass. I've noticed this on some of my reloads, as well as some factory ammo that for some reason, the bullet just pushes out on the brass more. I usually shoot them but if you're hesitant, just toss the brass in the trash can. There's no need to risk a kb if you aren't comfortable with using brass.


As far as the information you gathered, I can tell you that you're doing too much. I do not measure my case length, but with 40 I make sure I drop each completed round into a case gauge (only do this for 40 due to the bulge). That will tell me if my OAL is too short/long or perfect.


Your crimp is WAY too heavy. A good way to dial that in is to get a factory case from a good ammo company (i.e. don't use wolf). Insert the loaded round into the shell holder, back out the crimp dial a LOT, then raise the ram and hold it there while you slowly twist the crimp dial until it touches the factory loaded round, lower the ram and then turn the dial 1/4-1/2 turn more and place a mark on it and leave it. If you have problems inserting the reloaded round into the case gage and it is obviously due to the case mouth flare, turn the crimp dial in another 1/4-1/2 turn and repeat. I only crimp enough to remove the flare and then slightly more (like 0.001" if it were easy to measure that).


I can't see the bulge you're talking about in the picture, but I've seen some obviously bulged 40 cases and they are so obvious, you will notice it (like 0.0625" higher than the rest of the case).

Lastly, if you haven't found it yet, check out Xtremebullets.com. They are the cheapest source I have found for quality plated bullets. They are running a 10% off all plated bullets (10offALLplate) and I have 1k 115gr 9mm being delivered today for $76 shipped (their shipping is included in the cost, so basically free shipping). I also have 500 38spl and 1k 180gr 40 coming next week and those cost about $140. I have been VERY impressed with the quality of their bullets.

Other than that, load up a few and start low on the charges. My most accurate load was the starting load for WST and now that I have a chrono, I'm going to finally find out the velocity of them too.

[stodg73]

Do you have a go-no go case gage, this tool is chambered for the caliber that you are loading for. The case gage will let you set the depth, crimp, OAL of the round. It will also tell you if the sizing and crimping dies are set right.


http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/con...gun_Case_Gages

[Colorado Osprey]

The 40 like other straight wall rebated rim cartridges head spaces off the case mouth. The crimp is a taper crimp and the case should appear straight and not crimped when completed.
The marks on the bullets and you completed cartridges show that you had too much crimp. They should appear as though there is no crimp (straight)

40S&W even though it is pretty straight forward as far as reloading goes, is not a great choice for learning reloading. The reason being is pressures associated with the cartridge are so close to maximums. Too much crimp, very small powder variances can have catastrophic results. Many known as the Ka-booms seen in Glocks and other firearms. Most of these Ka-Booms occur in the 40 S&W reloads. I know of 3 personally who's guns have ka-boomed with may years of reloading experience.... all in 40S&W, all were reloads; none were Glocks.
That said, even with over 30 years of reloading experience, I load but not reload 40S&W. I'm not saying you should follow my lead, but just be extremely careful when re-loading the 40.

Going back, your 1st photo with the plating scuffs. I would re-use the bullet on the right. The left one I would take a knife to and cut away the buggered plating, then use it. The accuracy loss will not be noticeable under 50 yards.

Any bulged cases I would discard. They are too cheap to even try to press my luck in the 40S&W.

As far as your OAL, I wouldn't worry to much about your exact OAL, but consistency is key. As long as you can get a repeatable OAL and it is short enough to fit in the mags you are good.

To prevent case bulging you can separate seating bullets and crimping into 2 steps. Back the die off, and set the bullet set plunger to get a consistent OAL. Then back off the bullet seat plunger and adjust the die down to get the crimp you want. This is by far the easiest way to get everything perfect. Yes, it does take an extra step, but your "bad" round count will disappear. In these days of hard to find reloading components, I believe it is worth the time.

Sometimes bulged cases can also be cause by not enough case mouth bell, causing the bullet to not go straight in the case or scraping off plating, jacket or lead.
Additionally, over belling the case mouth over works the brass reducing case life.

Even with enough case mouth bell you can still get bulged case if the bullets are not set perfectly straight before trying to seat them. (as they go in at an angle)

I hope this helps.

[Jamnanc]

Might spend $19 for a lee factory crimp die. I don't think it's much "better", but crimping in a Different operation than seating makes it a little easier to get consistent oal.

My only 40 problem so far has been with plated bullets, too tight of a crimp, and bulging of the bullet which caused feeding issues. Those got pulled down once I discovered the problem.

Jim advised that I use the barrel of my gun as a case gauge for completed rounds and this has solved that problem.

[Colorado Osprey]

Jim advised that I use the barrel of my gun as a case gauge for completed rounds and this has solved that problem.

Remove it from the gun and it is great advise! I usually do this as a quality check as I set up my dies.

[Jamnanc]

Remove it from the gun and it is great advise! I usually do this as a quality check as I set up my dies.

Good point. That is important to note.

[Great-Kazoo]

Jim advised that I use the barrel of my gun as a case gauge for completed rounds and this has solved that problem.

Remove it from the gun and it is great advise! I usually do this as a quality check as I set up my dies.

I left that part out when talking with jamnac, since he oops my truck with his

Thanks, both of you filled in the parts i left out, unable to respond from a tablet like one can from a laptop or pc, with fat fingers

[BuffCyclist]

My added above.