I decided to pick up a shield for cc and am planning on reloading my practice ammo. I have on hand some 155 grain 20 to 1 cast bullets and some 135 jhp nosler bullets. I picked up a 50# bucket of speer cases for $150 (no glock smiles). My thoughts are to load mid range loads using win 231 and win small pistol primers following published load data. will 231 be sufficiently fast or should I go to a faster powder to avoid muzzle flash? Do bullets prefer to be seated long or short for reliable feeding? I do have 35 years reloading experience just looking for tips to cut down on load development time. Thanks Bob
1) powder is burned within the first inch. Muzzle flash is HOT plasma and NOT burning powder.
2) What are you trying to achieve?
I find that the most accurate powder in my .40s is AA5, but I don't take it much over mid-range. For hotter loads, Silhouette is the most accurate.
If you want to load for action pistol, then you would be after heavier bullets and faster powders, with 231/HP38 being about as slow as you would want.
For just shooting and learning the gun and reloading, 231/HP38 is a great powder. I find it the most accurate powder for my .45 Autos, despite Bullseye being the choice of so many.
3) Loading .40S&W is the same as other straight-wall cartridges, but I have found it very unforgiving. Be sure to check a couple of different manuals for load data, start with the lowest starting load, and inspect every case by eye for powder charge and charge height in case.
4) Best accuracy is usually with the longest COL that feeds and chambers in your gun. COL in manuals is NOT a recommendation or an optimum COL—it is usually shorter than preferable, so data is "safer" at longer COL.
5) I would recommend that you run all cases through a Lee Bulge Buster/Lee .40 FCD to remove bulges not visible to human eye (personally, if I can see a bulge, I figure the case is ruined and I don't want to risk my gun or my body to a weakened case). Otherwise, you might find yourself with a bunch of rounds that just won't quite fully chamber.
If you have any WSF around, I do 7.5 gr. with the 135 gr. Nosler JHP. I could go hotter but it works in both the shield and the full size. That JHP is designed to expand at velocities as low as 800 fps, so the 1220 ish f.p.s works for me.
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