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Posted: 6/9/2017 8:26:31 PM EDT
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What's your favorite powder for .40 S&W loads, and why?
I am looking for a powder to use with 180gr jacketed and plated bullets. I have these powders, in no particular order: Unique 231 CFE Pistol True Blue TightGroup AA#5 I'm not averse to buying a new powder if it's going to perform head and shoulders above what I have, but I'm curious what everybody is using, and what their rationales are. |
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Longshot is a huge favorite for those looking for power. I found the recoil very uncomfortable in my g23 but a little better in my sr40c.
I started loading 40 years ago with Bullseye and 180 cast. Probably too comfortable but very accurate and it would do its job if needed. I will probably pick a burn rate in between next time. |
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What's your favorite powder for .40 S&W loads, and why? I am looking for a powder to use with 180gr jacketed and plated bullets. I have these powders, in no particular order: Unique 231 CFE Pistol True Blue TightGroup AA#5 I'm not averse to buying a new powder if it's going to perform head and shoulders above what I have, but I'm curious what everybody is using, and what their rationales are. 
I'm sure you are going to use it in your work up loads anyway. |
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I use Power Pistol for all 9mm and .40 S&W jacketed loads. I don't shoot lead or plated in these calibers.
Power Pistol would not be my first pick if I were shooting lead. I'm going to try some True Blue for starting loads in .41 Magnum. If there is any left over I'll try it in 9mm and .40. |
| Favorite 40 S&W powder is Winchester Super Field WSF. Of your list I'd pick Unique because I've tested it in .40 and it performs well. Didn't care for AA#5 and haven't used any of the others. WSF gets top velocities and appears to be softer shooting than others. I've tested Unique, AA#5, Power Pistol, and WSF. |
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Vihtavuori N320 Cleanest powder I have ever used. With most slower burning powders, you are not close to full pressure to get a complete burn/have the powder still burning after the bullet leaves the barrel, or the powder just don't burn clean instead when you are just trying to make MPF. In 45 with 200gr, Clays in the ideal powder for that to make MPF instead. |
| I like loading my 180gr coated bullets to about 750 - 800 fps, which makes for a very soft shooting gun. I normally shoot indoors and wanted a powder that generated as little smoke as possible. I use Shooters World Clean Shot and have no complaints. 231/HP38 is also another good choice. |
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So far, 5 years or so that I've been loading .40 S&W, I've used AA#5, Blue Dot, Herco, and 800X.
I've only loaded light bullets so far. Got some 180's to try and just need to get on the bench and get it done. But, with the 135 grain Nosler hollow points the best groups are with a near maximum load of Blue Dot. With the 140 grain lead Missouri Bullet Co. bullets the best groups have been with Herco. I get the same POA/POI with these as I do with the 135 grain hollow points. I'm intending to try Unique and Bullseye with the 180 grain lead bullets when I get around to trying them. |
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I'm a major power factor shooter (over 918 fps with the least recoil with 180g bullet is desired). Viht N320 is highly regarded for this in USPSA. The only negatives
are price and availability. I tend to look for cheaper powders for practice. I can remember seeing .40 loads for all your powders except the CFE pistol(it's pretty new) so you are well stocked. The slower powders will get you higher velocity and power with more recoil. Your faster powders will reach max loads at lower velocities. They will generally make less recoil at a given velocity compared to the slower powders. I'm heavily stocked in WST and Solo 1000. They are good for the 918+ velocity I seek with reduced recoil and price is less than N320. The WST is very temperature sensitive but it's cheaper and good for cast loads (especially 45ACP). My .40 gun has a 6" barrel so it's a little easier to get velocity and it's throated so I can load long cartridges with more powder safely. W231 might be a good choice if you have a short barrel and or chamber over WST. I shot all mine up in 45ACP and followed forum advice to try WST. If you want the most power you can start with the powders making the most velocity in load data. |
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Since some of us are bringing up MPF, here is the low down.
In target comp's, recoil is your enemy, since the more recoil you are dealing with, the slower you will be on the follow up shots. So in USPSA, in limited class, it states that the smallest caliber you can use it 40, and it has to make a power factor of 165 currently in the states, and 170 abroad (used to be 175 for both ). To get the MPA of a round, you will divide the bullet weight by 165000. 165000 / 180= 916.666 So the bullet in you pistol has to go at least 916.666FPS to be a major power factor. Note, going faster than this just brings more recoil and not what you want. Abroad since the MPF is 170 (down from the old 175) 17000/180=944.444 As for if you are not at this MPF speed for the ammo through you gun, then you are ding in points for any shots out of the X zone instead. Lastly, since you will have a ammo test to determine if the your making MPF, you want to load at a least 1 point above 165 instead. So MPF of 166 is the ideal load instead, 166000/180=922.22 so we round it up to 923fps that is your target for the loads. So out of a 5" barrel, shooting a 180gr bullet, N-320 has and always will be the powder choice for this load; be it cast waxed, cast PC, or even Jacketed bullets. It does a full clean burn before the bullet leaves the barrel and has the load close to max pressure for the most consistent of burns as well. With a slower burning powder, you're reducing the pressures of the load to get a less ideal burn, and in some cases even with a cleaner burning powder, dumping unburnt powder back into the action to cause problems during the target run instead. To bottom line it here, during practice, its not uncommon to run around 600 rounds a day through the pistol and the last thing you want to have to do is do multi cleaning on the pistol through the day to keep it running. So hell, cheaper powders around the same burn rate will get you there if push came so shove for match ammo, but don't think that your going to run 600 rounds of badly fouling ammo through a tighten action match rig that chews the same hole without a lot of cleanings/running the rig over lubed to prevent jam problems that day of practice instead. Note, since your going to be loading a lot of these loads for practice and match shooting, you have to have a powder that will meter well through a dispenser since you don't have the time to trickle weight each charge out instead!!!!! Although N320 is not a spherical powder (which does meter out best through a dispenser), it still meters very well out of a dispenser. |
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I got the CFE Pistol data from Hodgdon's online load data. It looks like a decent performer for .40 S&W, especially with plated bullets. They list Berry's bullets, but I don't think swapping Rainier's bullets will make a substantial difference. I've been sticking with 180s because that's what I'm used to shooting, and now I have a butt-load of that weight of bullets.
The data I have for True Blue is contradictory. Western says the load maxes out for Berry's 180 grain plated bullets at 6.1 grains for 967 fps, while Lyman 49 says to START at 6.4 grains and max out with 7.2 grains at 1049 fps (though with a Sierra jacketed bullet instead of a plated bullet). 231 looks like a good choice too, but again, there's a variety of contradictory data - not as bad as for True Blue though. This is why I'm asking here. Experience beats theory every time... |
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AA5 is "the" powder for .40 IMO. I've used others, bullseye, red dot, unique, power pistol. AA5 will let you go mild to wild. Works great with 180's and 200's. |
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AA5 is "the" powder for .40 IMO. I've used others, bullseye, red dot, unique, power pistol. AA5 will let you go mild to wild. Works great with 180's and 200's. ( Para P16/40 Fully supported barrel 5" ) |
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Quoted:
I got the CFE Pistol data from Hodgdon's online load data. It looks like a decent performer for .40 S&W, especially with plated bullets. They list Berry's bullets, but I don't think swapping Rainier's bullets will make a substantial difference. I've been sticking with 180s because that's what I'm used to shooting, and now I have a butt-load of that weight of bullets. The data I have for True Blue is contradictory. Western says the load maxes out for Berry's 180 grain plated bullets at 6.1 grains for 967 fps, while Lyman 49 says to START at 6.4 grains and max out with 7.2 grains at 1049 fps (though with a Sierra jacketed bullet instead of a plated bullet). 231 looks like a good choice too, but again, there's a variety of contradictory data - not as bad as for True Blue though. This is why I'm asking here. Experience beats theory every time... Look and see what test equipment/firearm was used in the testing. That's why the difference. Remember load data is a report of what happened when this equipment was used to test this powder with these bullets in this gun. A savy reloader will use the data source he trusts and work up carefully. Good luck. |
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Of the powders you have listed, I have used True Blue, AA#5, and Unique in .40s using the Lee 175TL powder coated bullet.
I liked True Blue, and AA#5 about equally. I use Silhouette right now, because I bought a 4# can of it, but for the shooting I do, I would be happy with any of those three. I also have some titegroup to try, but haven't loaded any up with it yet. |
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If it were me, I would use the data in Lyman 50 and work up. Look and see what test equipment/firearm was used in the testing. That's why the difference. Remember load data is a report of what happened when this equipment was used to test this powder with these bullets in this gun. A savy reloader will use the data source he trusts and work up carefully. Good luck. I see a difference between Western's data and the data in Lyman 49: they use the same length barrel, the same cases and primers, but Western reports pressure in PSI, while Lyman reports it in CUP... And Lyman is using a shorter COAL - 1.10" to 1.115 versus Western's 1.120 to 1.135". That by itself could account for the differences. The load data in Lyman 49 for 175 grain lead cast bullets is pretty close to the load data for 180 grain jacketed bullets, and Western's data is pretty consistent between lead, plated and jacketed bullets of similar weights. I think what I'm seeing is a combination of slightly different pressure measurement systems and the powder maker trying to avoid "pushing things" too much. I agree that Lyman's data is a great starting point. I have a quantity of Hornady 180 grain XTPs, which should be close enough to the Sierra #8460 bullets Lyman used to develop loads for the XTPs. I'm not sure where to start with my plated bullets though. Since Lyman's starting and max loads for the 175 grain lead bullets are pretty close to their loads for 180 grain jacketed bullets, I'm tempted to just develop the plated bullet loads from Lyman's lead bullet data. So... Now to start planning which powders to go with. I've gotten pretty good at metering Unique, and all my other powders are spherical (with True Blue being such tiny little spheres that it "flows"), so I'm not too worried about metering. I'm not going to run out and buy a pound of N340 just to try it out, but Lyman has it as the "potentially most accurate" powder for several bullets, and with velocities that should "make major" without a sweat. Most data shows about 1.0 to 1.3 grains difference between starting loads and max loads. That should mean about 4 different test loads (min, max, and two in between) for each powder. For the 5 different powders that I have that are appropriate for .40 S&W, that works out to 20 different test loads, and at 10 each, at least 200 test rounds. It sounds like I'm going to be busy! Thanks everyone for reenforcing to me that there aren't a lot of "bad" choices for .40 S&W. |
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