.40 S&W powder suggestions

[Outdoorlife]

Looking for suggestions on appropriate powders to reload my .40 S&W 165gr with. Going to try and pick up whatever has the consensus of being the best. Thoughts on Titegroup?

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[arakboss]

HS6, Power Pistol or CFE Pistol.

 

[Zathras]

I can second Power Pistol. It's been pretty consistent on several pistol calibers I've tried.

This was before I had a chronograph, so can't vouch for velocity consistency, but I would plink/target shoot with AA#5 a lot since I got a good deal on it awhile back. I could get consistent groups with it and was fairly easy to meter. It tends to be available and on the cheaper side than some others, and it can be used for several other pistol calibers.

 

[JuglansRegia]

231, CFE pistol, if you don't mind some flame Blue Dot but these days its whatever you can find

 

[CAR]

Power Pistol been good to me

 

[oremike]

If you go to http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/ you will find they list 19 powders for loading the 40 S&W with a 165gr bullet. Pick one of those powders you can find and start from there. Now days "best" tends to be what you can find that works.

 

[HaveGun]

Power Pistol and Blue Dot work OK, but I have noticed increased recoil and muzzle flash with both.

Best powder I've found for accurate range loads is Ramshot Silhouette.



My second favorite powder is Win 231...



Titegroup is OK. Nothing wrong with it. Unique does OK as well, as does WSF. Only powders I've used that I didn't like were Blue Dot and Power Pistol.

 

[GWS]

I am a big fan of Hogdon Clays for .40 S&W

 

[Caveman Jim]

If you can find it TiteGROUP although I've used CFE pistol & longshot with great success. For me it was whatever was available at the time.

 

[HaveGun]

Let me re-phrase my preferences...

I shot GSSF indoor matches for three years using .40 S&W and 10mm and went on a quest to find the most accurate powder with the lowest recoil properties. I tried just about every powder advertised as being good for .40 S&W and tried dozens of recipes and bullet combos. This was in a G29 and a G35.

Ramshot Silhouette is the best, 231 is second.

 

[Steel Head]

Wst for pew pew loads and WSF or cfepistol for service loads.

 

[Mikej]

If shooting in a full size gun w/4"+ barrel HS-6 is very appropriate. A little slower burning for the barrel length. Likely to provide lower recoil than faster powders. HS-6 used in shorter than 4" barrels may produce some flash.

 

[Certaindeaf]

The best powder in the world is Red Dot.

 

[arakboss]

AA #5

 

[Mikej]

"Unique" Duh....

 

[ThePants]

CFE pistol / Ramshot Silhouette

 

[Outdoorlife]

Thank you so much for all your help as usual guys. This gives me a list to go by that I can pick from when an if I can find it.

 

[jrd541280]

just me, but wsf is a good starter for most any pistol. i only shoot a 9 shield, 45 p90 and ruger b/h 45. colt. each settled with a different powder. for 9 shield with 124 xtp's wsf and unique got great results at near published data velocities. for the p90 45, pp turned out to be awesome with about 925 fps with 230 xtps and gold dots. accuracy was better than me. for the b/h 45 colt i shoot the hornady 225 ftx. unique gave constant velocities at 1200 fps.
never shot a .40, nor many of the frames it's available in. for me,
cfe pistol, less velocity in all pistols than published, meters good though.
hs6, erratic velocities and unburned powder everywhere in bbls and actions.
unique, metering sucks, but +/-75 fps in all pistols.
that's just what i have found in my guns.
all loads shot over my chrony.
one thing for certain though, welcome the the world of reloading. let us know what you settle on.

 

[Xmark1]

Performance is one thing. Safety is another.

Let me start by saying that .40 in an inherently dangerous caliber to reload. Older Glocks with minimal case head support would KB frequently, as well as other .40's. I have seen more .40 KB's than any other caliber.

Titegroup takes only a few grains to charge a .40 - Therefore it is very easy to double charge/ overcharge and then you have a bomb in your hand!

I prefer Bluedot because the charge I use is 9.5 to 10.5 grains - Thus filling the case so that an overcharge is easily detected by doing a visual before seating.

I am fond of my fingers, hands, face. I would like to keep them intact.

I like the caliber, and have reloaded many thousands of rounds without incident. I would also suggest you use a ring carbide sizing die, where the brass is completely pushed through a sizing ring. Thus removing case head bulge, as well as the added benefit of de-burring the case rim of extractor burr's. Removing the possible case bulge greatly improves safety also - ensuring reliable feeding and lock up in battery before detonation occurs.

My 2 cents............

 

[Outdoorlife]

Performance is one thing. Safety is another.

Let me start by saying that .40 in an inherently dangerous caliber to reload. Older Glocks with minimal case head support would KB frequently, as well as other .40's. I have seen more .40 KB's than any other caliber.

Titegroup takes only a few grains to charge a .40 - Therefore it is very easy to double charge/ overcharge and then you have a bomb in your hand!

I prefer Bluedot because the charge I use is 9.5 to 10.5 grains - Thus filling the case so that an overcharge is easily detected by doing a visual before seating.

I am fond of my fingers, hands, face. I would like to keep them intact.

I like the caliber, and have reloaded many thousands of rounds without incident. I would also suggest you use a ring carbide sizing die, where the brass is completely pushed through a sizing ring. Thus removing case bulge, as well as the added benefit of de-burring the case rim of extractor burr's. Removing the possible case bulge greatly improves safety also - ensuring reliable feeding and lock up in battery before detonation occurs.

My 2 cents............

Thank you for the fair warning. I appreciate someone with experience giving me advice especially with what sounds to be a sensitive round to reload. I am going to keep a note on the sizing issue once I am actually prepping my own. Luckily for now I've purchased 1000 federal already primed casings and believe they should be pretty solid. Of course I will do some form of verification on that.