Prepping cases for 40 Smith & Wesson

[Caveman Jim]

Well howdy to the reloading community and great wealth of knowledge.
I started reloading earlier this year and have gained much knowledgeable experience prepping close to 800 cases for my AR.

My next project is reloading for my handgun in 40 Smith & Wesson.
I've looked at the information and specifications for this case, which through the saami PDF states that the head space dimensions of the case should be between .850-.010.
Now these numbers don't jibe with the actual size of once fired cases from my XDM40'S which are .832-.836 before resizing. After resized the test cases read from .838-.844.

I am cornfused at the difference of actual numbers & the minimum of saami specks, did I miss something there?...... need a little help here.
As always, any help is surely appreciated.

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[v0lcom13sn0w]

im not gonna be much help as to an actual answer to your question but i have reloaded close to 10k .40s&w. i have never checked that spec and never had a problem.

 

[P7M13]

+1 to @v0lcom13sn0w's comment.

1. Inspect all your cases carefully and cull out the ones with any sort of bulge; 10¢ is nothing compared to case rupture;
   
2. Resize;
3. Prime;
4. Go as light on the case mouth flare as possible;
5. If you don't have a powder cop, watch your powder drop (don't drink or watch TV). In thousands of reloads, I've had one squibb and no double charges (caught all those);
6. Finesse the crimp. Too much will crunch your case, too little and you can move the bullet in the reloaded round;
7. Plunk test & micrometer a bunch per hundred. Quality control is your friend.

Welcome aboard, CJ !

[edit to add, I have never trimmed a single pistol case - throw 'em out!]

 

[Caveman Jim]

Well me being a newbie I like the idea of St. Nicholas, checkin it twice... lol
I have just started resizing the 500+ cases & think the average are around .844 which is in tolerance of .850--.010 (.850 - .840).
Kind of like checking EVERY .223/5.56 case with a head space gauge & measuring EVERY one for min/max length....

 

[P7M13]

Well me being a newbie I like the idea of St. Nicholas, checkin it twice... lol
I have just started resizing the 500+ cases & think the average are around .844 which is in tolerance of .850--.010 (.850 - .840).
Kind of like checking EVERY .223/5.56 case with a head space gauge & measuring EVERY one for min/max length....

And I'll bet you find it relaxing too....

 

[Caveman Jim]

+1 to @v0lcom13sn0w's comment.

1. Inspect all your cases carefully and cull out the ones with any sort of bulge; 10¢ is nothing compared to case rupture;
   
2. Resize;
3. Prime;
4. Go as light on the case mouth flare as possible;
5. If you don't have a powder cop, watch your powder drop (don't drink or watch TV). In thousands of reloads, I've had one squibb and no double charges (caught all those);
6. Finesse the crimp. Too much will crunch your case, too little and you can move the bullet in the reloaded round;
7. Plunk test & micrometer a bunch per hundred. Quality control is your friend.

Welcome aboard, CJ !

[edit to add, I have never trimmed a single pistol case - throw 'em out!]

That was another observation I made, all cases are under the max...
I've also heard a lot about range brass that has what they call the Glock bulge I don't think I have any of those but I did pick up some range brass last year and I always look at each case and put it between my fingers to try and feel any differencesuggestions.

What size walnut media is best, coarse, medium or fine? Harbor freight has it in bulk.

 

[Caveman Jim]

And I'll bet you find it relaxing too....

I do. It's better than sitting in the house, I love my shop because it has therapeutic values.....

DAYUUUUUMMMMMM it's almost Florida in here!!!!!

 

[P7M13]

No idea on the walnut. I gave my vibratory tumbler and ~20# of "pet walnut" to my daughter for her setup.

 

[Caveman Jim]

No idea on the walnut. I gave my vibratory tumbler and ~20# of "pet walnut" to my daughter for her setup.

I've been using corn cob media and it takes a long time to get that new look. Was told to go Walnut & that I'd never go back....lol

 

[P7M13]

That hasn't been my experience. Corn Cob gives a better shine than walnut, IMO.
I went with the Franklin Rotary wet tumbler with Stainless pins. You can do ~13lbs of cases at a time.
You will never go back from that one.

 

[Mistman]

I personally have never trimmed a straight walled (or slightly tapered) pistol case and usually reload a case until it splits. That being said I inspect cases for uniformity, make sure the mouths look good and the heads are in good shape. I don't like spending a great deal of time prepping pistol cases. I use a progressive and once set up I just crank them out. Never had an issue w/a bad case or a round that wouldn't feed/fire due to the case.

Generally my pistol shooting involves shooting a lot of rounds w/out a lot of deliberation, meaning I'm not at a bench w/a spotting scope carefully lining up shots for groups. Along those lines as long as the round feeds, fires and hits where I'm aiming I'm happy. Shooting pistol I may go through a 100 rounds in 15 minutes or it may take a 1/2 hour but unless I'm trying to get groups out of one of my hunting pistols off a bench or sighting in I'm not shooting slowly and deliberately. Ranges are from between 3 and 50 yds depending on the gun, case variation won't change POI within those distances in a very meaningful way.

Reloading for rifles is a whole nuther ball game where I do measure, trim and take more time and care w/the uniformity between rounds. Those I generally do shoot deliberately so don't mind taking the time to ensure all rounds are as uniform as I can make them. I DON'T load hunting/bench/varmint rifles on a progressive, each stage is done in batches. I will load semi-auto, < 100 yd, hi cap type rifles on a progressive if I'm just going to blast off a bunch of rounds.

It really depends on what your expectations of the rounds will be. If I'm blasting off 100's of rounds I don't want to take a whole lot of time reloading them just to blast them off again. I'll shoot the same case 3 times in 3 days sometimes. It doesn't make sense to me to spend hours measuring and trimming cases to spend minutes making them empty again. As long as OAL is uniform and they plunk fine the rest is up to you. I have not found straight walled or slightly tapered cases to lengthen after multiple firings. That's just my experience YMMV.

 

[Hayshaker]

Have been reloading 40's since the early 90;s probably 2m rounds or more. Just size them and prime them. After 4/5 time the primer pockets can get loose cases split. I load just under the max for plinking. Never had a problem ..

 

[Caveman Jim]

Excellent advice from all, I am done prepping 350 cases for today. What a workout but feels good to accomplish something for some benefit.

I may get a progressive press for pistol loading in the future since it is so easy (so far)....
As long as the loading to tolerances goes according to plan (stay focused).

 

[FordPrefect]

I've been using corn cob media and it takes a long time to get that new look. Was told to go Walnut & that I'd never go back....lol

I was having the same problem with the corn cob media that came with my first tumbler. I would have to run 20+ hours to get the brass clean as I would like. I was looking for "almost new" look. I switched over and started using Lyman Turbo Brass Cleaning Media Treated Tufnut (Walnut). Using that I run 1-2 hours and it's all shiny and new looking.

I still run corn cob media. That is usually after I am done sizing my .223/5.56 and 500 Smith brass. Basically I use that to clean the lube off the case from sizing and/or swaging (sp?) the primer pockets.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I heard that you could add some liquid car polish to the CC media to get it looking stellar in about 2-3 hours.....

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

I heard that you could add some liquid car polish to the CC media to get it looking stellar in about 2-3 hours.....

i use Nu-Finish. works good!

 

[Mikej]

I heard that you could add some liquid car polish to the CC media to get it looking stellar in about 2-3 hours.....

I use walnut Jim. As I understand, walnut with some polish in it, be sure to dribble the polish in and run it without brass for a couple/three minutes. And then for that mirror finish corn cob if you want. I don't worry about it, matte finish works fr me. Besides, the sizer/decapper smooths out the matte finish and turns it shiny. If I loaded/shot more I WOULD have me one o' them tumblers! I like the look of cases clean and shiny inside AND out!

Seeing as this thread WAS about .40...I don't trim anything with a taper crimp. Some .40 I've reloaded appeared to have the slightest bulge, however the sizing process ironed it out enough and there have been no chambering issues in my CZ 75. I figure that brass is pretty resilient if I can shoot a 9mm in the CZ .40 and the brass just stretches to fill the chamber but doesn't split.

I figure you have at least four times to inspect brass for flaws, splits or?
When you pick it up after firing.
When you decap/resize.
When you prime.
And when you charge and seat the bullet.

IF you ever get to loading cases with a roll crimp, .38/.357, .44 special/mag, .45colt et al, you will need to have cases that are uniform in length, I'd say to within .003" or less. Trying to get a nice proper, uniform roll crimp on brass of varying lengths is a pain.

 

[OreShooter]

I heard that you could add some liquid car polish to the CC media to get it looking stellar in about 2-3 hours.....

Yes, but dribble it in gradually and give it a few minutes to mix in. If you add too fast you may get cases or primer pockets packed. Not a big deal but an annoyance. Nu-finish works great all right.

 

[FordPrefect]

I heard that you could add some liquid car polish to the CC media to get it looking stellar in about 2-3 hours.....

Depends on how shiny you want. I have found that just using the walnut works great for me even with the rouge in it.

 

[skeezix]

I have been using crushed hazelnut shell media (filberts to all you longtime Oregon residents). It works every bit as well as walnut, and here in the valley is very available and reasonably priced. http://www.harvesttimeshells.com/cat_litter.html