Questions reloading .40 Cal

[chevy95]

Measuring my handloads v local range reloads. I saw this round and it caught my eye right quick. I'm thinking this could be about to split so I just took it apart. Thoughts on that point?

Gun is Glock 22. Measured quite a few of theirs v mine: BTW - I'm using Xtreme 165 RNFP length: .535. They use what looks like Xtreme RNFP, weighs in at 180 and is .576 in length.

Theirs: OAL - 1.119 - 1.122 Crimp: 0.418 - 0.420
Mine OAL - 1.129 - 1.131 Crimp: 0.421 - 0.423

Question: I have read that it is OK to have longer seating depths and has potential to cause less problems than overly short and or tightly crimped rounds especially in .40 cal. I have read here and elsewhere that 1.130 is a good OAL. My loads have been cycling with no issues, no FTF or FTE's. What are your thoughts, please?

[David-K]

I always seat as long as possible, making sure everything still fits in the magazine and there are no feeding issues. Sounds to me like what you're doing is working and I wouldn't change a thing.

[Cheep]

That looks like it was glocked and then run through a bulge buster die.

[J-cat]

That looks like it was glocked and then run through a bulge buster die.

I'm waiting for his KB thread.

[stilly]

That brass is fine, it is just smirking because it gets to be reloaded and shot again...

If you go back and look at it again I bet that smirk will be a frown... Way to go OP you just killed the dreams of a case.

[rsrocket1]

It won't KB unless it is shot in another Glock or unsupported barrel gun. That weakened brass will sit nice and snug against a fully supported chamber and won't do a thing. In a big mouth barrel, it might get exciting.

[J-cat]

But he's shooting it out of his Glock 22.

[Fatcat]

On the next loading run, comb through your brass and cull out the "smiles" or any other potentially bad cases.

[jdmacl]

I think you're asking two separate questions here.

As previously stated, I agree with loading longer rather than shorter, as long as it loads okay in your magazine and chamber. I've been reloading 180gr. at 1.125" for years.

In regards to your picture, I would agree, the brass has probably been, "bulge busted". You likely wouldn't have had any problems shooting it, but if I had seen the brass before reloading, I would have discarded it.

[croue]

How noticeable is the 'bulge' on glocked brass if you don't use the bulge buster? Does it still show the smiley face, or might it be more subtle?

[chevy95]

J---Yes I brought up 2 totally different points. The first as I noted, the case was one that came from purchased reloads at a range...their brass. It looked unsafe to me, wanted to hear oth4rs opinions.

The second point was just about safe OAL and crimp. I've been doing 1.130 on average and having no problems with it. Seems like a lot of others go for a shorter OAL...just checking in about it!

Lastly,

read through Croue's post on .40 cal. A member name Noyjl (sp?) had a really good post regarding all of this. Unfortunately, I read it after I had created this post. He answers a lot of questions. Thank you all for your responses and information...I always learn here

[stormvet]

I load my 165 gran 40's(x-trem, Barry's, PowerBond) at 1.130 to 1.135 with 5.0 to 5.4 grans of Win 231. Most of my 40 shooting is done with Glocks, the oldest one was made in 2002, half are gen 4's. I have 12 Glock's and no problems with bulged brass. The unsupported chamber issue is so 1990ish.

[stilly]

How noticeable is the 'bulge' on glocked brass if you don't use the bulge buster? Does it still show the smiley face, or might it be more subtle?

It just looks like it is about 2 months preggo until you try to chamber it and your gun fails to go into battery...

[stilly]

How noticeable is the 'bulge' on glocked brass if you don't use the bulge buster? Does it still show the smiley face, or might it be more subtle?

It just looks like it is about 2 months preggo until you try to chamber it and your gun fails to go into battery...

I use an undersized .40cal die for my 40/10mm but I have noticed that sometimes bulges are bad although I have not had any that came out looking like that.

**** man, get a Sharpie and draw a face on that one before you shoot it...

[J-cat]

J---Yes I brought up 2 totally different points. The first as I noted, the case was one that came from purchased reloads at a range...their brass. It looked unsafe to me, wanted to hear oth4rs opinions.

The second point was just about safe OAL and crimp. I've been doing 1.130 on average and having no problems with it. Seems like a lot of others go for a shorter OAL...just checking in about it!

Lastly,

read through Croue's post on .40 cal. A member name Noyjl (sp?) had a really good post regarding all of this. Unfortunately, I read it after I had created this post. He answers a lot of questions. Thank you all for your responses and information...I always learn here

I load my 40 to different oal's depending on what the load prefers in terms of accuracy. Because these bullets are made on multiple machines using multiple dies, their profiles will vary and that will induce an OAL variance. It is not uncommon to see a .010" difference in cartridge OAL. It does not affect anything all that much unless you load insanely... like a 200gr bullet on top of a max charge of Titegroup.