40 s&w

[level 10]

I have used primarily win 231 for my 40 loads 5 gr 180 gr fmj looking to try some other powders any sugestions ? im getting good results but not sure what others out there are using . thanks for any replies.

[Rotting]

VV N-340

[Briancnelson]

Hodgdon's Universal.

I was using pretty much exactly the same load you are now, but I'm getting much better results with this powder.

[rsrocket1]

Tried both Red Dot and Unique under a 180g Lead/Moly RNFP and a copper plated RNFP. They both shot fine and both seemed to have about the same recoil for the same muzzle velocity (900fps). Unique can get me to 1000fps quite easily out of a 4.25" M&P40 but I don't want to go any higher than 4.0g with Red Dot (too fast a powder). The recoil difference between 900fps and 1000fps is hardly noticeable and the accuracy is the same, so I've ended up sticking with 5g Unique 1.135" OAL for punching paper rather than the full house 5.6g load.

With the pressures up there in a nice zone for Unique, there is no soot on the cases and hardly any residue on the gun after 200 rounds. I might pick up a pound of Power Pistol just for the muzzle flash .

These loads are for lead so start lower with fmj and work up if you want to use these powders.

[mif_slim]

aa #2/#5 and clays, #5 shoots good, #2 is a little fast, clays....still playing with it.

[Bill Steele]

Yep.

VV N-340

I agree with the above.

I also would throw in VV-3N37 as even better (a little bit) than N340 for 40 S&W. N340 will span 9mm-.45ACP a little better than 3N37, but 3N37 I think is a little better in 9's and 40's (a little more velocity for a given pressure load).

[noylj]

Clays--it is a KB waiting to happen.
Anything faster than 231/HP38 is best left to action pistol shooters who like to walk a tightrope over KBing their gun.
AA5--very accurate, meters perfectly.
AA7--see AA5 notes plus it is slow enough to the most out of the .40, safely.
Silhouette, True Blue, HS6, Long Shot, Blue Dot, and Power Pistol are all good.
N340, N350, and 3N37 look to be very good, if you can afford them.
Just remember, even more so than other cartridges, approach max loads with absolute respect and caution. The .40 has a well-deserved reputation for blowing up guns due to any reloading error.

[fabguy]

HS6

[Briancnelson]

Clays--it is a KB waiting to happen.
Anything faster than 231/HP38 is best left to action pistol shooters who like to walk a tightrope over KBing their gun.
AA5--very accurate, meters perfectly.
AA7--see AA5 notes plus it is slow enough to the most out of the .40, safely.
Silhouette, True Blue, HS6, Long Shot, Blue Dot, and Power Pistol are all good.
N340, N350, and 3N37 look to be very good, if you can afford them.
Just remember, even more so than other cartridges, approach max loads with absolute respect and caution. The .40 has a well-deserved reputation for blowing up guns due to any reloading error.

Just to note, so they are not confused, Universal Clays (as opposed to just Clays) is slower than HP38/231, not faster, and generally safer to load in a .40, imo, because it fills the shell better than hp38, so there's very little question of a double charge. I also get much higher muzzle velocities from it than HP38/231

The reputation of the .40 for KB'ing is mostly due to early models by certain manufacturers who put together hack jobs from their 9mm's, which had intrusive feed ramps that tended to allow the brass to bulge in undesirable ways. The most infamous of these were early gen Glock .40 models, but they were not the only ones. Any fully supported .40 should have no problems with reloads. It is a high pressure load however, so there's less safety margin with playing with max loads, I'll agree.

[GSwain]

I have great luck with AA#5 in 40, 38, and .45. Burns very clean.

[theduece]

I like bullseye for my .40 but havent tried the vv stuff yet