Recipe for 40 S&W w/ 200 gn Blue Bullets

Charlie R

Charlie R

You can't take ammo home!
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I have seen this thread before on the forum, but mostly for 180 gn coated bullets.

OK, so I have begun working up a load for .40 S&W using 200 gn Blue Bullets and am trying to make major PF with it. Before anyone asks why not 180s, the answer is that I have bought into the argument that heavier bullets result in a less "snappy" recoil that I can mitigate somewhat more by changing recoil springs. I have also noticed that the bullet profile of the 200s runs better that the 180s. They appear less "angular" and little more rounded.

I have tried TiteGroup at 4.1 gn and make 172 PF and I would be happy with that we I not quite so OCD. I noticed that the extreme spread and standard deviation are not nearly as good as I get with 9mm and that is keeping me awake at night. Not really, but it has caused me to spend an inordinate amount of time on the internet looking for a better load. I can find a lot on 180 gn coated bullets, but not so much on 200s.

Powders on hand that may work, based on online research, include WST, Power Pistol, Bullseye, and Clays. I am not limited to these powders and have seen a lot of 180 gn loads using N320. Unfortunately, as is often the case when you want a specific powder, guess what - yep all sold out locally until the next container arrives from Europe.

I am loading to SAAMI spec on COL and running it though a Glock 24 with an aftermarket barrel and pass through sizing the brass to avoid "glocking".

Help. Can anyone recommend a powder and charge that may get me near a 172 PF and shoot "soft".
 
Skeeter190 said:
I settled on 3.7gr of E3 to make major
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OK, E3 is a new one for me, even after all of the internet research. I will have to check it out. I have not seen it listed on any burn rate tables or seen it mentioned before. Maybe I am just not looking in the right places.
 
Charlie R said:
Yes, I checked out the E3 and sounds a lot like 700X / 800X. As I said, not familiar with E3 or 800X, but 700X is a large flake and probably would not meter as well as others.
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800x is like corn flakes. But runs a hot 10mm like no ones business. Meters like crap. I hand weigh everything. I have no experience with 700x or E3
 
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Coltdefender1911 said:
Meters like crap. I hand weigh everything. I
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ARGH!!! I hope/will to shoot too much to hand weigh. flake size is not very critical to shotgun loading. In fact, in my experience the tolerances on the loaders is such that fine powders like Unique, SR7625, or 296 (OK, I just dated myself) end up all over the loading bench.
 
E3 is a flake powder that meters ok. It is a fast burn rate powder, if I remember correctly it is in the top 10 on the burn rate chart.
 
Just be careful with E3, there is no official pistol data for it. Alliant doesn't have any pistol data for the powder, it's strictly listed as a shotgun powder. That being said, I do use it in my 40 S&W loads with 180gr Blue Bullets.
 
With 200 gr bullets and 40, cleanshot is the only way to fly.
I am using 4.0 - 4.1gr at 1.180 oal and getting 173.

The SD at 2017 A6 match and then this year at SC state chrono was 10 and 8.

Loading shorter for a glock I would start around 3.6gr.
 
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UPDATE:

Took a few weeks to get a range day, but finally got a pound of Clean Shot and loaded up a ladder to see what I would get as far as power factor. I was extremely impressed with Clean Shot. The muzzle velocity increase from 3.7 gn to 4.1 gn. was very linear, but more importantly, the extreme spread and standard deviation were so good across 10 shot groups, that I think I am going to replicate this latter to confirm it.

At any rate, the standard deviations for 10 shot strings from 3.7, 3.8, 4.0, and 4.1 grains were 5, 9, 4, and 6 fps respectively. Conversely, the TiteGroup I tried was running standard deviation in the upper teens on average.

I think I am going to try this in 9 mm next. Have never seen such consistent pistol loads with any other powder.

Thanks for the heads up guys.
 
Charlie R said:
UPDATE:

Took a few weeks to get a range day, but finally got a pound of Clean Shot and loaded up a ladder to see what I would get as far as power factor. I was extremely impressed with Clean Shot. The muzzle velocity increase from 3.7 gn to 4.1 gn. was very linear, but more importantly, the extreme spread and standard deviation were so good across 10 shot groups, that I think I am going to replicate this latter to confirm it.

At any rate, the standard deviations for 10 shot strings from 3.7, 3.8, 4.0, and 4.1 grains were 5, 9, 4, and 6 fps respectively. Conversely, the TiteGroup I tried was running standard deviation in the upper teens on average.

I think I am going to try this in 9 mm next. Have never seen such consistent pistol loads with any other powder.

Thanks for the heads up guys.
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Love the clean shot. I have some that I won’t be using anytime soon if ya want some more. I’m switching to HS-6 for 9 major. I have about 8 lbs
 
I've got a pound of Clean Shot I have not opened yet. I tried their Auto Pistol powder and liked that.
 
I also have a pound of unopened cleanshot and have for months now. I’m stocked up on n320 for the foreseeable future so it’s still sealed. Bought it cause all of you rave about it. Need to crack it open and try it out. Wonder if it has a higher graphite content so it can help me with my new hopper static.
 
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