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.40 in non-fully supported barrel


dauntedfuture

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I have a .40 with a non-ramped barrel. I am concerend about shooting major loads in this pistol. I tried 6.0 Win auto comp with 165 lead bullets which gave me 1050 fps. Start load is 6.5 of WAC. I have fired about 100 rds without incident and the brass looks good. Am i in the danger zone? This was a used pistol so it was shot before. I cant imagine that a less than start load with lead bullets would be that hot and there are no buldges in the cases. Comments? The load shoots well and recoil is just fine. Im sure to look at some more WAC loads in my 2011.

jon

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Factory loads can be way stronger than what we would load for our pistols. I always found it funny that Glock says not to reload for their guns when some factory loads can reach 190-200+PF and we only want 165-170 for major PF.

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Factory loads can be way stronger than what we would load for our pistols. I always found it funny that Glock says not to reload for their guns when some factory loads can reach 190-200+PF and we only want 165-170 for major PF.

Most factory ammo is using really slow burning powder as well, which is how they can hit these power factors without causing large pressure issues. Most of the time when people start reloading for a caliber, they start using powders with differences in burn rate from factory powders in search of that 'soft push' or 'short snap' they are looking for. This can generally lead to large spikes in pressure, which is where you'll get yourself into trouble with unsupported chambers in guns that are not designed for these types of loads.

To the OP - Are you loading for a non-ramped barrel, or unsupported barrel? You mention both, but they can be very different. What pistol are you loading for?

If you're loading for competition in an unsupported chamber, just be careful. Don't use the fast powders like clays, titegroup, VV N320, etc etc. Stick with the slower burning powders like WST, WSF, 231, Autocomp, VV 340/350, 700x/800x, Universal, etc. Work up your loads slowly, and keep an eye on your brass for bulges where the chamber is unsupported. Depending on your pistol, there may be an aftermarket barrel that would help support the chamber a little more.

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When did WST become slow?

I will not reload 40 major with it. I could not get to 170pf without separating case heads and that was at 1.200 oal

Hodgdon does not list any load that will make major pf with WST

If you are worried stick with book loads and slower powders like WSF

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The barrel is non ramped and the back of the case is not fully supported. The pistol is a single stack 1911. 6.5g of WAC with 165L is the start load and im getting 1050 fps wtih 6.0 grains. I had a mishap a while ago with .40 in my 2011 so im a prehaps a bit cautions about loading .40..

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