preferred bullet weight for .40 shooters

[muncie21]

Interested to see what weight bullet people are using and thoughts behind those choices.

 

I use 180gr for my tactical sports, however considering moving to 200gr coated bullets

Edited July 29, 2018 by muncie21

[rlrock]

I use 200gn Blue Bullets over 4.1gn of VV N320 at 1.135”.

Very accurate load and both my CZ TSO and STI Edge like this combo.


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[Rnlinebacker]

So the logic is sound that 200 grain will be softer. However, the key for uspsa is how quickly the sight & slide return to zero. My sights are sluggish to return with softly load 200 and 220 gr plated bullets. So I usually load them to 173-175PF to overcome that

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[rlrock]

Here’s my latest chrono data from my TSO:



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[Rnlinebacker]

Here’s my latest chrono data from my TSO:



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very good data. what are your sights saying as you're making shots? are they slow to return or snapping right back?

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[rlrock]

21 minutes ago, Rnlinebacker said:

very good data. what are your sights saying as you're making shots? are they slow to return or snapping right back?

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To be honest, I shoot open mostly and am at 180pf there, so anything else seems slow.

 

I have been debating having the TSO slide lightened by Mark at L&M and see how it goes. He did incredible work on my S2.

[sixsixnine]

200 gr. coated in my TSO.

 

Zero issues with the gun feeling sluggish, but I spent a fair amount of time tuning my recoil spring to the load I use.  

[sixsixnine]

2 hours ago, Rnlinebacker said:

So the logic is sound that 200 grain will be softer. However, the key for uspsa is how quickly the sight & slide return to zero. My sights are sluggish to return with softly load 200 and 220 gr plated bullets. So I usually load them to 173-175PF to overcome that

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There are a lot more variables to consider than bullet weight alone. 

 

Coated bullets need less powder to make 170, faster powders will feel different than slower ones, and the recoil spring needs to be tuned.  I experimented with a batch of 200 grain plated over WST, and they felt waaaaay different than the 200 grain coated over TiteGroup that I typically run.  

[L3324temp]

I switched to 200g bayous and like them. Had to run a much shorter OAL to get then to go into battery reliably.


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[selecw]

200 Bayou for me. 

[muncie21]

Decided to try some 200gr coated BBI bullets and Prima SV powder.  This reminded me how much I dislike loading long projectiles.  Should be able to chrono them on Friday.

[Superpipe9]

On 7/29/2018 at 1:20 PM, rlrock said:

To be honest, I shoot open mostly and am at 180pf there, so anything else seems slow.

 

I have been debating having the TSO slide lightened by Mark at L&M and see how it goes. He did incredible work on my S2.

I have been thinking about doing this as well. Would really like to know how the slide would feel after lightning it. My TSO slide weighs 14.7oz. And a lot of 2011 slides are 11 or 12oz max. The tanfo limited gun is lightened from the factory so it definitely makes me curious. 

[sandflea316]

I'm using 200 ACME over 3.2 gr of E3 on my new barrel for 168-171 pf.  Old barrel before I blew it up was 3.4 gr of E3 for same pf.  1.125" oal

Using 11 lb recoil spring.  Shot a indoor match last night and got several comments on how flat it looked while shooting.

Going try a 10 lb recoil spring to see how it acts.  But right now I'm happy with it.  I don't think it really that sluggish.  I normally shoot 165 gr in my 2011 and I really can't tell if its slower than my 2011

 

Still thinking about sending slide to fire4effect to slide lightening and slide racker.

Edited August 2, 2018 by sandflea316

[IF788]

because I mostly bulk buy reman, pretty limited to 165s or my preference of 180.  however, I had a guy load me some 200s.... man.  those are nice.  its like why production shooters like 147s, but to the extreme.  if you like that softer, slower push feel - I think they "feel" significantly softer which is probably my personal perception.  That, and a large part of it was a softer loading which was right at 168-170 PF out of my TSO (roughly 5.5 inch barrel), that's a bit part of it. that load probably wouldn't make legal PF in a much smaller gun.