Switching from 180gr to 200gr.

[Oldhand]

Did a forum search and nothing popped up.   Running 180gr fmj flat nose, Loaded 4.7grs of powder and a OAL of 1.018 in my TSO.         I Am switching to 200gr flat nose fmj. Do I need to drop the powder to maintain the same power factor?  Not sure what the extra bullet weight will change?  Figured I would ask defore loading up a batch of 20 at different weights to see what ran the best.  

[GringoBandito]

Not sure what powder you are using but my n320 load for 180 gr is 4.7 and my 200gr load is 4.2 grains loaded at 1.2. the 200 grain load chonos at 168 PF. 

 

[Oldhand]

Winchester WSF.  Came with my 650 when I picked it up here in the valley. Running it as I have 10lbs.  The factory load data says 5.2gr for 180 nothing for 200.  I’ve sweetspotted at 4.5 for the 180.  Shoots soft with fast sight recovery have really shaved some time off my stages.

Have loaded at 4.2 and gun still ran,  below 4.0 she won’t cycle back to battery. 

[Oldhand]

On a side note,  I though I was the only fool up trying to reload this early.  

[Furrly]

A 10% drop from your 180 load should be a good starting point for your 200 gr bullets.. 

[Rnlinebacker]

200gr will slow your slide movement down unless you jack up the pf but then the softness is gone. Stick with the 180s

 

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[pjb45]

200 is a great weight.  I use VV320.  Nowlin barrel for Limited, Schuemann for Single Stack. The Schuemann barrel is slower.  I dropped the weight and still made major.  Below 170PF the gun is incredibly soft.  Depending on where you normally shoot and Area/National matches, you may not have to bump the load.  320 is amazingly consistent in the Southwest.  I have had 167 PF in NM at 5,000 ft and 167 in AZ at 2,300 feet.

 

I dropped the OAL to 1.175, requires even less powder.

 

Biggest problem was range brass v. my once fired LEO brass.  More variability in the velocity for range brass. 

 

When I Chrono, I get a little anal;  Three rounds at a time, 3 sessions group.  This tells me how any given three rounds will chrono, the use of 9 rounds will tell me if I need to have the Chrono guys use all the  (8) rounds.  I do four to five sessions (~30-45 total rounds of ammo) per match ammo.  I download the chrono data to Excel and do the statistical analysis on the data.

 

Check your length, your post number seems rather short.

[Oldhand]

Checked my OAL and it’s 1.129. Same as some factory ammo that  I have.  Going to load some and take to range today see how soft they are.   In southwest AZ (Phoenix) I’ll borrow my buddy’s chrono and see what the power factor is for both the 180 and 200

[zzt]

I went the opposite way for my TS.  I started with 180s only because that's what everyone said to use.  I liked them a lot.  Later I experimented with other weights.  200s felt a little softer, but is seemed like you could take a nap while the slide worked and the sights came back to target.  165s felt a little snappier and the sights came back quicker.  155s, at least the type I tried, were not accurate.  I no longer shoot Limited, but I still use the TS with 155 minor loads for Steel Challenge.   It works well.

[Oldhand]

Haven’t considered going down (yet).  What I’m trying to do is build a soft load for steel on 180 then switch to heavier 200 , keep the same charge and have a major load for matches.  Trying to get the best out of wash without having to adjust the powder charge for ease of use.  

[cvincent]

For what it’s worth, I once made some minor 180s and it felt sluggish in a tanfo with an 8 lb recoil spring. Didn’t like it at all. Now in an Infinity i shoot 180s for major and just swapped in some 140s with the same powder charge for steel. The difference is noticeable, same 11lb recoil spring, but not like holy cow that’s super soft noticeable. I chrono’d them and was in the high 700s I think. If I was to make a load for a major all steel match, I would drop the powder charge and probably stick a lighter recoil spring in. Then again I couldn’t get the 140s to feed in the MBF at all...



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[Oldhand]

13 hours ago, cvincent said:

For what it’s worth, I once made some minor 180s and it felt sluggish in a tanfo with an 8 lb recoil spring. Didn’t like it at all. Now in an Infinity i shoot 180s for major and just swapped in some 140s with the same powder charge for steel. The difference is noticeable, same 11lb recoil spring, but not like holy cow that’s super soft noticeable. I chrono’d them and was in the high 700s I think. If I was to make a load for a major all steel match, I would drop the powder charge and probably stick a lighter recoil spring in. Then again I couldn’t get the 140s to feed in the MBF at all...
 

Have you tried going to the 165 instead of the 140s to see what they chrono at with the same power charge? 

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[cvincent]

I haven’t. There would be more recoil than the 140s. I would guess it would chrono in the mid 800s. Not worth it IMO.


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[pixfella58]

When I switched to 200's I worked up a major load for it then switched to a 165gr bullet without changing anything on the press and made a great minor load. I'm using 200 gr RN Bayou's with WST at 1.135 for major and 165 gr RNFP Bayou's for minor. Major PF is 170 and minor is 143. YMMV...

[muncie21]

I recently experimented with 200gr bullets, coming from 180's.  While I found the 200s to be somewhat 'softer' feeling, at 172-178 PF the slide is slower than the same PF with a 180gr bullet.  The 200 also needs a heavier recoil spring to reliably return to battery.  With the 11# spring (that I use with 180's) the slide would not always fully return to battery.  I replaced the 11 with a 13# spring which solved the issue.  

 

I'm still on the fence and need more trigger time to determine which is better for my skill level and style of shooting.

[Oldhand]

I run the 11# spring now and will change it to the 13#, I'm going to chrony some rounds this weekend to see what the difference and feel is.  

 

 

[kimberacp]

I tried the 200s from zero.   Didnt care for them. 

Were not as accurate as I expected at 25 yds, considering it is a heavier bullet going at a slower velocity for a 170 PF.   I used 4.8 WST @ 1.165 OAL.

 Using a 11 lb spring, had no issues with the reliability. 

FWIW, the 180 gr bullet is better suited for the 40 case.

[AndyG]

I've tried 165 up to 225gr bullets and settled on the 180s as a nice medium ground. 200gr+ feels a little sluggish in a a rock island pro match. Currently using

 

Mixed brass

180gr bullet

4.9gr n320

Oal 1.18

 

Gets me 169pf average on 10 rounds.

[Steelheader]

I use this on my 200 gr. FMJFP bullets with an OAL of 1.135:

http://www.handloads.com/loaddata/default.asp?Caliber=40 SqqqW&Weight=200&type=Handgun&Order=Powder&Source=Winchester

 

I do not shoot competitively, I shoot to train for my LEO job.  So, I do not check velocities and accuracies.  I shoot center mass and failure drills.  These loads have never failed me. HTH.

Edited November 3, 2018 by Steelheader

[Novagunner]

I’m actually in the process of switching from 180s to 200s. Just shot a 250 sample pack and like how they feel. The slide on my 2011 is pretty light and don’t really notice much slow down.  I did about a 10% drop in powder to match pf. 

[Oldhand]

On 9/26/2018 at 6:23 AM, pixfella58 said:

When I switched to 200's I worked up a major load for it then switched to a 165gr bullet without changing anything on the press and made a great minor load. I'm using 200 gr RN Bayou's with WST at 1.135 for major and 165 gr RNFP Bayou's for minor. Major PF is 170 and minor is 143. YMMV...

 

 

Going to give this a recipe a try as I have a few 165gr fmj laying around and see, if this works.