40 Cal - 155 And/or 165 Fmjs Load Data

[Jack Suber]

Does anyone have any load data for a 40 Cal 155 and/or 165 FMJ using Titegroup and/or N320. I want to experiment with a lighter bullet in my Edge. I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks.

Jack Suber, TY30299

[Flexmoney]

Jack,

Steve Anderson posted a 165g load with TG to Jeff Maass' load collection.

http://home.columbus.rr.com/jmaass/ipscload.htm

I'm not sure what you are after, but I shot some 165's with TG thru the chrono for a few guys last fall (a week before our section match).

My regular load is 180's with TG. I had just got done shooting my loads when these guys came up with their 165's.

I chrono'ed their loads for them. The 165's felt much more harsh to me. (and that was out of their heavy framed Para's...compared to my light tupperware)

I sent them up to the range with a handful of my 180's to compare with their 165's. They came back wanting to know more about the 180's...they keep on saying how they thought those 165's should have been softer.

I didn't shoot any Bill Drills (or the like) with the 165's to see if there was an advantage to be gained by a snappier slide.

Let us know how your testing goes.

[Joe D]

I agree with you Flex. 165 or 155 feel much snappier to me also. I really like the 180s in .40. As a general rule I shoot the heaviest bullet I can find, 147-9mm, 180-.40 and 230 in 45.

[Larry White]

I have run some mg 165s with 5.4 320, harsh almost to the point of uncomfortable but very quick, I much prefer 180s. I have a .40 open gun and use 155 mg over ww571 with good results but the powder is much too slow for a limited gun. All I have done with 155s in a limited gun is 155mg over 5.0 320 for a steel load or where the pf is not a factor. That is sweet, but for major I would stick with 180s. Good shooting Larry

[mike4045]

I use the 155 gr lead and jacketed bullets. I shoot them in the Glock 35. They are snappier, but not uncomfortable. They are loaded to major PF. I am fixing to try a TG load. Right now I am using 7.3 gr of AA#5, because I have several pounds of it. I think they would be much snappier with AA#2, but with 5 there is not much of a difference. I also have some 200 gr bullets loaded but am not very fond of them.

Mike

[BigDave]

I shot 165's in my SV for a while. Love the slide action. Very crisp, but nowhere near obnoxious. Start at about 4.7 gr. of Titegroup and work up. My OAL is 1.187"

[Longbow]

I used to use Westcoast's 160 gr bullet. I put 6.2 gr of WSF. I forgot the PF but it did make major. The gun is a Para P16 w/ stock barell.

[cpty1]

In my 40, I'm currently using a 155 JHP over 9.3 grains of AA #7. I ended up with the 155s for reasons I won't go into here. I tried some of the faster powders including the VV stuff and I like the push of the slower #7 as opposed to the snap of some of the faster powders.

[Norm Lee]

Hey Jack:

Didn't get much of a response from th elist, eh?

I did some fooling around with the 155 and N320. Hope this will give you some idea of where to start

I used an A-zone SWC at 1.157" OAL and got 173.64 PF with a velocity Sd of about 17 fps, 5.1 of N320.

Loaded longer it made 164.1 on average.(13FPS SD) 1.20" OAL

5.1 of N320 is near minumum from the vv web page

HTH

Cheers,

Norm

[Dowter]

I currently shoot 180 gr bullets with titegroup (in my STI Edge) and experimented with 165 gr. bullets. It just took too much powder to get the bullets up to speed with 165 gr bullets. In my opinion, titegroup isn't a good powder for 165 gr bullets, but for 180 gr bullets it's excellent. (for major loads of course - I don't have any real insight in minor loads)

I also didn't like the snappy feel of 165 grain bullets. For 40 SW, 180 gr bullets definitely seem the way to go.

[Jack Suber]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I had some boxes of 155s and 165s laying around so I thought I would play with them. I am definitely switching to Titegroup with my 180s. Since I had the Titegroup on hand, I thought I would try it with the lighter weight bullets. Thanks again.

Jack

[wsm1946]

I have shot Limited with a 165 Rainer HP in my Glock 35 w/KKM barrel for over a year. I use 4.8 grains of TG, Federal small pistol primers with OAL of 1.120 and get 168-170 PF. I will not go back to 180 TC. I do use a brass magwell and full length tungsten guide rod.

[Jack Suber]

For those who are interested, here are the results of my initial tests with Titegroup. All charges were measured by hand and chronoed over an Oehler chronograph:

I just finished testing Titegroup with Star 180s. I am switching from the N320 simply because it can be a pain in the rear to find sometimes. Anyway, I loaded the 180s with 4.7 grns at 1.200" with WSP primers. I got a consistent 936 fps with it using Speer and Win brass. Rem and Federal brass dropped to about 928. I NEVER got this consistency with the N320. I saw no pressure signs and the cases actually expanded less than my N320 loads. Also, this load felt much softer than my N320 loads. I am going to try 4.8 grns this week, weather permitting, to see how fast they will run. It does take some getting use to not seeing the powder in the case (my N320 load of 5.1 grns filled 1/2 of the case). But, I should be able to catch a double charge. What frustrated me with the N320 is that if I used 5 grns I could only average about 918 fps. If I went to 5.1 it would average about 965-975 and recoil was VERY significant. I wondered if my powder measure was off so I tested loads measured by hand with the same results. I would also experience significant variations in velocity, sometimes up to 50 fps between rounds.

I also tested the Titegroup with Star 165s and that load was REALLY sweet. Very accurate, fast cycling, and came in at about a 169 power factor. No pressure signs and the blast was not that significant. I was using the Star JHP which has a very deep cavity. As a result, it is a long 165 very similar in dimensions to the 180. This allowed me to load this bullet longer than normal 165s. I will be playing with this one more. My only hesitation to switching to 165s is finding lead 165s to practice with.

I tested Star 155s and Titegroup, too. I did experience pressure signs with these (primer flow and significant buldges at the base of the cases). These loads were very accurate and cycled the gun quickly. It was very manageable but the blast was rather obnoxious. I used a light load and got a PF of 177! I might try it again with the seating depth longer. I guess the pressures were high because of the seating depth - these are short stubby bullets with very little bearing surface. So, they have to be seated rather deep.

Jack

[ORCA]

A little late to the post, but here is what I use:

155 gr Montana Gold

1.200 OAL

Winchester 40SW Brass

6.0 gr VV320

SVI w/ 5" Kart barrel and STI w/ Schuman 5" AET Barrel

makes 171 PF

The recoil is snappy but the gun recovers quicker for me than it does when I use 180's. I'm not looking back. The load a friend of mine uses is:

155 gr Montana Gold

1.130 OAL

Winchester 40SW Brass

5.3 gr VV320

Glock 24

makes 173

His Glock use to nose dive with 180's, but shoots flat as a comp equiped gun with a 155gr bullet and VV320. The load works great in other Glock 40's as well. It's enough to make you want to shoot tuperware... We found in his gun if you drop the powder charge to 5.1gr VV320 the power factor dropped to sub minor. VV320 seems to have a point where it becomes sensitive to the volume of powder in the case.

As a side note Winchester WST feels nearly identical to VV320.

[Rufus The Bum]

I switched to 165's a while back and have never looked back. 5.0 of Titegroup under a 165 comes out to 168pf in my 6".

For some reason, my accuracy went WAY UP when I switched to the 165's. It might be because the sights track faster, which fits my shooting style. As far as them being harsh, I honestly can't tell ANY difference between 165's and 180's. They may not work for everyone, but I just love em'

I'd say if your considering trying 165's Buy a thousand and shoot 4 or 5 matches and see how your accuracy impoves, or declines.

[texasag93]

165 Zero and 5 grs of TG, 1.165 OAL. Gives 166-168 PF in 5" Kart barrel. TXAG