Powder for 40 MAJOR

[revchuck]

In my Witness Elite Limited 40 I run..

4.6 Clays

180gr Zero JHP

OAL: 1.170

Usually around 169 PF.

Leo

Similar new load here in CZ Tac Sport

4.4 Clays

180gr Zero FMJ

OAL: 1.172

Around 168 PF.

Guys - FWIW, you probably already know this, but the book max for Clays and 180s is 3.5 grains, albeit at 1.125" OAL. I know long loading gives you a little fudge factor, but 30%+ over max? Y'all are big boys, though.

FWIW, it depends on which book you look at. I know Hogdon has 3.5 , but check out Lee and Sierra

I don't have the Lee book, but I just got the most recent Sierra book a couple of months ago. They list 5.0 grains as max - about 40% over what Hodgdon lists. WTH? Sierra also lists .45 ACP revolver max loads that are about 10% higher than the bottomfeeder loads. I guess that even with trained engineers and high-tech equipment, this stuff is still more art than science.

[JDBraddy]

I don't have the Lee book, but I just got the most recent Sierra book a couple of months ago. They list 5.0 grains as max - about 40% over what Hodgdon lists. WTH? Sierra also lists .45 ACP revolver max loads that are about 10% higher than the bottomfeeder loads. I guess that even with trained engineers and high-tech equipment, this stuff is still more art than science.

Unfortunately, lawyers, risk managment consultants, and internal politics etc.... have as much as not more say about what data gets published, than the trained engineers and equipment. Numbers get rounded, fudged, arbitrary buffers included. I'm sure there are many here who will strongly disagree, and that's ok, but..... Basicly I think most published data from a manufacturer is worthless for anything but as a reccomended starting point. I bought my last data manual just after it was printed in 1992. Now, I load just about anything you can think of, from pistol .380 to .38 Supercomp, to .45ACP, rifle .223 to .300WSM, to 45-70, and shotgun .410 to 12ga. Most of the powders I use, even a couple of the calibres I load, arn't listed in that manual, because they didn't even exist when that manual was printed, and many of the loads I shoot the most, I doubt would be considered safe by the manufacurer. Yet, knock on wood, I haven't blown anything up yet! How is that possible? A little common sense and attention to detail, go a long way when experimenting, oh and most of the published data isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

For example, my 1992 Lyman Manual lists for .45ACP using a 200gr JHP starting load of 4.0gr of Unique and a Max load of 6.5gr of Unique. The personal defence load I've been using for over a decade now is 8.0gr Unique behind a 200gr Speer JHP at 1.250 wich is well beyond the published max charge of 6.5gr, it chrono's to about 1,160fps in my 5" Goldcup, giving me 232 power factor, with no pressure sign at all. In fact it doesn't even flatten soft Federal primers or beat up my shock-buffs. Now, I'm not telling anyone else to use this, but it works for me, and has for a long time. Some here treat reloading manuals as sacred documents. I just use this example to illistrate, the published data in these guides is not in my opinion the difinative word on much, if anything.