Need 220 gr lead help

[Fireant]

OK, so I ordered up some 220 gr bullets from S&S. When I load them they will not go in the chamber, I can load a 200 gr Zero to the same length and it chambers fine, but the lead bullets will not. Any ideas? I'm loading to 1.22 and the gunsmith told me that I could load even longer and be fine.

[Matt Cheely]

Totally depends on the profile of the bullet. You can only load as long as you're not getting into the lands.

[Fireant]

The profiles look the same though. Let me shorten them and see.

[Harmon]

lead measures .401 normally and jacketed are .400

Harmon

[scribble]

I use these allot in my SVI 40 and they are loaded to 1.230 with no feeding problems.

[Fireant]

I use these allot in my SVI 40 and they are loaded to 1.230 with no feeding problems.

I think I need my chamber reamed a little more. What load do you use?

[2 para's]

if you are using the exact same setup for the LEAD 220's that you were using for the the JACKETED 200 zero's your probably using too much crimp and pushing the lead out just above the case mouth causing the bullet to bulge. Measure the loaded ammo in that area and see what your diamator is and I bet youll see that if you back off on the crimp....problem will be solved.

Edited June 5, 2009 by 2 para's

[Fireant]

Thanks, but I adjusted the crimp to where I could not push down on the case and make the round shorter to start with. I ended up backing it down to 1.2 and using some WST powder. It does smoke, but wow what soft load. I was asked several times Sat. if that load was making major. I had just chronoed the day before so I knew I was at 170pf. After 400 rounds the barrel is still squeaky clean. I might just have to deal with some smoke.

[scribble]

Thanks, but I adjusted the crimp to where I could not push down on the case and make the round shorter to start with. I ended up backing it down to 1.2 and using some WST powder. It does smoke, but wow what soft load. I was asked several times Sat. if that load was making major. I had just chronoed the day before so I knew I was at 170pf. After 400 rounds the barrel is still squeaky clean. I might just have to deal with some smoke.

How much smoke. I was using clays and it smokes allot. I have heard WST is similiar to solo 1000 in burn rate but it is reverse temperature sensative.

[Fireant]

I never noticed the smoke while shooting, but one RO said he inhaled a bunch. I picked the hottest/most humid day to test also. They chronoed right at 170. I emptied a 20 round mag in one spot and could still see the entire target with almost no breeze at the time. Another shooter was shooting lead with titegroup and his looked like the tailpipe from my diesel truck.

[Justsomeguy]

Im late to this thread, but I too just got some S&S 220's for my 40's (I will be shooting them mostly in my XD and XDm), and not being able to find any load data in any book or even online for these beauties I loaded up about 100 with 4.5grn of Unique and will be trying them out tomorrow. I know, I know... they're gonna smoke but I'll be outside and it's just for a chrono session to see if I can get about 760-780fps out of 'em to make major and still shoot sorta soft. My question is since I also have a supply of several other powders on hand... Longshot, Titegroup, Silhoutte, HS-6, 3N37, 231, and a tad of Bullseye, I was wondering if any of you have tried those heavier cast bullets with any of those powders and what kind of results you have had. Curious minds wanna know!

[Justsomeguy]

Ok... Well I tried the 4.5grn Unique loads today and they went like this:

In the XDm 4.5" at 1.140 OAL

220grn S&S cast LFN

4.5grn Unique, CCI primer

69 degrees

20 shots

882

860

869

901

900

855

885

885

896

866

870

880

882

884

866

883

887

869

833

893

Average speed = 877.3

Power Factor = 193

Stand. Dev. = 16.2

This was a bit more brisk than I thought it would be, but heavy bullets require a lot less powder. Below is the same load in the XD 4" Service model.

874

868

875

857

866

865

866

856

851

858

858

865

872

869

859

889

870

874

874

867

Average Speed = 866.7

Power Factor = 190.7

Stan. Dev. = 8.5

Again, a bit too brisk even in the 4" barrel. Still the bullet shows promise as both loads were very accurate shooting well within a 3" circle at 15 yards off a bench which was as good as I could hold them with my old eyes. I had two "fatty's" which would not feed in my 4" Service model, but did feed and fire in my XDm for some reason. They shot pretty close to point of aim in the fixed sight XD 4"... just a hair above the sight picture. The XDm has Dawson adjustable Fiber Optic sights on it but without any adjustment they seemed to shoot to the previously set point of aim in that gun. After several incantations and drawing a circle in the dirt, (I had no incense to burn with me) the rather occult practice of "reading the primers" was performed. There was no excessive flattening, leakage etc., but I don't think any more powder would be required for any standard purpose. Since this load in both guns is a good 20 power factor points over what I was looking for, I am thinking that somewhere in the 4-4.2 range of Unique will give me the power factor I'm looking for of about 170. If anyone else has conducted any other experiments with this bullet (S&S cast 220grn .401 for the S&W 40) I would love to hear about it. Oh... and there was a bit of smoke but not that much really and the barrels of both guns were not leaded in any way.

[technetium-99m]

Kinda bringing up an old thread here but thought I'd relay my experience.

I cast my own 40 cal bullets (Lee 175 TC) Sized to .401 I can only load them out to 1.135 but sized to .400 I can load them out to the lands which also exposes the lube groove.

The .401 bullets shoot very well out of my Kart barrel while the .400 bullets leave something to be desired.

My gun runs 100% with the short ammo and .401 bullets, I quit worrying about the OAL at that point.

The length you can load to will depend on the size and profile of your bullet.