kimmie Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 (edited) After much delay because 1)it was next to impossible to get primers and powder! 2) I was lazy in switching the press around from .45 to .40 once I did get primers and powder and 3)I had about 2 cases of .40 that I had ordered from Atlanta Arms just in case I never did get primers and powder, I'm finally ready to start reloading the .40s&w. I have small pistol primers, tons of brass, most once fired, 180 Montana Gold FMJ and VihtaVouri N320. (Thank you my friend!) Anyway, after some awesome mag tuning by Bobby from Freedom Guns, my Briley has run 'flawlessly' with the AA ammo, which I really like a lot, although it was chronoing so close to the major PF, it made me a little nervous when I went to area 7. Winchester runs pretty good too but Aguillar(sp) definately causes me issues. So, question - I'm guessing I should just take the measurements from the AA ammo and use those since they work in my gun? It's measuring 1.125 OAL which seems to be about average from what I'm reading. I'm going to start with about 4.8 grains of N320 with the 180 fmj and then chrono. But my main question is about crimp. The AA ammo seems to have almost no crimp (.422). So do I crimp like I did with the .45? Very slight? And does crimp have anything to do with bullet setback? The .40 Kaboom stories have me a little nervous. Being a fairly new reloaded (about a year now), I still measure and case guage EVERY round I load and check the powder weight maybe every 20 rounds. I know that's a bit much but better safe than sorry. Does this sound like I'm going in the right direction? Donna Edited December 19, 2009 by kimmie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoshidaex Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 your sizing die should prevent bullet set back if the die is adjusted properly. crimp in the .420 to .422 range should be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jman Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 An EGW undersized U die is the key to loading .400 (jacketed) bullets and preventing set back. As mentioned .420-.422 is good. Use a taper crimp die like Dillons. Here are some other threads on the subject. http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?...=how+much+crimp Check each case to be reloaded visually and by feel. Look and SEE each and every powder drop and it's all good. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimmie Posted December 19, 2009 Author Share Posted December 19, 2009 Thank you both - and Jman - I SWEAR I put that into the search function and didn't get what you got!!!! Donna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lugnut Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 .40s headspace on the mouth so you don't want much crimp. Just remove the belling and you should be good.... maybe a teeny weeny bit more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimmie Posted December 19, 2009 Author Share Posted December 19, 2009 (edited) .40s headspace on the mouth so you don't want much crimp. Just remove the belling and you should be good.... maybe a teeny weeny bit more. So, like the .45. Thanks! And see you Sunday! (I mean NEXT Sunday!) Edited December 19, 2009 by kimmie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calishootr Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 some get over-zealous with the crimp, forgettingthat most if not all semi-auto's headspace on the case mouth, as was said before, the re-sizing die should take care of most of the probs associated with set-back, the crimp is to actually clean up the case belling step, to getthe case back 'straight' if you will, putting marginal amount of crimp is fine, some have tried to put on damned near a roll crimp on the case and have caused everything from their plated bullets to separate at the now newly made 'cannelure' to premature extractor failure because now the case is headspacing on the case rim....hope that helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CocoBolo Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 You are on the right track. You may want to tighten the crimp a bit if you get a bunch that don't drop check because of the crimp. Lead and Moly use a little more crimp. The best investment I made in 40 was the Redding Grx. This has cured all the evils of fat boy brass. The U-Die isn't a cure but it helped slightly. I have CasePro for 38 Super and a 40 die on the way for it, but big bucks. In the short OAL (1.20) I did have some issues with cases splitting and blew the top off a few shooting jacketed bullets. Load was 5.2gr of WST. Since going S_I, I load out to 1.185 and on 200gr out to 1.20 no more issues with brass coming apart. N320 took 5.0gr to make major with a cushion using 180gr MTG, I switched to Bayou Bullets 180gr and hit mjaor with 4.4 gr o f 320 and its sure soft, WST takes 4.7gr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimmie Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 (edited) Thanks everyone - I'm feeling better about this now. But I'm still not really understanding how bullet setback happens. Does the bullet get pushed back as it's leaving the magazine and entering the chamber? Does it 'hit' something? The mouth of the barrel is at the end of the chamber - yes? Does the setback happen there? Sorry - I'm not sure how to search for that. Thanks Donna * Or, when I search, I get my own posts!!!!!! Edited December 20, 2009 by kimmie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Setback occurs when the bullet is being stripped from the mag and is being pushed into/up the feed ramp. I use a Dillon sizing die, which does this weird "coke bottle" effect on the case. Loaded thousands of rounds like this, never the first setback problem. It seems the coke bottle effect, which makes the the case a bit smaller in the middle, keeps any issue with setback from developing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lugnut Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Yep what Grumpy said. Sometimes if you get "tired" brass and the brass isn't sized well... or you get some bullets that are a tad small you can get situations where the bullets could be pushed back into the case fairly easily. It does happen on occasion when using range brass... but the Lee U die is a good way to prevent this IMO. I will tell you one thing for reloading .40- it's the neck tension that should hold the bullet in place NOT the crimp! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Sierpina Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Donna, I crimp slightly tighter than . 420......nothing smaller than .418, but being Polish, I'm different. As long as the brass still has a distinct shoulder at the crimp (run your fingernail over the case mouth) you'll be fine. See you on the 27th! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimmie Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 Donna, I crimp slightly tighter than . 420......nothing smaller than .418, but being Polish, I'm different. As long as the brass still has a distinct shoulder at the crimp (run your fingernail over the case mouth) you'll be fine. See you on the 27th! Thanks guys - I sorta thought that was what caused 'setback'. Now I know! Now, if my round case gauges o.k. - I should be fine, yes? And is a Redding a good investment? Yup - see you both on the 27th!!!!! Joe has been busy!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calishootr Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 the redding die is a good investment, if you have a .40 that doesnt like range-rat brass or LEO range brass(typically shot out of Glocks) if your gun eats anything it's been fed thus far, the redding is a moot point, but as they say, couldnt hurt the Dillon dies undersize the brass when resizing(hence the afor mentioned 'coke bottle' effect) and helps with negating the bullet set-back when the round smacks the barrel/frame's feedramp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucasb67 Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 the only way I know to do to haven't bullets setback is to put in the garbage the brass that doesn't feel hard on the risizing ... the brass alloy loose its elasticity by the use a correct set up of the dies aren't a security to prevent bullets setback be sure on a correct oal that makes your ammo good in chambering, and then use brass not too used ... its elasticity depend also by the quality of brass alloy but the feeling on the resizer doesn't lie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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