thoughts on new bullet

I am currently loading rainier 180gr 40S&W FN bullets with 3.8 gr of Universal Clays. I am thinking of ordering some bullets from Precision bullets they sell 170gr and 185gr black bullets. if I go with the 185 I should still be able to use the same amount of powder and get the same speed since lead goes faster than jacketed correct? Or should I get the 170's and slow em down even more? Right now the set up I have is making 810fps with a 180gr bullet for a power factor of 145.8. I shoot minor so I only have to make 133 right? Seems like I could drop to the 170 gr and shoot 800fps and make 136. I am open to hearing any and all suggestions on this topic. Even jokes and smart ass comments will be appreciated. Anyone that was in my squad at the last match should have plenty of these mainly about primers and light strikes. So lets hear them all.

For those that weren't there I suffered through about 25 light strikes. No more remington primers for me and I changed my spring back to the factory original.Haven't had a problem yet. Gonna load up some of the 5k Wolf's I bought and see how they handle the light spring.

The Wolf primers might do well for you. My Springfields love them. Haven't had a FTF yet out of over a 1,000 rounds. Actually just shot another 150 of them yesterday at the plate rack.

Bel I'm gonna ditch them into my AR platform 40. Since its hammer fired I'm sure it won't like strike. I'm hoping the wolf will not be as hard. I'm thinking for my AR 180gr JHP's pumped up to about 950fps so its still subsonic but having more punch than the ones I'm shooting now which are 810fps out of my Glock 35. I'm thinking of the 170gr bullet at 800 fps should do me fine in USPSA. Hey M1 pm me your number so I can trade those ingots with you tomorrow.

The rest of you fellas got no input on my bullet thinking? Flawed, sound or undecided?

It more the theory i'm thinking about. you could apply the same principles to a 9. or 45 what ever your DOC.

BigDaddyQ wrote:I am currently loading rainier 180gr 40S&W FN bullets with 3.8 gr of Universal Clays. I am thinking of ordering some bullets from Precision bullets they sell 170gr and 185gr black bullets. if I go with the 185 I should still be able to use the same amount of powder and get the same speed since lead goes faster than jacketed correct? Or should I get the 170's and slow em down even more? Right now the set up I have is making 810fps with a 180gr bullet for a power factor of 145.8. I shoot minor so I only have to make 133 right? Seems like I could drop to the 170 gr and shoot 800fps and make 136. I am open to hearing any and all suggestions on this topic. Even jokes and smart ass comments will be appreciated. Anyone that was in my squad at the last match should have plenty of these mainly about primers and light strikes. So lets hear them all.

For those that weren't there I suffered through about 25 light strikes. No more remington primers for me and I changed my spring back to the factory original.Haven't had a problem yet. Gonna load up some of the 5k Wolf's I bought and see how they handle the light spring.

For USPSA, right? If you were loading major, I'd probably suggest the 185's. However, since you are shooting minor, I'd go as light as you can (in .40) personally and would probably recommend the 170's out of the two you mentioned or even looking at the Precision 155's. The nose profile is the same, they are just a bit shorter which is no problem running factory length ammo in a Glock. You'll have to work the load up for them, but you only need 125 PF minimum for minor. Most folks load to a little over 130 PF for a safety cushion, so that's only 840 - 850ish with the 155, 765+ with the 170, and 700+ with the 185.

Even if you go with the 185's, I think you'll be reducing your powder. With the same powder charge, I'd expect the lead to go faster than the plated by a bit and it is heavier so the PF would be even higher than the 145-146 you are shooting now. I'd definitely check data first, but you may find the lighter bullets (155 or 170) would be more likely to work with that powder charge or close to it.

On the primers, the Wolf will probably be ok. I prefer Federals, too, but have run some Wolf with no problems and I know some guys running them with light hammers and hammer springs in 1911's. I know it's not the same, but I think they are on the softer end. I've never known Remingtons for being that hard though, so make sure you are seating them all the way down in the pocket.

I am just reading and absorbing what the smart ones say.

I will say that in my .357, it seems the jacketed bullets are faster ( looking at the Hornady reloading data). So not sure on the cast are faster.

pinetor wrote:I am just reading and absorbing what the smart ones say.

I will say that in my .357, it seems the jacketed bullets are faster ( looking at the Hornady reloading data). So not sure on the cast are faster.

I don't claim to be smart, just posting from the experiences I've had and what I've learned from research as well as trying to help.

I don't have the Hornady reloading data, but I'd be curious to look at it. The jacketed bullets are faster for the same powder charge? That contradicts my experience completely. Jacketed often have a faster velocity listed at the max load, but the max charge is often significantly higher than the max for cast. Can you give us some specific examples?

It is my understanding that lead seals the bore better and therefore gets more velocity for the same powder. This has been noticed and discussed elsewhere. See here and here as examples.

As an attempt at a real world example using the powder and bullets discussed in this thread, I'll give you one from the Jeff Maas IPSC Load List for .40. Keep in mind these are posted from competitors all over the country so do some verification/cross referencing before considering using any of these. Also, these are major loads so the powder charge will be a good bit higher than discussed above. However, at the bottom of page 8, there is a load listed with 180 grain Ranier FP bullets using Universal powder. At a 1.125" length in a Glock 35, the velocity is listed as 984. On page 10, there is a load with 185 grain Precision lead bullets, also using Universal powder, and the velocity is 924. 60 fps less, you are probably saying, but consider that it was done only 4.6 grains of powder (nearly a full grain less), loaded longer (1.185" thus lower pressure), AND in a shorter barrel (5" compared to 5.31" polygonal rifled Glock barrel). It is hard to compare because of the different guns and length used, but I would bet a decent sum that loading that 185 grain Precision over the same 5.5 grain charge used with the Ranier would yield greater velocity, despite being a 5 grain heavier bullet.

Also, since you mentioned .357, consider one from Alliant powder's data. A max load of 7.7 grains of Unique with a 158 grain jacketed Gold Dot HP is listed as yielding 1040 fps. See here. For the same weight lead bullet, a 158 grain SWC, the max velocity is 1034 fps with Unique but with only 6 grains of powder AND a 4" shorter test barrel. It's not exactly apples to apples I will freely admit, but 1.7 grains less powder with the cast bullet gets all but 6 fps of the jacketed bullet in 4" less barrel. Load 6 grains under both and shoot them in the same barrel length and I think it is pretty clear which will have more velocity.

It's late and I am tired so I don't know if any of that made sense, but it's enough for me for now.