Round Nose bullets for .40 S&W?

[dsv424]

I recently purchased a .40 cal semi-auto hand gun and began making ammo for it. I have a lot of 180g. RN Berry bullets I use for my 10mm and I was considering using it for the .40 cal, however in all my reloading books I have not seen any loads using RN for .40 cal. Has anyone used his type of bullet for this caliber before? Thx for any advise anyone might have for this.

[312shooter]

I have not, however I gave up on berry's due to the shape of their bullets and the manner in which they need to be loaded - be certain you are using data for lead bullets only, IE keep them loaded to a start charge and thats it. You'll find montana gold for the same price, 10X the quality and they are jacketed not plated.

[dsv424]

Thx for that info on Montana Gold. I'll check them out. I only load them at around .2g above minimum. Although, I thought I saw somewhere to just keep the velocity below 1000 fps or somewhere in that range in order to retain the plating on the bullet.

[Suwannee Tim]

If you can't find a load for your specific bullet, find data for a bullet of identical weight and use it. It needs to be for the same type as what you are using, cast, swaged, jacketed, etc. Cautiously.

[LDBennett]

dsv424:

I can and do reload the same bullets for 10mm and 40S&W. I use plated Rainier 180 gr bullets and keep the velocity below 1000 FPS to minimize leading of the bore. Since I am only after "killing" the paper target or the can, I find no use for jacketed bullets. They offer nothing to me or to the targets I shoot and are more expensive. I use jacketed hollow points in my defense gun because they are meant for killing and that's my intention if I become a target of the criminals intent on killing or harming me.

One of the downfalls of searching out the cheapest bullets on the market place is the solvency of the company that makes them. What a waste of time to develop a load for a gun using one of these cheapy bullets only to find that they went out of business and you can't get them anymore. Plated bullet are cheaper to make than jacketed bullets. Why would jacketed bullets be the same price as plated bullets? Loss leader or made in a third world place or an exercise to get market share then increase the price or ???. I prefer Rainier plated bullets because everyone stocks them, they work fine for my purposes, and they don't lead the barrel if I keep the velocity below 1000 FPS. I have never used Berry's plated bullets because I find the original plated bullet (Rainier) to work just fine, thank you.

As an aside, you must think of plated bullets in the same way as cast or swaged lead bullets. Keep the velocities to the same level as cast bullets and all is well. The plating minimizes leading of the guns bore and minimizes the lead dust in indoor ranges (often they and full metal jacketed bullets are all that is allowed in some indoor ranges).

LDBennett

[featherhead]

Yeah, Let's talk 40 S&W. I been loading them for years and been using 155gr LRN from Precisionbullets.com

It's a coated bullet that won't lead the barrel.

Problem is I decided to start casting and the only 6 cavity molds I could find other than SWC were 170 TC

I can't find a roundnose bullet mold for the life of me.

[Alpo]

I don't see a problem with the shape of Berry's bullets.

RN bullets are what automatics were designed to work with.

[312shooter]

Alpo,

I have a problem with 9mm Berry's bullets and the seating plug in the RCBS carbide die set, the rn fmj's are too pointed, as the seating occurs the bullets run out all over the place = fair accuracy at best. Maybe a different die would work but why spend the money. I can buy a higher quality jacketed bullet, and not be restricted in choosing my load for the same price.

[dsv424]

I agree Alpo but when I looked up recipes for .40 S&W in all my books none of them showed a round nose for this caliber. So I thought maybe there was a reason for this. I'm kinda of a newbie so I don't like second guessing my reload books unless I can get some additional info from ya'll.

[LDBennett]

The 1911 is the grandfather of virtually all the modern semi-auto guns sold today. It was designed for round nose Full Metal Jacket bullets. Before the end of WWII, when the returning soldiers decided to use 1911's for competition, those 1911's would not reliably feed anything but Round Nose FMJ bullets... no lead bullets, no hollow points, no truncated cone bullets. But the crafty gunsmiths of that time figured out how to change the ramp into the barrel so these 1911's would feed almost anything. For example, my S&W Model 52 Bullseye semi-auto shoots 38 Special full wad cutters stuffed into the rimmed 38 Special case until they are flush with the end (no exposed bullet at all). Guns that will not feed hollow points or truncated bullets will almost always feed round nose FMJ bullets. They are the easiest to feed by far. There is nothing on them to catchup on anything in the feed path.

When Colt introduced the 10mm Delta Elite in the 1980's the only ammo available had truncated cone bullets. Over time other bullet shapes have become available for both the 10mm and the 40S&W (the 40 S&W is just a shorter version of the 10mm to tame the recoil). All modern guns today feed hollow points, lead bullets, truncated cone bullets, and especially FMJ round nose bullets. Plated bullets like Rainier are just cast lead bullets with a copper flashing to minimize bore leading and to minimize lead dust in indoor ranges.

Round nose bullet should not be a problem in any semi-auto pistol.

LDBennett

[dammitman]

4.2 g of titegroup for the 180 g lead bullet, works great, less filling

[gdmoody]

I would think that if you use a recipe for any 180 grain bullet, round nose, TC, flat point, HP, or whatever, it should work without any problems. 180 grains is 180 grains, you might have to worry about lead vs plated, but I wouldn't think so if your not pushing it over 1100 fps.