Load Issues in 40 caliber

[krmalin221]

Hello, I have been reloading for about a month now and need some help. I am reloading on a Lee Classic Turret Press four die set up. Info is as follows;

40 Caliber
165 Plated flat nose Berrys Bullets
CCI 500 Small Pistol Primers
Mixed once fired police brass
AA# 5 Powder at 6.8 grains (start load)

The problem is that I am getting a lot of powder buildup after firing about 100 or so rounds through my Glock 22 Gen 4.

I also read somewhere that it could be the primers and tried 50 rounds with Remington small pistol primers and had the same results. :banghead: So any help or suggestions that the years of experience on this Forum have would great. Thanks in advance Kyle

 

[MtnCreek]

I have years of experience, but I could have been doing it wrong all this time…

Starting charges are often dirty. That said, I don’t use that powder or plated bullets, so I can’t comment on your load.

 

[Walkalong]

Bump it up a hair as the data allows.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Does the "a lot of powder buildup" stop the pistol?

 

[krmalin221]

It has not stopped it but, after all the back and forth about Glocks and the barrels I try to clean it after every 150 rounds or so. I just noticed that there is a very heavy buildup compared to shooting factory Winchester ammo issued by my department.

 

[LiveLife]

+1 to Walkalong's comment. Similar to shooting lighter 9mm 115 gr bullet vs 124/125 gr bullets in Glocks, I also drive lighter 155/165 gr 40S&W bullets harder than 180 gr bullets. I use accuracy trends to determine the powder charge I use rather than how dirty/clean a load burns but IME, cleaner burning loads usually translate to more accurate loads. YMMV


With Berry's plated bullets, I use lead load data or start-to-mid range jacketed load data per Berry's MFG and have had good results. I haven't used AA #5 for 40S&W but have used other faster and slower burning powders than AA #5 using lead/mid-range jacketed load data and they were clean to fairly clean.

As to your load, Accurate Arms current load data has loads for 9mm Berry's plated bullets but not for 40S&W Berry's plated bullets. Here are jacketed/lead load data for 155-170 gr bullet weight range for reference - Note that Accurate Arms lists Rainier (RAN) and Berry's (BRY) plated bullets as jacketed in their load data.

 

[krmalin221]

Thanks for all the info so far everyone. Also just out of curiosity I am using the auto disk powder measure by lee to fill my loads. I check every third or fourth one for the weight. Does anyone have an opinion of this system or should I just go to a manual loading style?

 

[LiveLife]

Auto Disk powder measure uses fixed "volumetric" cylinders to drop powder charges and cannot "drift" in powder charge weights like some powder measures.

After filling the powder hopper, I usually dump the first several powder drops back in the hopper to allow the powder to settle in the hopper. Once the powder charges weigh consistently on my Ohaus 10-10, it will drop consistently for the duration of the reloading session whether 500 or 2000+ rounds (I don't let the hopper run low on powder and refill when about 1/3 - 1/2 full).

With my 3 Pro Auto Disks, most small ball powders (especially with flattened and coated ball powders like W231/HP-38/WSF/AutoComp) produce less than .1 gr variance and most small flake powders produce about .1 gr variance. YMMV

 

[918v]

Powder buildup as in a bunch of little sand like granules? Thats normal for AA#5.

 

[krmalin221]

I noticed those little sand like pieces in there too from AA#5. What is that all about?

 

[918v]

Nature of the beast.

 

[JDGray]

Switch to Power Pistol, no sand like build up I get great results loading with my Pro Auto Disc, very consistant, and spot on the weight per disc, when confirming on my Dillon scale.

 

[krmalin221]

Thanks, my local shop did not have PP someone else was telling me about it. I did some more research today when I got home and discovered that according to my new scale my balance beam is off quite a bit. My .40 selection for my auto disk was throwing 5.8 grams a whole gram off from what is recommended as the starting load. I reloaded and went mid way between the two with the .46 selection and loaded 100 rounds. I am going to test them tomorrow and see what happens. Thanks everyone for all the input and help

 

[LiveLife]

discovered that according to my new scale my balance beam is off quite a bit

But how do you know the new scale is accurate?

Unless you have other means to verify the accuracy of your scale, a set of check weights is highly recommended for verifying the accuracy of your scale, whether beam or digital.

If you are loading near max/max load data, it's cheap insurance.

 

[Walkalong]

If you have some Universal, try it in .40. Very clean.

 

[krmalin221]

bds
Member


Join Date: January 10, 2010
Posts: 6,024

Quote:
Originally Posted by krmalin221
discovered that according to my new scale my balance beam is off quite a bit
But how do you know the new scale is accurate?

Unless you have other means to verify the accuracy of your scale, a set of check weights is highly recommended for verifying the accuracy of your scale, whether beam or digital.

If you are loading near max/max load data, it's cheap insurance.

I have some check weights that came with the digital scale that weight accordingly, but when I put them on the balance it seems they are off. I am going to see if Lee will warranty the scale and send me a new one.

 

[AABEN]

If I was you I would go to winchester 231 it is a very clean burning powder. I use it in about all of my hand guns. Have you adj your scales? If you do not know how gest ask some one. Also set your crimp a little tigher. GOOD LUCK

 

[srtolly]

I'm using 5gn Unique with the same berrys 165gn bullet. I'm not shooting a glock but the accuracy is awesome in my HiPoint JCP.

 

[krmalin221]

Ok so the results are as follows

I went up on the grains with the Accurate # 5 and had mixed results. A little better powder burn but still some heavy buildup after the 50. So I talked to a buddy of mine and went out and got Winchester 231. Needless to say the powder is a lot better and after 200 rounds I had very little if any buildup other than what I am used to. I am going to play with the Accurate some more since I still have alot of it left but the way to go I think is with the Win 231. Data is a follows

Win 231 - 5.0 gr using Remington Primers and Mixed Brass (mostly Winchester) with Berrys 165

BTW (srtolly) where are you getting your Berrys from I get mine from Tj Cornoreva for 110.00 per 1000 free shipping. You get yours any cheaper I like the bullet for target shooting.

 

[sellersm]

Are you sure those are check weights that came with the scale, or, more likely, are they calibration weights? I don't know of a scale that comes with check weights!!?!?!

You want actual check weights, something like this: Lyman check weight set