reload .40 or 9mm

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firstg19

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Alright this might be a dumb question, but i gotta ask it anyways. Am I safer to reload .40 s&w or 9mm. The reason I ask is because such a big deal has been made about kabooms and the glock .40 s&w. I plan to buy an xd(probably the m) and I am debating on which caliber to get. I have read speers warning on 9mm and that seating to deep can cause high changes in pressure, and I have noticed that the pressures on .40 s&w appear to be lower than with a 9mm. The only thing that has got me stumped is that all the kabooms with glocks seem to be with .40's vs. 9mm....so which would be better for a newbie to use...so far i have only reloaded .45 acp
 
It isn't the cartridge that is the issue, it's the ammunition. Load safe ammunition and you won't have problems. There really is no need for full power practice ammunition. There are far more effective methods to learn the basic principles of pistol marksmanship than trying to fight the recoil of a full power load. This will in fact make you a far worse shooter than you would think.
 
thanks freakshow, but what I am looking for is more along the lines if say my crimp is not as good as it should be, or a I crimp to much, or I seat the bullet slightly off, which caliber would be less likely to show drastic changes (or which is so to say safer). Also, does one round use thicker cases? or anything that makes it less resistant to accidents?
 
Again, if you load properly, you won't have any issues. There are very few pistol cartridges that are bad choices for handloaders to start with. I don't recommend you start loading 7.62 Nagant as your first cartridge due to complexity of loading, for example. The 9mm and .40 are fine cartridges to load for and neither is better or worse than the other.
 
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Alright this might be a dumb question, but i gotta ask it anyways. Am I safer to reload .40 s&w or 9mm.
Click to expand...

I agree, the answer is both or neither one. If you load correctly with good data it’s a wash.
 
SAAMI pressure specs:

9mm +P = 38,500 PSI
9mm = 35,000 PSI
40 S&W = 35,000 PSI
45 ACP +P = 23,000 PSI
45 ACP = 21,00 PSI

rc
 
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KB can be caused by several things, the issues that get brought up with Glock .40 KB are reportedly due to polygonal rifling+lead bullets and/or unsupported chambers.

The XD has neither.

Due to cost of components, reloading 9mm is cheaper though.
 
Pretty much the only difference between 9mm brass and 9mm+p brass is the headstamp. So it has the most headroom for making a mistake in theory. the case is also small, so it is more likely you will notice double charges than with a larger case. Guns in 9mm are also more likely to have fully supported chambers than those in .40. But plenty of .40s are fully supported as well.

That's the theory anyway. The reality is that if you don't understand what you are doing enough, or are otherwise incapable of operating within the parameters needed to make good .40 ammo that won't blow up on you, you are equally unsuited to making 9mm ammo as .40.
 
okay, i guess i will go with the xd .40, since I already have a glock 19 and planned to swap out the barrel eventually with a lone wolf, but I'm still a little intimidated with doing that. I'm kind of to the point now where i refuse to shoot a gun unless i can reload for it. I havent shot my glock at the range in a while, its only my .45 these days, which i can still shoot for somewhere around 10 bucks a box with shooting lead reloads. 9mm has been costing 26 bucks for the cheap stuff...and thats if i can ever find it
 
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Freakshow 10mm gave you some good advice you only need to load your ammo hot enough to operate the gun properly. Also rimless auto cartridges are taper crimped but if done correctly this should keep the bullets from setting back into the case. Use of hard cast or jacketed bullets will help with setback. You can test for proper crimp tension by pressing a loaded cartage (bullet down) into a bench or table top (measure before and after to see if there is set back). One writer/gunsmith found that he had to reduce the diameter of expander on his dies to prevent this problem (with 40s). In the last 20years I have loaded thousands of both 9mm and 40s with out any problems (I do not load hot) with standard lee dies and a lot of these reloads were shot in Glocks, still have all my fingers. Good luck : Bill :)
 
As the others have stated, load safe! Both are easy to load for, 9mm being more economical. If you stay with the published data, in a load manual, you'll be just fine. Fwiw, the only kb I've ever witnessed, was with a gen 2 G19, caused by some commercial reloads. No damage to the gun, blew the mag out of the frame, and burnt the guys finger.:fire::D
 
I agree, the answer is both or neither one. If you load correctly with good data it’s a wash.
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Yep, but as posted, the 9MM will be a lot cheaper to shoot.
 
Both calibers are easy to reload. Personally, I prefer reloading .40 S&W only because loading the 9mm takes a lot more force on my press than the .40 S&W. Your mileage will vary.
 
careful useing the fast powders such as BullsEye to load with a double charge could pass by eyeball inspection.
that said I use Red Dot for cast 9mm slugs at moderate fps and have good (and clean) results in my 9's.
 
As the others have stated, load safe! Both are easy to load for, 9mm being more economical. If you stay with the published data, in a load manual, you'll be just fine. Fwiw, the only kb I've ever witnessed, was with a gen 2 G19, caused by some commercial reloads. No damage to the gun, blew the mag out of the frame, and burnt the guys finger.
Click to expand...

A friend of mine picked up about 400 rounds of once shot .40 brass for me last Saturday after a conceal carry course. (a good friend :)) All the brass was slightly "Glocked" (meaning a slight bulge is visible on one side near the web) caused by the less than perfect support in the chamber the direction of the feed ramp.

When you reload that stuff normally, the resizer doesn't go far enough to erase the bulge. You can shoot such reloads as long as you don't use hot loads, and at the same time, happen to have that loaded round with the bulge again facing the feed ramp.

But lets say you happen to bulge a round twice in the same spot.(Possible but the odds are probably less than 50%) Yet if it does happen the weakened spot on the brass is even weaker. Then the odds of a kaboom increases.

Redding has addressed this problem with their "GRX Push Thru Base Sizing Die." Sinclair has added this product to their fine catalog. The product works and makes bulged brass and its negatives a non-problem.

http://www.sinclairintl.com/new_products

I simply run all my .40 S&W brass through that die, first, before I resize and expand with my regular dies, and I don't worry as long as I reload moderately and safely.
 
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