I have been reloading for my 2 40 S&W Sigs a 226 and a SigPro and have not had any feeding problems with the rounds using RCBS dies. One of my sons has a Springfield XD in a 40 and the same loads that work flawsly in both of my Sigs will not completely come into battery with his XD. Is there a way to adjust my sizing die to more fully size the brass or is the problem with the seating and crimping die? I don't apply any crimp. I've also heard that there are some other die manufacturers that have dies (sizing?) that act kind of like the SB dies for a .223. Any suggestions would be great as I would like to load for my son and he can't afford to shoot much of the factory stuff as he is a college student.

What I have found to take the guess work out of loading auto pistol ammo is the Lee Factory Crimp die. This die not only puts a really nice crimp on the case mouth but also ( for lack of better terminology) reshapes the outside of the case so that it will chamber just like factory loaded fodder. I have used these dies for 40 S$W as well as 9MM Luger and I think they are great and wouldn't load an auto pistol cartridge without one.

Your problem is probably bullet seating.

You have 2 SIGs, he has a Springfield...

quote:

Originally posted by TEANCUM:
I have been reloading for my 2 40 S&W Sigs a 226 and a SigPro and have not had any feeding problems with the rounds using RCBS dies. One of my sons has a Springfield XD in a 40 and the same loads that work flawsly in both of my Sigs will not completely come into battery with his XD. Is there a way to adjust my sizing die to more fully size the brass or is the problem with the seating and crimping die? I don't apply any crimp. I've also heard that there are some other die manufacturers that have dies (sizing?) that act kind of like the SB dies for a .223. Any suggestions would be great as I would like to load for my son and he can't afford to shoot much of the factory stuff as he is a college student.

Teancum: Had the same problem. I own a Beretta 96 and bought a Keltec Sub2000 that uses the sames mags. The Beretta seems to chamber anything you feed it, the Keltec was quite a bit more fussy! I ended up getting a 40 cal. case gage to verify die settings. Turns out that some dies (Dillion in particular) have a slight taper to help in a progressive press. Setting the die by the manual may not completely FL size each case. Without the gage it was way to time consuming and tedious checking each round. I also found a few factory rounds that were slightly oversized and wouldn't go into battery in the Keltec. I should also mention that at present I'm using range brass collected by friends and saved for me. I mention only because it takes a little longer and a little harder to get die settings that work with a multitude of brass as opposed to brass run in particular batches. Anyway I'm getting a little off topic. The gages run about $10.00 and reomve any questions about the sizes of our finished rounds. As your probably aware the 40 S&W headspaces off the mouth so only a slight taper crimp is recommended. The gage will also quickly weed out any finished rounds that may be long and may not go into battery.

Good Luck! Keep loading!

i've found that a taper crimp solves lots of feeding problems with autos. The taper crimb squeezes the case mouth just enough so that its a smooth feed up the feed ramp, instead of catching of the mouth

I use a Dillon Square Deal B press and have loaded a few thousand rounds of range brass, the only problem I have had was using a HP with to large a cavity, this seemed to jam against the top of the slide for some unknown reason, I load Hadgdon Clays at 3.5gr win. SP Primer Hornady 180gr HP/XTP bullets 1.125 COL this is about 847 FPS and is a plesent load for target, and seems to be accurate at CCW Ranges. Very smooth feeding in my EAA Witness Compact, I forghot to mention that I use a Crimp of about 1/32 to 3/64 inch in length and it works. Running fingers up the nose to case I feel no sharp edges to hang up on anything. And no Chambering problems, will dump a clip as fast as I can squeese the trigger.

Taper crimping will probably solve your problem. Your sizing die should be adjusted to just touch the shell plate.

Sounds to me like you are not getting the case sized down enough. If any of the brass has been shot in a glock(which has an unsupported chamber) you may have to have the brass rolled sized to bring it back into specs.
My son has an STI competion 40 that was built by a friend of his and that fellow used a special reamer on it that is slightly bigger than factory so that it will feed every time. This is also an option for you
You might also get a case gauge to check your loads with(if you do get a ss dillon). Or you can use the poor mans method and drop check them in your chamber while you have it out of the gun. This method allows you to be sure that it will chamber in your. You don't have to check every round just the ones when you are setting up your loading press for the 40.
If you have any problems just give me a shout. I been loading 40's for over 9yrs and have worked out several problems.
Good Luck
Larry