I have the S&W.40VE (sigma series pistol). Have had no problems with it at all. I recently bought a Lee Pro 1000 for the .40 S%W and this is my first reloading experience. I believe I have the dies adjusted properly etc. I made a few rounds with no primer or powder to see how they would chamber and eject in the weapon. the OAL was spot on at 1.125 per the Lee Modern Reloading man, and the round would chamber but not eject. I couldnt even pull the slide back. I was able to disassemble the gun and get the cartridge out with some not to tough prying with a small screwdriver. I am using 180gr. lead bullets here and I inted to use Bullseye powder, also by the manual. I posted problem on another site and someone had a similar problem with lead bullets and ended up making the OAL shorter. He beleived, as I do now, that the shape of the bullet is the problem. After reducing the OAL from 1.125 to 1.075 the round chambered and ejected perfectly. I am not sure what to do now. I have not made anymore rounds pending advise from someone more learned than me. I am having no problems with case bulging or anything like that. I have read reviews by people who have this gun and have put 1000's or reloaded rounds through them with no probs. Any help or this newbie is appreciated. Thanks
Bill

It's likey the bullet is wedging into the lands (the bbls. rifling). Take the bbl. out of the pistol & drop a round into it. If it doesn't fall completely into the chamber (bottom of the case head should be flush w/ the end of the bbl. hood) then the bullet is likely hitting the rifling or the case needs abit more taper crimp.
FWIW, I do NOT like uberfast powders like BE or Clays in the 40s&w for anything but very light target loads. The pressure curves are so steep that any small issue, like the bullet seated too deeply, can really cause pressure problems.

my first recommendation is: DON'T SHOOT LEAD!
go to Ranier or Berry plated bullets.

FredJ:
Thanks for the reply. I have taken barrel out and it is wedging against rifling as you said. I just discovered that BE is a fast burning powder. It was the only one of the 4 listed in the manual that the gunstore had. Is it possible to figure out how much of a charge to use for a shorter OAL or am I just out of luck on these bullets? oh, and pardon me but what does FWIW stand for? I realize that this is a pretty significant decrease in OAL for such a fast burning powder, so what would you do in this situation.
thanks again
Bill

FWIW: For what its worth.

Bill, I have a Sigma in 40 S&W. I would NOT recommend that you use Bullseye. While I do not see a real problem shooting lead bullets, I have chosen to only shoot jacketed, that I buy from Georgia Arms. I do not have my loads in front of me but I can list some of the powders that I use, later. You cannot go by OAL as this does not take into account the ogive of the bullet. Just figure out your own OAL. Just don't make it to short, AND, crimp very well. The round is a high pressure round and anecdotally, spikes have been reported due to the bullet being pushed back into the case due to inadequate (modified: taper) crimp.
Peter.

Peter:

Thanks for advise, when I'm done with this box of lead,(btw, half of it belongs to a friend with same gun), i will probably go to some type of jacketed. I have looked some more and find that unique and power pistol are other choices that are slower burning. But I'm not sure how to figure out how much to use since I have changed OAL. On your post you said OAL does not take into account the "ogive" of the bullet. is this a typo? or what is ogive? How much is to short, this currently is about 4.5% shorter than the recommended OAL. Thanks again for reply and much needed help.
Bill
P.S. where do you get your bullets and what type do you use.
thanks

Bill, by ogive I basically mean the shape of the bullet "point". It is a term used more with rifle bullets, but I used it deliberately because I noticed that JHPs ten to be "fatter" longer than say JFPs. Thus JFPs can be seated a bit longer than JHPs. You have done the right thing by testing various seating depths until you find the longest that will fully and easily chamber. I get my bullets from Georgia Arms. You can Google them. They sell bullets as well as reloaded ammunition. The ammo is worth a try as they reload several bullet weights. My gun seems to shoot more accurately with the 180s. I checked my files and I have used Unique, VV N350 and Universal Clays. 6 grains of Unique gives me 965 fps with 180 gr. JHPs and is an accurate load (25 yards, 10 ring accuracy on a 25 yard slow fire pistol target from an MTM pistol rest).
Added: Do a Google on "40S&W reloading data" and you will find plenty of data, including data on lead bullets, and Bullseye (5.1 grains I believe, but check it out yourself).
Peter.

Heres the best advice you will get.Use that Pro 1000 for a anchor!!

I have reloaded only 155 grain bullets in 40S$W and have used W231 and Alliant's PowerPistol. I liked the PP better as it made more accurate ammo and the pistol (Walther P99) seemed to cycle a little smoother. As far as your OAL, I don't think slightly deeper seating will make that much difference unless you try to make MAX loads. I would recommend staying under 6.9 grains of PP but wouldn't reduce under 6.5, but that is just my opinion. BTW, I used 7.3 grains PP under the 155 grainers and never chronographed the load but they were very accurate.

Thanks to Peter and the Luckyducker for the info. I'll get some of the unique powder and give it a try. If i have any more questions i'll post em. As for the olbiker, it really isnt the presses fault that the oal of the cartidge is to long for the gun. As I said in my first post, the oal was spot on at 1.125. i know all about these press wars. later dudes. thanks a million.
Bill
p.s. if there is anymore advise out there, short of the anchor advise that is, i'm all to glad to listen.

quote:

Originally posted by Luckyducker:
I have reloaded only 155 grain bullets in 40S$W and have used W231 and Alliant's PowerPistol. I liked the PP better as it made more accurate ammo and the pistol (Walther P99) seemed to cycle a little smoother. As far as your OAL, I don't think slightly deeper seating will make that much difference unless you try to make MAX loads. I would recommend staying under 6.9 grains of PP but wouldn't reduce under 6.5, but that is just my opinion. BTW, I used 7.3 grains PP under the 155 grainers and never chronographed the load but they were very accurate.

Lucky

I've been using Power Pistol in a 40 S&W in a Sig 226 along with 155 grainers but using 8.6 grains of PP. Velocity is 1325 fps through my Chrony with great accuracy and a load of power for big game. Took a small Idaho mulie buck with that load. Also use 7.2 grains of PP with some 180 grainers for a velocity through the Chrony of 1125 if I remember correctly. Love that powder for its accuracy and velocity.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Cline:

p.s. If there is anymore advice out there, short of the anchor advice that is, I'm all too glad to listen.

If you're not fishing for compliments, there's no need to name drop.

My Ruger in 40 S&W is very sensitive to OAL when feeding lead bullets. If I seat them too short, it can jam and misfeed. I had to experiment to find out what length it liked best for each bullet style.....

Unique has been my powder of choice for its flexibility.

This round headspaces on the case mouth, so it needs a taper crimp. I think a heavy roll crimp could screw up the headspacing and cause problems.

Welcome to the hobby--once you get the kinks worked out you'll be shooting more than ever. Beware, it's addictive!

Cheers,

Dan

Thanks for advise DanH. It is a tapered crimp on it. Looks like unique is the powder of choice here. I believe this will work the kinks out. Thanks again.

I don't get the name drop comment, only fishing for advise.

Thanks to all.
Bill

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Cline:
I don't get the name drop comment, only fishing for advice.

There's a subtle irony in the comment. It was an attempt at humor, but probably overly ambitious.

I used the term "roll" crimp in my post above. That was incorrect. I meant to say "taper" crimp, and I will modify my post. Thanks to those who pointed out my mistake without rubbing my nose in it!
Peter.

i've been using both unique and blue dot in 40's both work fine. the taper crimp i've found is a real cure-all for stovepiping rounds, as you've been advised do not roll crimp. I think a 40 is a bit hot for lead bullets, but i hate cleaning lead out of a barrel. the berry or other plated ones work find, but watch your crimp. if its to tight it will cut through the plating.

Peter, you are fine using lead bullets in the 40s&w. It's about all I shoot anymore. A 180gr cast lead bullet @ 900fps+ will lead no more than a 45acp. You could use the BE, but it sounds like you are new to handloading & uberfast powders are just not very forgiving. Unique or Universal or WSF will give you some wiggle room. Use the starting loads listed for a 180gr lead bullet & seat the bullet out as far as it will go & feed reliably. Then you can work the load up 0.2gr (Unique or WSF or Universal) at a time. A chronograph helps to know where you are going, but if your goal is accurate ammo that feeds/functions well, then vel. isnt that important.
Load 5rds w/ the starting load, OAL as long as possible. Then load 5rds 0.2gr higher, then 5 more 0.2gr higher until you are just under the max. load listed. Test them in order & stop if you see any pressure signs (extremely flattened or cratered primer, breach face marks on the case head) or you reach the accuracy/functioning level you want.
Don;t throw the BE away, you can use it later when you are comfortable w/ the loading process, or trade it for some Unqiue or WSF. There are alot of diehard BE users out there, I'm just not one of them. WST, W231 or HP38 ara about as fast as I want to go & then only in light loads.

I cant thank you guys enough for the valuable info. I'm going to get some unique, and i'll keep the BE for later use. This has been an incredible interesting learning deal. thanks again
Bill

winchester69:
where did you get that "banging head on computer" icon. i work in that area and that seems like me somedays. good one.

Fred, I think you must have meant "Bill" when you addressd your previous post. I do shoot lead bullets in several of my guns: 38 spl, 45ACP, 44 mag and 45 Colt. I also use Bullseye in my target loads. However, I do not use Bullseye when I need to get higher velocity out of my pistol loads.
Peter.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Cline:
Where did you get that "banging head on computer" icon.

Bill,
When you compose a reply, note the smiley face icon on the lefthand side of the edit menu bar at the top of the Reply box. It has, by far, the best selection of ridiculous options of any forum I've seen. For instance:

Same place I got the two pissers.

Thanks a million for all of the help on this. reloaded some this weekend. fired like a champ. used unique powder and was very pleased. thanks
Bill

Great. As I mentioned in my initial post, there are variety of bullet weights available, from 155 to 200, with 180 generally being the max for the 40 S&W. You will find your gun will almost certainly favor one over the others. That is why I suggested Georgia Arms as a way of buying bags of 50 to try the different bullet weights.
Peter.