Overview

Costs

Item: Federal Champion Centerfire Primers – Small Pistol
Price: $89.99 USD (per 1,000)
Vendor: https://www.cabelas.com/SearchDisplay#q=Federal%20Champion%20Centerfire%20Primers%20-%20Small%20Pistol

Item: Berrys Preferred Plated Pistol Bullets – .40S&W/10mm – 180 Grain
Price: $113.98 USD (per 1,000)
Vendor: https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/berrys-300-blackout-sp-bullets

Item: Hodgdon TITEGROUP Pistol Reloading Powder
Price: $31.99 USD (per pound)
Vendor: https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/hodgdon-titegroup-pistol-reloading-powder

*Prices listed are as of purchase time. Prices subject to change at vendor discretion.
**Vendor(s) identified are only listed to show where I sourced the item(s) from.

Intent

What we are going to look at here is what it took/takes to develop a soft shooting load for a .40S&W that still qualifies for things like USPSA minor, but could also serve as a good introduction load for someone new to the sport that may be more trigger shy or recoil sensitive.

My Perspective

For this article, make/model of my 1911 doesn’t matter. What does matter is the raw data showing muzzle velocity, and the perceived recoil. Getting the right load will vary from pistol to pistol. This info is purely to give you an idea of the thought pattern that went in to my load development.

To start, I used brass I reclaimed from my own shots at the range. All brass was from Federal American Eagle. I knew that I would want 10 shots from each load variation, to get a good sense of muzzle velocity. Once I narrowed in on a load, I would load 50 more of that, for validation.

For initial sense of factory loaded 40S&W muzzle velocity, I recorded a magazine (8 rounds) of Federal American Eagle 165 grain FMJ, using my Garmin Xero C1 Pro.

While not the fastest thing in the world, that is a lot of mass to get up to that speed in such a short amount of time. I tested this round in both a full size 1911 where it wasn’t too bad, as well as in a Glock 22, where it was horrendous. No wonder the FBI got rid of it. But I digress. I wanted to see how close to the floor of USPSA Minor rules I could get this, and what that recoil would feel like. Lets jump in to the tests.

To keep things safe, I started with making 10 rounds using the 180 grain bullet and 4.3 grains of powder with an OAL of 1.135 inches. Then I created 10 more rounds using the same bullet and OAL, but inching down to 4 grains, 3.5 grains, 3.1 grains, and 2.9 grains.

Once I had those 50 rounds loaded, I went to the range for some testing. Starting with the first shot of the 4.3 grain load, I was immediately giggling. It was so soft shooting. Right around the recoil of a 9mm, if not lighter, and it only got better from there.

Knowing that going below about 3.2 grains was going to start touching on the risky side, I was extra careful when testing these, ensuring that after each round fired, the bullet actually left the barrel before firing the next. During this period, I did experience a couple of failure to ejects on both 3.1 and 2.9 grains. After reviewing the Garmin, I also noticed that they were below the minimum allowable limit of 130 power factor. But boy were they fun to shoot. It was like shooting a hot 22lr.

Here are the results from the Garmin of those tests

As you can see, 3.5 grains was the closest to the floor of 130 Power Factor I got in this round of testing. So, time to work up some more loads around 3.5 grains and test some more. Of note, you will notice that the standard deviation jumped from an impressive 8.4 and 6.4 using 4.3 grains and 4 grains respectively. I wasn’t sure if this was an artifact of reduced muzzle velocity, or if I did a poor job of quality control in my reloading. Only way to figure it out is to have another go.

Next up, I did loads using 3.4, 3.3, and 3.2 grains to try and narrow down the sweet spot of the prior tests 3.5 grains and 3.1 grains. And to also hopefully improve my standard deviation. Lets see how those rounds turned out.

As you can see, my quality control was back on track and the standard deviations were within the acceptable range. As for the power factors, 3.2 grains did come the closest to the floor of 130, but I think I would rather play it safe than get disqualified for due to a weather change causing a different muzzle velocity. For this particular pistol, I think 3.3 grains of TITEGROUP with a 180 grain bullet and a OAL of 1.135 is the sweet spot.

Conclusion

“For this particular pistol…” What a perfect lead in to a conclusion. Every pistol will be different. Even this same pistol with a different bullet is going to be different. Testing things and figuring it out is half the fun of shooting sports. Hopefully this will at least give you a guide of how to start your research in working out a load for your pistol or rifle. Start safe, finish safe, do your research.