I am just getting into reloading and have been a competitive shooter for a little while now, mainly IDPA competitions local and abroad. I just acquired a CZ75 Compact in .40 S&W and was thinking of using it for the occasional match and plinking. It has a 3.9" barrel but is an all steel gun so the recoil impulse shooting factory ammo from 155 to 180 grain isn't that bad to me, but for competition, I would like to maybe reload some "light" .40 ammo that would still make power factor. I need all the help I can get when it comes to speed and shot to shot times, so my thinking is that a light load would be the ticket. Anyone have any pet loads of this flavor they would care to share? My wife likes the gun too, so I would also use the light loads when/if she shoots it. She has a 9mm recoil/muzzle flash level, so something in that area would be great, but I also understand that it is a .40.
Couple of comments and a question.
First, what power factor are you trying to make? For example, if you are shooting IDPA/SSP with a .40 you only need minor power measured out a 5" barrel.
Around 4 gr of HP38 with a 180 bullet will give around 150PF, and is probably as low as you can go and work the slide with the stock recoil spring. To get down to around 130PF, you probably need a reduced power recoil spring, which then would not be suitable for full-power loads.
First, what power factor are you trying to make? For example, if you are shooting IDPA/SSP with a .40 you only need minor power measured out a 5" barrel.
Around 4 gr of HP38 with a 180 bullet will give around 150PF, and is probably as low as you can go and work the slide with the stock recoil spring. To get down to around 130PF, you probably need a reduced power recoil spring, which then would not be suitable for full-power loads.
I made some 3.5 titegroup under a 180gr JHP. It made 714fps out of my H&K P2000sk. It worked the slid fine for the 20 test rounds. But think I settled on 3.9 or 4.0 for a final load. It bumped me up to over 135pf for a safety cushion.
I use vvn320 powder at 4.7 grains pushing a j&k lead bullet 180 gr which my chrono puts the speeds at 920 to 964. Also, this is through a glock 35 with a LW barrel.
I know that this is .6 grains over what is reported in the VV powder book as maximum. I have not seen any case bulging or any case damage. I have shot thousands of this load.
