Found some 40 cal 165gr FMJ bullets on the NE Shooters Supply site. They were the only ones they had.. Also they had some 10mm brass mixed lots in 250 piece bags. Being sent home for a while on leave, it's getting pretty boring here on the plantation so I ordered some bullets and brass.
The package finally arrived. They are having their share of challenges also..
Here is what the bag of brass contained..
51 A-USA, 53 S&B..
A handful of CBC, GFL, PPU, SIG, and Winchester.. A few Hornady, and X-TREME and exactly five FC.
(The pic on the website shows all FC)
So, now I'm getting curious.. What are the weights of all this different brass..? Told ya I'm getting bored..
I took a five piece sample of each brand and weighed those. I know it's not kosher to weigh with the spent primers in but it's just a quick look. The actual weight would be about 4.0 grs less.
(https://i.postimg.cc/wT4v2KL0/DSC03362-sized.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
The graph shows weights from 70.0 to 81.0 grs. each line = one tenth of a grain. On the right is the average of five weights. Those with a " above means two cases had the same weight.
Makes me wonder who makes all this brass, and what specs they going for... ? The CBC brass was the most consistent in this sample. However, after all the shooting was done, I've come to the conclusion the weights, and what little difference is case capacity there was, made little difference.
The bullets weighed close to 165.0grs, but their diameter averaged .4005", instead of the usual .4000". This resulted in a slight bulge in the brass after seating and there was some slight resistance from the LEE Factory Crimp die. But the ammo feed and fired just fine.. No issues.
Ok, enough of that... On to the handloads..
Velocity data was taken with an Oehler 33. Skysceens centered at 15'.
Shots fired off a Caldwell pistol rest at 25 yards.
Wasn't going for full power loads necessarily on this first round, just some good range loads. This isn't going to be an exhaustive study, just a quick sampling of powders I've had good results with 180gr FMJ loads. I have heard some not so positive opinions about A-USA (Armscor) and S&B (Sellier & Bellot) brass, so I left those alone for now.
(https://i.postimg.cc/xTRLCYTT/4-25-20-Final-sized.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
On the first shoot I used all the CBC brass there was. The BE-86 loads used Win brass. All the brass was run through the Redding GRx sizer first.
Looks like there's a sweet spot with BE-86.
I still have an abundance of Alcan 7 from the old days so I'm always looking for ways to use it up. Its burn rate is very close to Blue Dot, maybe a tad slower.
Really enjoying shooting this Red Dot sight...
For the second shoot, some adjusted loads and a few other powders were included and got a little more aggressive. Various brands of brass used, noted on the targets.
(https://i.postimg.cc/Dyj5nZ3F/4-26-20-Final-sized.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
For some reason this gun likes to throw one round out somewhere once in a while. If not for that, there'd be some nice groups here. Especially pleasing was AA#7, AutoComp, PowerPistol, and 3N37.
As for pressure signs, none were ever seen. No 'smiley's occurred. I did spot check expansion as I went along, and especially the 8.5gr BE-86, PowerPistol, and 12.0gr AA#7 loads. Expansion with those three measured right at .4340" and a tad over, so these are definitely max loads for this gun. All the rest were under that mark.
So, even though a tad oversize, this gun likes this bullet. Think I'll get some more if they're available..
Here is a graph for the velocities;
(https://i.postimg.cc/tghhZRws/Scan-0002-sized.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
Hope this nonsense ends soon and we can get back to work...
Very nice, thanks for sharing the range data and other info!
Nice work, Thanks!