New to loading pistol ammo and need advice

[gmar]

I've loaded rifle ammo before buy I'm about to start loading 9mm and .40 S&W for the first time. I bought some 125g 9mm and 180g .40 lead cast bullets from J&K but I can't really find any load data for it. I have 1 lb of WST powder.

Can anyone give me some load data for the components I have on hand? I'll be shooting the 9mm out of a subcompact XD and the .40 out of a 4.5" XDM.

Thanks for the help!

 

[poopgiggle]

what reloading manuals have you checked for data in?

I just looked in my Lyman manual and I found some data for 120gr cast but nothing like Mitch's 125gr bullets.

E: You might maybe go off of the 120gr data but make sure to start low.

And the Hodgdon website has data for 124gr LRN but only for WSF, not WST

 

[gmar]

I have a Speer Reloading Manual and I also checked online but like I said, I couldn't find any info.

 

[gmar]

I have a Speer Reloading Manual and I also checked online but like I said, I couldn't find any info.

 

[drmitchgibson]

I lent my Lee book to a co-worker, but it has a large number of recipes for a very large variety of bullet weights. Hopefully someone else has it and can chime in.

 

[Matt1911]

I'm not seeing WST in my Lee modern reloading book.

 

[dennishoddy]

From enos

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=31850

 

[Scott Hearn]

I ran 4.4 grains of WST at 1.145 OAL in my 125 grain 9mm loads.

You can't really run my .40 load because I'm loading long in a 2011 type gun. If you try to run that at factory length bad things will likely happen and I have no clue how much to back it down. .40 USPSA loads aren't really like anything you see in the manuals, which mimic self defense loads. Basically I just used AA#2 starting load data and worked it up, the burn rate looked dang near identical in the burn charts at the time.

 

[xdnok]

I've loaded rifle ammo before buy I'm about to start loading 9mm and .40 S&W for the first time. I bought some 125g 9mm and 180g .40 lead cast bullets from J&K but I can't really find any load data for it. I have 1 lb of WST powder.

Can anyone give me some load data for the components I have on hand? I'll be shooting the 9mm out of a subcompact XD and the .40 out of a 4.5" XDM.

Thanks for the help!

On the 40 S&W 4.5gr of WST at 1.130 OAL with a .422 crimp should get you in the ballpark then chrono from there to see where you need to go. In my STI Edge it needed 4.7gr of WST to make 170PF at 1.135 OAL

Wes

 

[dennishoddy]

I called the tech support line at winchester today, and talked to the rep. I'm also going to 180's in my .40, and have a lot of WST.
He asked what velocity I was looking at, and I told him around 950-1K.
After we discussed what gun, and barrel length the load was going to be used in, he reccommended 3.9 grains for a starter. Working up to be real carefull because WST has some nasty pressure spikes if trying to go for a max load.

Getting home tonight, I was thinking of unique, which is great for about any pistol, but then saw I had 3lbs of WSF in the powder cabinet. Forgot all about that, as it was bought for shotgun reloading.
WSF has a lot of loads available on the MFG website.

 

[Ksmirk]

I normally go to the Mfg. website these days for info or just get on the phone and call them. I have loaded some stuff that you would never find info on and I had a good buddy don't know where he went but he had a program I think it was Quickload that was awesome! especially when I had the 7WSM pistol, easy to find loads for a 26" barrel but when you have a longer COL and much shorter barrel trying to find the right powder would have cost me an arm and leg so we started entering info in the program and came up with a couple powders so I spent $40 on powder instead of who knows home much before I found the right one.

Be careful of the information you get from the internet as there are lots of armchair marksmen and reloaders out there! most are not out to hurt anyone but like women each gun is different and while some you can push a touch and be ok others might just kick you in the balls. I load WST and it's an awesome powder just call or check out the Mfg's page or call cause afterall your making little controlled explosions, keep them controlled you'll be much happier. Lots of good info from the folks on this site that will point you the right direction. I'm loading copper plated 180's never loaded lead but I load 5.0gr WST I bet you get where you need to be with 4.6gr BUT I'd start with 4.0gr and work up in .2gr (4.0, 4.2, 4.4, etc.) and run them over the chrony. Later,

Kirk

 

[dennishoddy]

I normally go to the Mfg. website these days for info or just get on the phone and call them. I have loaded some stuff that you would never find info on and I had a good buddy don't know where he went but he had a program I think it was Quickload that was awesome! especially when I had the 7WSM pistol, easy to find loads for a 26" barrel but when you have a longer COL and much shorter barrel trying to find the right powder would have cost me an arm and leg so we started entering info in the program and came up with a couple powders so I spent $40 on powder instead of who knows home much before I found the right one.

Be careful of the information you get from the internet as there are lots of armchair marksmen and reloaders out there! most are not out to hurt anyone but like women each gun is different and while some you can push a touch and be ok others might just kick you in the balls. I load WST and it's an awesome powder just call or check out the Mfg's page or call cause afterall your making little controlled explosions, keep them controlled you'll be much happier. Lots of good info from the folks on this site that will point you the right direction. I'm loading copper plated 180's never loaded lead but I load 5.0gr WST I bet you get where you need to be with 4.6gr BUT I'd start with 4.0gr and work up in .2gr (4.0, 4.2, 4.4, etc.) and run them over the chrony. Later,

Kirk

Yep, thats why I called the Factory. He even asked if I had a lighter spring in the S&W when I told him it was for USPSA. Like you said, lead requires a lower powder charge than jacketed bullets.

 

[Boxerglocker]

.40 your going to be very hard pressed to make major with WST (pushing it really hard, based on currently loading data). 9mm there is some old publiched data floating around but the official stance that Winchester has is they do not recommend WST for 9mm.

WST is all I have used for the past several years for my Pet 9mm loads. Bear Creek moly coated bullets 135g RN with 4.0g of WST at 1.150 OAL and 147g FP with 3.6g of WST at 1.100 OAL will give me 135 PF (Glock G34 and STI Spartan 9mm)

 

[gmar]

Thanks for everyone's advice, you guys have been very helpful. I'll try to load and test some up this weekend!

 

[Scott Hearn]

I called the tech support line at winchester today, and talked to the rep. I'm also going to 180's in my .40, and have a lot of WST.
He asked what velocity I was looking at, and I told him around 950-1K.
After we discussed what gun, and barrel length the load was going to be used in, he reccommended 3.9 grains for a starter. Working up to be real carefull because WST has some nasty pressure spikes if trying to go for a max load.

Getting home tonight, I was thinking of unique, which is great for about any pistol, but then saw I had 3lbs of WSF in the powder cabinet. Forgot all about that, as it was bought for shotgun reloading.
WSF has a lot of loads available on the MFG website.

He was right too. I saw this in the chrono when I was working up my 9mm loads. I never took it to the "nasty pressure spikes" stage but as soon as I got to 125PF it was starting to get erratic really fast. Below 125 was just what you would normally see, but just past 125 the ES was really widening up quick. WST is a moderate pressure powder in pistols. I think it works best with lead or plated bullets because it takes less powder (and pressure) to make PF. You have to keep the operating pressure of the round in mind. 9mm and .40SW are high pressure rounds, as a matter of fact they are right there with the .357 magnum as far as pressure goes. .45ACP is low pressure and thats why you see load data for .45 but not in 9mm. It's all about the working pressure and WST is not a powder to use for high pressure loads when the pressure is up in the "magnum" range. The reason that WST works so well for USPSA is the PF is towards the top of where WST is best at.

 

[dennishoddy]

I posted this in the 9mm-.40 load forum, but I'll repeat it here:

Last night I loaded up some 180 grain lead flat point, using WST.
Starting load for the M&P .40, 5" was 4.3 grains. On the chrony, I got right at 910 fps average for 5 shots. Upping the load to 4.6 grains, the chrony showed 980 FPS.
Backing off to 4.4, I averaged 950 fps. its close, but it will make major, and was pretty soft. I do run a 13lb spring.

I was really suprised at how the little difference in powder, made such increases in velocity.