A new .40s&w brass test. 10 pieces

[shibumiseeker]

A few days ago I received some Winchester brass from kwatters who asked in my last brass life posting if I'd do a comparison test between nickle plated and brass cases. So sorting through the Winchester brass he sent I picked out 5 each brass and nickle plated. All looked to be once fired, he said they were LE range pickups most likely fired through Glocks. I tried to pick the ones that had the least bulge. I decapped them, tumbled, weighed, and measured them. I did take a pic of all ten in a line I'll post later.

Nickle: 70.0gr avg 1.3gr spread. .82"
Brass: 68.4gr avg 1.8gr spread. .82"

Dies- Lee 4 die set with FCD. Expander set to just allow bullet seating, FCD set to provide light crimp. Press is a Lee Turret.

Primer- CCI 500 Small Pistol Primer

Powder- 6.5gr of Power Pistol

Bullet- 180gr Ranier Plated flat nose (truncated cone)

Gun- Walther PPS

On the first firing I had one of the nickle plated ones split most of the way down. So thinking it a fluke (I know: bad statistical assumptions) I pulled it out of the lineup and replaced it with one that weighed the same and had the same length and loaded and fired it to keep the batch even.

After loading number 4 I had one of the nickle cases split about halfway down from the mouth towards the head. So it is out of the running. I am on loading number five and will report back with the loading numbers when anything significant happens. This test will get faster as cases drop out and I load and fire the remaining ones more.

 

[kwatters]

 

[HICKMAN]

be keeping an eye on this one

 

[kwatters]

Are you going to keep shooting from the Walther or switch to bolt?
How is the chamber support on the Walther?
Thanks for the interesting work by the way...

 

[DHolder]

Are these +p cases, or just nickle plated?

 

[shibumiseeker]

Are you going to keep shooting from the Walther or switch to bolt?
How is the chamber support on the Walther?
Thanks for the interesting work by the way...

The Walther's chamber is pretty tight, but I've not had any feeding issues.

Are these +p cases, or just nickle plated?

They are not stamped +P, but I don't know what the boxes may have been marked.

I've done 3 more loadings with no issues.

 

[youngda9]

I reload a LOT of .40. I've never had a nickle case split on me. I'm only up to 6x reloads per case (I have about 1500 of them that I run through all at once).

 

[Cannondale]

I'll be following these posts to better understand. I have reloaded a number of 40 S&W and never had this happen

 

[shibumiseeker]

I am down one more case. After the shooting of reload #14 one of the brass had a sharp ding in the case mouth. I carefully straightened it and ran it through the flaring die a little before resizing. Well today, after shooting reload #17 that case split, so I am down to 4 brass and 4 nickle cases. I suspected that would happen, any time you crease metal it's never going to be as strong, and it only takes a little to propagate a crack to case failure. That it lasted 3 more shots was a little more than I expected though.

The headstamps are slowly fading on all the cases and one of the nickle ones has a primer pocket that feels a lot looser than the rest, but other than that they are still going strong.

 

[DHolder]

Wow!!! 17 reloads dont let the mfgr's know that, they will raise the price of ammo more. At this point, the "yellow brass" and the "nickle plated" are neck and neck?

What do you guys suppose the point of the nickle plating is for? I thought it was to ID, +p from regular loads. The .40 nickle is not marked as a +p load, and looking at a number of cases I have, it dosen't appear to have that marking on any brand.

 

[Joe Williams]

Wow!!! 17 reloads dont let the mfgr's know that, they will raise the price of ammo more. At this point, the "yellow brass" and the "nickle plated" are neck and neck?

What do you guys suppose the point of the nickle plating is for? I thought it was to ID, +p from regular loads. The .40 nickle is not marked as a +p load, and looking at a number of cases I have, it dosen't appear to have that marking on any brand.

It's not to identify it as +P. There is plenty of brass +P ammo to be found, and plenty of nickle standard pressure.

The point is supposedly to ensure better feeding, since the nickle is smoother than the brass.

 

[Paco Bedejo]

AFAIK...there's no such thing as +P factory .40S&W. Rather, all .40S&W is essentially loaded to +P.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[rimfire_crazed]

Paco is correct. .40S&W is already a high pressure round and there is no "+p"

 

[shibumiseeker]

Wow!!! 17 reloads dont let the mfgr's know that, they will raise the price of ammo more. At this point, the "yellow brass" and the "nickle plated" are neck and neck?

What do you guys suppose the point of the nickle plating is for? I thought it was to ID, +p from regular loads. The .40 nickle is not marked as a +p load, and looking at a number of cases I have, it dosen't appear to have that marking on any brand.

As others have noted, .40s&w does not run a +p round. Joe notes that nickle is there to help ensure reliable feeding as it's less "sticky" than brass. Also it is there for corrosion resistance as those rounds are more likely to be carried daily for self-defense purposes. I suspect there's the element of bling too. If it looks shinier than brass then it must be better, right?

 

[shibumiseeker]

I had to slow my shooting a bit the last couple of weeks being away for a significant percentage of the time. Getting back into the swing:

I am now at loading 27 and am down to 5 of the original brass.

At loading 24 one each of the brass and nickel had small (2mm) splits in the side with the brass having an additional 1.5mm split at the neck.

At loading 26 one of the brass had a similar split as above but no neck split.

All of the brass is looking somewhat wasp-waisted. The test is going more quickly now that I have fewer to shoot.

3 Nickel and 2 Brass remain.

 

[kwatters]

I am surprised the nickel is lasting as long as the brass, maybe your careful loading procedures?

 

[rockhopper46038]

Pardon the super newbie question, but I'm thinking of starting to reload and for my needs .40 S&W would be the appropriate cartridge...but is the .40 as tricky to reload as I have been led to believe? Am I just looking for heartache starting my reloading education with this cartridge?

 

[shibumiseeker]

Pardon the super newbie question, but I'm thinking of starting to reload and for my needs .40 S&W would be the appropriate cartridge...but is the .40 as tricky to reload as I have been led to believe? Am I just looking for heartache starting my reloading education with this cartridge?

The .40 really isn't any trickier to load than other pistol cartridges. Just don't load them hot if you are first starting out and you'll be fine. Check out the reloading stickies in this forum for the standard caveats and tips and tricks.

 

[DHolder]

I load 4.6gr of 231 behind a 180 gr fmjfn. I try and not streach the brass when I flair the mouth.

 

[shibumiseeker]

And an update:

All was going along fine until loading #37. After shooting it I noticed that one of the nickel cases had a small split on the neck, about 1-2mm. I decided to load it anyway and the split didn't grow any, so I figured there was enough tension to prevent bullet setback, so I loaded it on top of the magazine and carefully set the slide into battery. It fired normally and when I looked at the case the split was now 3-4mm, so I decided to retire it. I loaded again and to date the test stands at loading #39 with two brass and two nickel cases left. One of the nickel cases had a mouth ding that I carefully straightened back out, but it may be the start of a split.