40 carbine loads?

[csmith]

Looking to load for a 40 s&w carbine. I know that handgun loads work but I am wanting to get the full potential out of the gun. Do I use the slowest burning powder for a given bullet, or what do you guys use. Any loads, or suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[geronimojoe85]

You're going to shoot your eye out, kid.

 

[wolfman]

Looking to load for a 40 s&w carbine. I know that handgun loads work but I am wanting to get the full potential out of the gun. Do I use the slowest burning powder for a given bullet, or what do you guys use. Any loads, or suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks

Factory handgun loads are what carbines are designed for!
Anything hotter than published reloading data, would be reckless and possibly cause serous injury if a Kboom were to occur. Pour as much powder in those cases as you wish, but please be considerat of innocent bystanders and touch them off alone in your own back yard.

 

[geronimojoe85]

Factory handgun loads are what carbines are designed for!
Anything hotter than published reloading data, would be reckless and possibly cause serous injury if a Kboom were to occur. Pour as much powder in those cases as you wish, but please be considerat of innocent bystanders and touch them off alone in your own back yard.

Yeah, that's what I meant to say.

 

[csmith]

Well my thought on it was that all your powder would burn up in the first couple inches of barrel due to the fact the handgun loads are normally shot out of a 2-5 inch barrel. If this thought is correct the rest off the barrel is just slowing the bullet down. That is why I was thinking maybe a slower burning powder. I'm somewhat new to reloading so maybe this thought process is wrong. I was hoping someone else might have more insight into this than me. I'm never load anything to max and that's not what I'm asking. Do you use the same load for say a 35 remington handgun load as you would for a rifle? Maybe I'm looking at it all wrong.

 

[geronimojoe85]

Best advice I can think of is get a reloading manual, and don't trust anything you find on the Internet. Even seemingly reputable sites like handloads.com have loads that are way above max in the books. I wouldn't trust anything about handloading from a place where any yahoo with an email address can post (yes, that means even INGO). But then again, I am not you, and it's not my life, limb, or eyesight.

 

[singlestacksig]

most carbines have a blow back action, which means the bolt will start moving at the same time as the bullet.. you can't take advantage of the longer barrel with slower powder because a lot will get blown out the open bolt..

IF you are using a non autoloader carbine ( lever action and such) you could make slower burning loads and get better performance..

 

[Aszerigan]

Use a standard pistol powder for .40, like Titegroup or Clays. Don't use longer burning powder, it will change the ballistics, velocity and accuracy of your pistol cartridge. It may also create an unsafe firearms.

I've heard of people using rifle powders in pistol caliber rifles - it doesn't end well. Load like it was for a pistol, because it is.

 

[Leo]

I would not deviate from published loads but the slowest burning powder will give the highest velocity increase in a longer barrel. There has been a lot of testing on this since the cowboy action shooting got popular and they like lever guns chambered for pistol cartridges. A dirty slow powder load with a lot of muzzle flash in a short barrel handgun will probably shoot well in a carbine. Please remember to follow published data! I am ordained to perform funerals, but I perfer the people to die from old age. Good Luck

 

[Slow Hand]

Well, I don't now about any of the other posters, but I do have actual experience with this. Iv'e got a couple of SUB2000 carbines in .40 S&W. I won't put my loads up here, but I loaded some ammo with Lil Gun and 2400 and get some impressive results. I was loading my own cast 170gr SWC and was getting about 2-400fps higher bullet velocity; going from 1138 to 1502fps. My normal SWAG procedure is to find a powder that is reccomended in the caliber I'm loading. Then, I find another caliber that uses that powder and the powder I want to use. Figure a powder to powder ratio and start well below that. This is assuming you are an experienced reloader and know what you are doing. Pressure signs are pretty much inpossible to read in pistol calibers, so there's not really a good way to tell when you are over teh danger line! I guess I'm saying it's possible, but do it at your own risk.

Doug K

 

[booey50]

Use regular lLoad data and never go above max. I never go tO max on my loads there really is much difference especially out of a carbine because you are not going to be shooting it long distances.