.40/180g Lead Loads And M&P FTF's

2406 Views 11 Replies 10 Participants Last post by G56, Nov 7, 2007

Red Dog Leader

Discussion Starter · Nov 4, 2007

Just curious what m&p owners load this type of bullet to for col/oal?

This is my first box of these 180 lead RNFPs.

First ~ 400 rnds fed fine, mix of Unique, Titegroup.

About halfway through 100 rnds of cartridge's loaded with 231 I had 1/2 dozen intermittent FTFs/jams. These were between the 40-55 rnd count going into a 100 rnd box. The 40 or so rnds after the few FTF's worked fine.

Now the pistol had at least 500 rnds of WWB's through it, then the lead reloads.

Just would like to eliminate further problems like this.

Would going to ~1.130-35 help?

Could it be the dies need a cleaning.

Or the pistol was getting fouled up...

Just got done cleaning the pistol,

I'm going to be loading up a batch today and thought I'd check in here for any ideas.

TIA, Tom

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DocGKR

· #2 · Nov 4, 2007

Since you were not having problems using jacketed ammo--go back to that...

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G56

· #3 · Nov 4, 2007

I'm not finding a lot of info on lead bullets, but from what I'm seeing you might need to increase the powder charge some, I couldn't find anything specific for 180 gr, but for 170 gr lead the starting load was 4.7 gr of 231 with a max load of 5.2, using an oal of 1.135". Your load might be too light to reliably operate the pistol.

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101Combat Vet

· #4 · Nov 4, 2007

G56 said:
I'm not finding a lot of info on lead bullets, but from what I'm seeing you might need to increase the powder charge some, I couldn't find anything specific for 180 gr, but for 170 gr lead the starting load was 4.7 gr of 231 with a max load of 5.2, using an oal of 1.135". Your load might be too light to reliably operate the pistol.

You help me realize I am happy to buy instead of reload

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TOF

· #5 · Nov 4, 2007

I don't like 231 for .40S&W. My preference is Vihtavuori N340. It's a better match for 40 cal.

Don't forget Combat guns, which the M&P is, don't like soft loads even though people do. If you undercharge either retune your spring and or expect periodic failures.

:twisted:

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raz-0

· #6 · Nov 4, 2007

The line on the front of the bullet is pretty common on softer bullets, hasn't caused any real issues for me with plated.

As for the crescent on the side, I don't see that on any of mine. Almost looks like the load is too long for the profile and it is wedgind in the mouth of the chamber before either jamming or feeding depending on how it feels at the moment (more realisticly, probably the finish of the bullet itself).

I'd say shorten your load, but at 1.127 it is already pretty short.

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FieroCDSP

· #7 · Nov 5, 2007

Being a 180, the starting load is probably right around 4.4, if the 170gr is 4.7. If it was only three or so that were giving you fits, I would lean towards those being a slightly lighter charge. Since 231 is a powder they warn you not to reduce too much, a reduction in power to the feed- failure point requires only a few tenths of a grain. Bump up to half between the max and starting loads, and your feed probs will likely vanish. Take it slow though.

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JoeM&P

· #8 · Nov 7, 2007

I shot about 100 round of lead 180gr reloads last time at the range without incident. I dont remember the powder info, I will look to see if I can find, the lead was done when I started with 40 reloads as a work up until I switched to Jacketed ammo-- darn Glock. Now I burn up the old stuff thru the MP

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Red Dog Leader

Discussion Starter · #9 · Nov 7, 2007

Thanks all for the help, T

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revchuck

· #10 · Nov 7, 2007

Tom - Try crimping to .420, but don't go tighter than that. The OAL looks about right.

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stg58fal

· #11 · Nov 7, 2007

Had a similar problem

I also had problems with FTF lead bullets. I upped the OAL and the problem went away. I suppose it is trial and error and the bad part is when you change more than one thing you never really know what you did that fixed the problem. Good luck

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G56

· #12 · Nov 7, 2007

I looked at my copy of the Lyman Pistol & Revolver Handbook, Third Edition. The Lyman books have more info on cast lead bullets than most books.

Their info showed 2 different lead bullets at 175 gr each, one has a little longer nose than the other, the powder recommendations were the same.

Starting load 4.3 gr WW231

Max load 5.8 gr WW231

One bullet listed an OAL of 1.100" and the other at 1.125" OAL.

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