M&P 40 S&W Favorite Reload?

[LHS]

Anybody want to share their favorite load here? I found the sweet spot for my M&P 9mm in reloads, but the M&P 40 just doesn't like the reloads I made for her.
(I tried several, mostly 165gr. bullets.)
Thanks!

[Faulkner]

4.4 grains of Titegroup with a 180 grain JHP. Very clean, accurate, and if you do any night shooting I'm impressed with Titegroup's reduced muzzle flash.

[8th SPS USAF]

Please check with maker, but if I remember I used 5 grs 231 with

155/165. Worked in 3 XD 40's that I know of. Not supper hot, but worked

well. Good luck

8th

[PD Sgt.]

Originally Posted by Faulkner

4.4 grains of Titegroup with a 180 grain JHP. Very clean, accurate, and if you do any night shooting I'm impressed with Titegroup's reduced muzzle flash.

This same load, but I am using a Berry's 180 grain plated bullet.

[FrankD45]

Take a look here Hodgdon - The Gun Powder People

I found that the SR4756 loads were clean and accurate in a variety of .40's. I was initially attracted by the fact that the max load delivered higher velocity with lower pressure. I hope that helps.

Frank

[M29since14]

I tried the same loads I use in my P229 in my M&P40 and the M&P did not agree with them. The SIG reacts well to 180s with either 231 or Super Field. In the M&P, I ended up with HS-6.

Longshot seems to work about equally well for accuracy and POA/POI convergence, but I just do not have a good feeling with it. I remember working up loads with different charges of Longshot and noticing very little difference in recoil and report. I got thinking about this and checked them on the chronograph, which confirmed my suspicion that with charge weights as much as a grain different there was not the amount of change in velocity one might expect. Whenever I see something like that that I can't explain, it makes me want to stick with something I think is more predictable. For me, and the M&P40, that was HS-6. Both 231 and Super Field will shoot considerably higher (above POA) in my M&P40 than my HS-6 loads, so I suppose they are a bit slower.

[RidgwayCO]

When my shooting buddy got his S&W M&P in .40 S&W, he asked me to show him how to reload so he wouldn't go broke feeding his new beast.

The first load we tried was 5.7gr of Universal (Lee .61cc cavity) behind a Montana Gold 165gr CMJ bullet loaded to a 1.125" COL. He pronounced this load as "Perfect!" and has never loaded anything else. I think we chronographed it somewhere around 1060 fps (about 410 ft-lbs).

[bnewc75]

start working up some loads with hs6 & 170g

[growr]

I too use a Montana Gold 165 projectile, but use 7.5 grains of AA#5 and find it to be very accurate and not at all unpleasant to shoot. I have shot over 15,000 of them in my Full Size M&P in USPSA/IDPA matches. Works well enough for me, might work well for you also.
Randy

[Skip Sackett]

Don't have an M&P so this may not help but, I too use SR4756 for my 40S&W loads.

"Why use such an OLD, out of date powder for such a NEW round?", some are thinking. Well, the reason has already been stated by Frank, pressure.

I wanted a 180gr bullet to move out at 1000fps. That is what I get with the combination I use. Now, according to Hodgdon, I get it with 28,000psi. Maximum for the cartridge by SAAMI specs is 35,000psi. There are other powders that get this velocity and above but with more pressure, one for instance is Longshot. So, I suppose I could have used it with the same reasoning only the load I wanted would have been at the bottom of it's data and you know what performance is like at the bottom of most powder's data!

There is one other factor that played a part in my decision making. I happen to have a WHOLE bunch of SR4756 lying around since we had that thread on "THE LOAD"!

[djml66]

I use nothing but Longshot on 40sw for all my 40cal guns. I can achieve factory level velocities on all at 25k psi or less. velocities e.g.,
NOS135jhp 1250, MG155jhp 1130, and MG180jhp 1009fps. It may not be the most accurate load in the world, but the low pressures give me a warm feeling. If you want to (and I did once) you can load the 40's up to very near 10mm velocities with LS--e.g., 1160fps on MG180jhp from a Sig 226, and still supposedly be below SAAMI max. Too many war stories on 40sw KB! for me, tho. And You'll still need to change your spring if you really want to shoot this stuff more than once or twice.

You can get the load data from Hodgdon web site.

Another medium load at low pressure I like is 7gr Unique under the MG155jhp. COL 1.135". You get low 1100's.

And Oh yeah, I don't use R-P brass for 40 anymore. The brass is too thin and doesn't grasp the bullet as well as most others. I prefer Speer, Federal and Starline.

YMMV

dave

[LHS]

Been to Hodgen's website. Most of the bullets listed are specialty ones, and not the Berry's I load. Any suggestions? I usually just go with the most similiar one.

[M29since14]

Originally Posted by LHS

Been to Hodgen's website. Most of the bullets listed are specialty ones, and not the Berry's I load. Any suggestions? I usually just go with the most similiar one.

If you load plated bullets with jacketed data, especially in a high-pressure round like the .40, you are probably asking for trouble someday. It would certainly be prudent to be conservative and not try to push things too hard.

I also load those bullets and get pretty decent results with them, but I stay well below maximum charges for comparable jacketed bullets. Have never had any problem.

[cobalt402]

My standby load of 6.4 gr of Unique w/ a 180 gr. gold dot or xtp bullet has worked well in all of my .40's. It's consistantly accurate.

c4