40S&W - 40 CAL. BULLETS

pirate2501

Are these the same size? Looking to order bullets, noticed some are 400 and some are 401 dia.. Gun barrel states 40S&W which dia. bullet should I use?

RobOz

40S&W is.400 or 10MM

Riomouse911

You will often find lead bullets sized a bit larger than jacketed ones in the same cliber...so .40 cal S&W bullets will range from .400 inch (jacketed) on up to .401-.402 inch (lead) etc.

charliemeyer007

Your loading data should be your guide. Glocks don't normally take lead bullets. I'd be sure my pistol like the bullet/load before I bought large amounts of components. Working up a load takes time. Until I found what it liked I would only load at most a box at a time (pulling down ammo wastes time).

Overall length and taper crimp (see sticky above) for an autoloader is important as the bullet style Hollow Point vs. Round nose. Full loads tend to work better for me than light ones.

rsnyder55

quote:Originally posted by charliemeyer007
Your loading data should be your guide. Glocks don't normally take lead bullets.

Also other polygonal rifled barreled guns and guns with gas actions such as HK's

noylj

Jacketed bullets should be 0.400-0.401"
Lead bullets should be 0.401-?".
All bullet size question should always be answered with:
What is the groove diameter of YOUR barrel?
Slug your barrel and find out what size you should be using.
Jacketed should be groove diameter.
Lead should be at least 0.001" over groove diameter.
Didn't your loading manual(s) cover this?

pirate2501

Loading manual says 175gr lead - .401. Barrel is .400. Was confused about the caliber. Some catalogs list 40cal. and 40S&W . Wasn't sure if they were the same. Thanks all for your help.

Riomouse911

No worries! Your question is a good one, and it shows that you're taking the time to get it right. If you have other questions or concerns, the folks here will fill you in. Stay safe!

Odawgp

quote:Originally posted by charliemeyer007
Glocks don't normally take lead bullets.

they will eat anything you feed them unlike many of the higher end 19-2011 guns.

I shoot with some of the top idpa shooters in the country. they all run lead in their glocks. koski has several 17's and a few 22's with all with over 50k lead down the barrel.

reload them right clean often and you will be fine.

OP

.401 should work for general purpose reloading and shooting

victorj19

Haven't had any problem with lead in my CZ82 with polygonal rifling.

Nordicwargod

"Glocks don't normally take lead bullets."

The vast majority of people who write this are just repeating what they have read. I have also shot well over 25k of lead bullets through my glocks with very little leading and by far less than my 1911. Just clean the barrel every 1000 rounds or so.
I use hard lead [at least brinel 16] in my loads and I don't push them too hard. If it says its a .401 caliber its probably a lead bullet and should work just fine for 40 caliber. If it dosen't give them to me and I will dispose of them one trigger pull at a time.