Reloading! 40 S&W - Bayou Bullets - HS6

[RandallOfLegend]

Reloaded 200 rounds of 40 S&W yesterday. Going to polish off the rest of the Bayou Bullets today.
Disclaimer: Don't use any load data without further verification.



Press
Lee Classic Turret (4 Hole)
Dies: Lee 4-die set with factory crimp
Powder Dropper: Lee Auto Disk Pro, with Charge Bar
Cartridge Throughput: 100 rounds/hr (leisurely pace, checked every 20 rounds)

Cartridge Specifcaitons
40 S&W
180 Grain FP, Bayou Bullet (0.401"), Hi-Tek coated Lead
6.5 (+/- 0.1) grains Hodgedon HS-6
Winchester Small Pistol Primer (WSP), Just finished a box of CCI500 SPP.
COAL: 1.110" (-0.000", +0.005)
FC 13 Brass (Federal)



For anyone new to reloading. I highly recommend this press. The Lee classic turret. It's a single stage press, where the dies rotate with the lever pull. You can also remove the indexing bar if you would rather manually turn the dies. Although some would compare this press to the 40 S&W. A weird middle ground between two classic options (single stage vs progressive).

For initial start up, I perform quality control in this fashion.
- Check each of the first 5 rounds
- Check the 10th round
- Check every 20 rounds thereafter.
- Check the next loaded round if leaving my press for any reason
- Check any round that feels weird

First thing a 40 S&W reloader might notice is my COAL. The 180 gr Bayou Bullets have a longer ogive profile (Middle Bullet, Green). The BB is actually about 0.01" longer than my normal loadings with Gold Dots or Xtreme Bullets (Left, Second Left). Therefore I have to load them 0.01" shorter than the normal 1.125"-1.135" that is typical with this cartridge. My Kahr CM40 has the tightest chamber of my 40s, and will not reliably shoot this cartridge if the the COAL is over 1.115". SAAMI Minimum is 1.085". So I normally use the Kahr barrel as my case gauge.

I also purchased a Wilson Case gauge. But I have found that it has a very tight chamber, more so than my Kahr. With the Bayou Bullets I am also suffering from imperfect seating. I will get a little brass bulge on one side of the cartridge, at the base of the bullet. These will still fire in my Kahr, but will not fully insert into my Wilson case gauge. About 8/10 of my cartridges suffer from this. I currently blame the Bayou Bullet profile, it has a narrower flat at the tip, and with the extra length is likely giving my seating die heartburn. I need to load some Xtreme or gold dots to regain my sanity with this issue. Also, I need to check and see that my expanded cases are hitting the correct dimensions. The bell at the mouth measures well, and I don't get any lead shaving.

Hitting up the range this week. Going to snag some chronograph data and update this thread.

 

[togmaster]

Good info and it sure beats reading political threads.

How often do you case gauge your rounds? When I first started reloading I used to check every round I guess due to a lack of self confidence. Now after initial start up I tend to check only about 1 in 10 unless I feel something strange.

 

[RandallOfLegend]

Good info and it sure beats reading political threads.

How often do you case gauge your rounds? When I first started reloading I used to check every round I guess due to a lack of self confidence. Now after initial start up I tend to check only about 1 in 10 unless I feel something strange.

Every 20 rounds (loose counting) I do the following
1.) Re-weigh powder
2.) Check Over All Length
3.) Use Case Gauge with Cartridge

Sometime interesting I found yesterday while loading what I had left of the Bayou Bullets. My UltraSonic cleaned cases seated the bullets straighter than my dry tumbled cases. The UltraSonic cleaned cases slide into the Wilson case gauge without any hiccups. They're easy to spot, since I deprimed them for UltraSonic cleaning, and the internals of the cases were brass colored, instead of tarnished.

 

[MoMan]

Randall,
GREAT post! I also load on a Lee Turret press, and have been for the past 6-7 years. I have loaded 10s of thousands of rounds through mine. I reload everything from .380, right on up to 45lc. I am getting ready to star loading .308 for my rifle.
That's interesting information on the COAL for the coated Bayou Bullet. I find the same to be true for the HI-TEK coated LRN from Missouri Bullet company. They will not fire in my Glock, with either the factory barrel, or the after-market barrel I have. They get hung up going in. I had to set then a bit lower, and keep within the minimum COAL

Thanks for the great post!

 

[dsdmmat]

One thing I would suggest is:

Take all the loaded rounds out of the bin and put them in the box you are storing them in when you are checking your control rounds. That way if you find an error you only have to check 10 or 20 to see where the error started and not the whole bin.

 

[RandallOfLegend]

One thing I would suggest is:

Take all the loaded rounds out of the bin and put them in the box you are storing them in when you are checking your control rounds. That way if you find an error you only have to check 10 or 20 to see where the error started and not the whole bin.

I did exactly this after the first 50. I was being lazy about getting the ammo box.

Randall,
GREAT post! I also load on a Lee Turret press, and have been for the past 6-7 years. I have loaded 10s of thousands of rounds through mine. I reload everything from .380, right on up to 45lc. I am getting ready to star loading .308 for my rifle.
That's interesting information on the COAL for the coated Bayou Bullet. I find the same to be true for the HI-TEK coated LRN from Missouri Bullet company. They will not fire in my Glock, with either the factory barrel, or the after-market barrel I have. They get hung up going in. I had to set then a bit lower, and keep within the minimum COAL

Thanks for the great post!

I just loaded 100 38 special on this press tonight. What a dream. Straight bullet seating, low resistance, factory crimp die only crimped, I never felt the carbine ring squeeze the round into submission. Next up is 357 magnum and 7.5 x 55 swiss.

The first time I used this ammo (loaded to 1.130" COAL), I had a failure to go into battery on my Ruger SR40C. So I gave it a light tap on the back of the slide and it went right in. Every shot for a whole magazine was this way. My Ruger SR40C is a tank that I would trust my life on. So I swapped guns (to be scientific). First round into my Kahr CM40 Hand Slapper, got stuck slightly out of battery. Stuck as in need a tool to fix. I smacked the back of the slide, 10x harder than I did with my Ruger, and it went into battery. But I couldn't open the slide. Completing the dumbass maneuver, I dropped the magazine, put the gun in my weak hand, and pulled the trigger to clear the chamber. I still have all of my fingers, but I was sweating. Cartridge stuck in chamber at range, no tools, no safe way to clear inside my house when I get home. Certainly a learning experience.

 

[MoMan]

YEP, I've had the exact same experience with 9mm and the Glock not going fully into battery, but a sharp rap on the back of the slide gets her there. BUT, if I give it a rap to put her into battery, the slide will not move no matter what. The only way to get it open is to shoot the round that is in the chamber. Best I can figure is that the bullet is being forced into the barrel, and causing the rifling to engage the bullet. I went back to loading conical bullets. I did just check the Missouri Bullet site, and see where they are now calling for loading the 9mm RN to a COAL of 1.08". I do not remember ever seeing any bullet company making a statement like that in the past.