fuel prices and reloading .40

$4.00/gal

I continue to ride the scoot as much as possible because of rising fuel prices. They tipped into $4/gal last night but by morning were back under. Yay for elective wars and causing global chaos, I guess.

reloading

.40 S&W

The last thing I own that I hadn’t reloaded for is .40 cal. I tried to pick up a used set of dies off eBay but got outbid. So I picked up a new set from Cabela’s; with the 10% vet discount it was the same as from online sources.

I worked on two loads:

• 180gr Berry’s RN, with both 231 and CFE Pistol. In both cases I aimed for the FBI’s 180gr @ 1000fps spec for 10mm reduced / .40. The CFE-P makes the velocity with less pressure so it will be interesting to see how they compare.
• 155gr Speer Gold Dot with a ladder of 5 CFE-P charges. Velocities estimated by GRT to be 1115-1225fps (428-516 ft/lbs) from the 5” barrel.

making use of 147gr plated RN for .38 special

The 147gr projectile is too heavy for the bolt of my blowback 9mm carbine, so I want to make other use of the remaining 200 or so. I’ve been reading reports of successful use in .38/.357 loads – these are plated with a 1250fps limit so I’m going to test them in .38 spl loads. GRT predicts 1100fps (396 ft/lbs) out of the Rossi carbine’s 16.5” barrel.