Reloading .40 Cal Cartridges
Posted by MikeAdams on April 25, 2009
I finally got around to putting my new reloading equipment to good use. This last week I made a trip to the local gun shop to pick up a set of shell holders for my Lee Quick Priming tool. Today I got around to finishing up a full set of cartridges for my .40 caliber Beretta 9000S pistol.
I already had the cases cleaned and deprimed, so I began to install the new primers into the cases. I only had one box of small pistol primers on hand, that meant that I wouldn’t be able to reload all my empty cases. As you may know, primers are hard to come by now days. Just completing 100 rounds will give me a good feel for the process anyways, don’t want to over do it! Installing the primers was pretty easy and went quick.
Now it was time to set the flaring die up, that also went pretty quick and easy. The flare die opens up the hole in the case ever so slightly, which allows the projectile to be seated a little easier. This step is important when not using boattail rounds. After the flaring was finished it was time to set up the seating die.
I thought I had this part down pat, boy was I wrong! The first round I ran through it was WAY over seated! It wrinkled the case wall and jammed the round down into the case. First round and first mistake, not good. It took a while to figure out what was happening. I finally realized that I had the die installed properly but it was the finger adjustment screw in the top of the die was screwed all the way in. Once I got that figured out I was well on my way.
I was using IMR 800X powder with 180 grain JHP rounds from Hornady. Using the reloading charts available to 
me, it showed that I needed to use the .7cc Lee dipper for my powder load. Everything was lining up now and I began to roll. It didn’t take long until I had put the other 99 good rounds in the box for a future date at the gun range to be tested!
It was a good learning experience to see exactly what I needed to do to make a box of rounds for my pistol. I have reloaded in the past with a good friend of mine teaching me and watching me all the way. This was the first time I have went through the process by myself. Once I got by the first mistake and understood what went wrong I didn’t have any problems. I did stop periodically through the process to use the micrometer to measure the cartridge lenths to make sure everything was staying within the appropriate length extremes.
Look at the price on the old box that I used to put the new rounds into. $29.99 for 100 rounds of 165 grain wad cutters. I recently purchased a 50 round box of .40 cal 180 grain JHP Remington’s for $36.00. This 100 round box of 180 grain JHP cost me less than $30 to reload, atleast $42 in savings! Now I can’t wait to hit the range!
That’s great Mike. I’ve discovered that I don’t need to flair new brass, but once fired the bullet will crunch the case if I don’t. Do you use a case lube to keep the case from sticking in the die? If I just put a touch on each case things go much smoother. Since I use the Basic Lee loader, I check the length of each cartridge prior to crimping. I have two calipers that I use. A cheap one that I bought at Home Depot for about $7 and a better one with a dial I use the occasionally check case length. I have the junk caliper preset at the correct length and quickly slide each cartridge into it to be sure it’s correct. Some of my cases have been reloaded 3 times and so far there is no change in case length. I think it’s due to the shape of the 44 magnum case. It’s my understanding that the stretch tends to be horizontal rather than vertical due to where the head space is. Reloading is lots of fun and I found it to be relaxing to do after work. I always to one of two steps to all the cases at one time as you have, ie: depriming, cleaning the primer holes, setting the primers,etc. I make a lot more mistakes if I make one cartridge at a time. That may not be true with auto presses but it is when using te basic Lee kit. I have 200+ finished 44 magnum cartridges waiting for the range to open, though even at the lower cost of reloading range shooting can cost a fortune if you shoot a lot. I calculated that last time I went out it cost me $214 between range time, ammo and targets. I need to start limiting myself to 50 centerfire rounds each time I go out. I think I shot over 200 rounds last time, on top of multiple boxes of 17HMR which isn’t cheap. Regarding safety, be careful and check the condition of your cases and the amount of powder. I just made contact on facebook with a brother I hadn’t seen in years from a church I belonged to for years. He’s a prison chaplain and I asked him about a shooting accident I had heard about. Come to find out another guy from the church was shooting a lever file with ammo that someone reloaded. The rifle blew apart, including the forearm and did major damage to his hand. It made the papers and TV news but the guy came through all right. The point being to have fun but be careful and always wear eye protection. You never know.
April 26th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Hey Bob, Glad to see you’re having fun and success loading your own rounds now. One thing I’ve told Mike is to never shoot someone elses re-loads…. 99 times out of 100 there is nothing wrong with it but like your brother found out…that 1% can be dangerous! It’s realy important in rounds that can be used in other calibers… like 38′s that someone loaded hot to shoot in their 357… but someone bought them to shoot in their granpa’s 38 service revolver….NONONONO! bad. Mike needs to get a reloading bench so he can run through the rounds the right way… he doesn’t have a lot of room right now and can’t have a bunch of trays out for each step… I can’t wait to get my progressive loader running and try some new loads with all the 45 long colt brass I had saved from when I first got my 454… I figure I can load them just a little hot….hehehehe… We’ve created another monster in Mike “the reloader” …. did you see that picture of the chuck that Mikey got with a reloaded 22 hornet? wow!
April 30th, 2009 at 11:57 am
I have 20 old cartridges. How can I recycle them?
August 17th, 2009 at 9:03 am