Another reason to hate the .40

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After a visit to the range to shoot my .45-70 I tumbled my brass then sized and deprimed then flared for my lead bullets and then started filling with powder, inserting a new bullet then crimping. About half way through the batch I filled a case with my customary IMR4198 and as I placed the bullet in the case I noticed that the case was unusually full. Since I am using full loads there is just enough room for the bullet. If I hadn't stopped, it would have resulted in a very compressed load. Immediately I dumped the powder out and checked inside the .45-70 case and, sure enough, there was a .40 S&W case stuck in the bottom with enough media jammed in that I was unable to remove the case.
I find it interesting that I noticed no difficulty depriming the case. I now very, very carefully sort my brass before tumbling.

What do you think would have happened if I hadn't noticed the higher level of powder in the case?
 
Wow.. That is a reason to hate the 40. I thought my reason for hating it was enough. After going through 4 buckets of brass if I never see another it'll be too soon. I know I will, they are like cockroaches at a cheap motel.
[frown]

I'm guessing if if you had no trouble depriming and didn't notice two primers pop out that the 40 primer was pierce but still in the case and that the 40 case was flush at the bottom of you 45-70 case.

That would mean you would have not only had a compressed charge but the 3/4" at the base would have also been double walled. The over pressure would've most likely blown out the remain non-double walled portion of the case first or the 40 case would have just been added shrapnel.

I remember reading somewhere once the Marlin 1895 max pressure is 40,000 CUP. Since the chambers in Marlins are pretty generous I suppose it might have held together but, that would be the end of it.

At the very least, it would have been an a very "exciting" pull of the trigger.

Glad you caught it!
 
I just tried this and sure enough it could happen, but the .40 case must have been deprimed. Either that or you plowed thru the .40 primer w/o bending the de-cap pin? I'm guessing you probably would have been ok...but who knows. You just brought new meaning to the term "duplex load".

Glad you caught it.

I have accidentally put .40's in a .45acp. They chambered and fired, the brass was a mess afterwards. Those little bastards get everywhere.
 
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I just tried this and sure enough it could happen, but the .40 case must have been deprimed. Either that or you plowed thru the .40 primer w/o bending the de-cap pin? I'm guessing you probably would have been ok...but who knows. You just brought new meaning to the term "duplex load".

Glad you caught it.

I have accidentally put .40's in a .45acp. They chambered and fired, the brass was a mess afterwards. Those little bastards get everywhere.

Dude! A 40 fired in a 45. Call me sceptical. Did the bullet travel more than 10 yards?

As far as the OP, glad no BOOM on that one. I think it would not have fired due to all the media jammed in there but you were able to decap and prime with no problem. Hmmm, I hope never to find out what really would happen.

Sent from the Hyundai of the droids, the Samsung Replenish, using Tapatalk.
 
I just tried this and sure enough it could happen, but the .40 case must have been deprimed. Either that or you plowed thru the .40 primer w/o bending the de-cap pin? I'm guessing you probably would have been ok...but who knows. You just brought new meaning to the term "duplex load".

Glad you caught it.

I have accidentally put .40's in a .45acp. They chambered and fired, the brass was a mess afterwards. Those little bastards get everywhere.

my brother in law did this with my 1911. boom! and a FTE. after i cleared it, the base of the brass (the open end) was flared out... [thinking] that was the last time brought new folks shooting with anything other than .22LR, .223 and 9mm. -on that day, i had 9mm, .40 and .45 in addition to rifles...
 
Dude! A 40 fired in a 45. Call me sceptical. Did the bullet travel more than 10 yards?

As far as the OP, glad no BOOM on that one. I think it would not have fired due to all the media jammed in there but you were able to decap and prime with no problem. Hmmm, I hope never to find out what really would happen.

Sent from the Hyundai of the droids, the Samsung Replenish, using Tapatalk.

I was only 20' away at the time....but I was inside the 6 ring. No key-hole.
 
If you loaded it and it went off, I bet it would've been fine.

If the case was full anyway, a slightly compressed charge would not have increased the pressure too much.
 
If you loaded it and it went off, I bet it would've been fine.

If the case was full anyway, a slightly compressed charge would not have increased the pressure too much.

I'm glad you finally weighed in. This is what I thought also but I don't want to try it to find out.

I am disappointed that you didn't say anything in defense of your beloved for-tay, however. [wink]
 
I was only 20' away at the time....but I was inside the 6 ring. No key-hole.

I feel edumacated now. I was just about to check sizes in the manual.
When taking certification classes for the bowhunter safety course one of the instructors of the hunter safety portion showed us the remains of a Browning 12ga auto loader that was fired with a 16ga load in the tube. Dude lost two fingers and half of his thumb.

Sent from the Hyundai of the droids, the Samsung Replenish, using Tapatalk.
 
I'm glad you finally weighed in. This is what I thought also but I don't want to try it to find out.

I am disappointed that you didn't say anything in defense of your beloved for-tay, however. [wink]

Well, as usual, no good came of the .40.

I think I had something similar happen.

I was shooting some light Titegroup loads out of a .357 Mag once, and when I ejected the cases I looked into my palm and had 6 .357 cases and one badly charred and decapped .25 ACP case.

I figured that there was only one way that could've happened.
 
I had a recent battle with 357 sig cases that had small tight flash holes. Depriming pins were getting pulled out of the pin rods, and also some being bent. I got some knockout pins which were .055" diameter, instead of the normal .060" diameter.

I started cranking again..... CRUNCH! WTF!!!

I pulled that piece of brass from station 1, and looked inside.... a .22 LR case was sitting in there. Bent the damn new pin.

From now on I am looking inside of every piece that goes into my press! Weird stuff happens.
 
Dude! A 40 fired in a 45. Call me sceptical. Did the bullet travel more than 10 yards?

As far as the OP, glad no BOOM on that one. I think it would not have fired due to all the media jammed in there but you were able to decap and prime with no problem. Hmmm, I hope never to find out what really would happen.

Sent from the Hyundai of the droids, the Samsung Replenish, using Tapatalk.
If the 40 was deprimed already, or the primer was somehow pierced during the process, I bet it would have had enough of a flash hole to fire the round. With that decreased case volume and the possibility of the .40 case being pushed forward (that empty primer picked would catch a fair amount of the primer gases, so think small piston?) FURTHER compressing the charge, Id be willing to bet the pressures would have been upped. Possibly dangerously so. Glad you caught it.[shocked]
 
I now load only straight wall pistol ammo, but have never loaded a case without looking into it for 40 yrs. Would love to use case feeder, but would not be comfortable with it. Jack.

You can still use a case feeder, but you'd have to take a look at them beforehand. I grab handfuls of cases, dump them on my bench and stand them up. Quick scan with a flashlight looking for anything unusual. After any baddies are dealt with, scoop up and dump into the feeder.
 
Dude! A 40 fired in a 45. Call me sceptical. Did the bullet travel more than 10 yards?
a friend told me that he did that once. I screwed up once and put a Delta Elite magazine in one of my 1911s. I had the muzzle pointing a bit below horizontal and when I chambered a round the cartridge dropped out of the muzzle at my feet. I took that as a clue that I should stop, unload the gun and investigate further.
 
a friend told me that he did that once. I screwed up once and put a Delta Elite magazine in one of my 1911s. I had the muzzle pointing a bit below horizontal and when I chambered a round the cartridge dropped out of the muzzle at my feet. I took that as a clue that I should stop, unload the gun and investigate further.

Peanut butter will keep them from falling out.
 
I have a solution to all yours woes. I would not have considered buying a 40 S&W because of that. Ocassionally I would have found one mixed with my 45ACP. I recenltly bought a casing seperator from Dillon. Its a three basket tier system that seperates 45's to 40's to 9mm and 380's. Because I love it so much, I bought the Springfield XD 40. ehhhhh emmm. My first Polymer gun. I typically like heavy metal. But that XD is a great gun.
 
That article doesn't make any sense to me. Its all personal OPINIONS, Like A$$holes we all gat'em

When you own a bunch of handguns in different calibers and the .40s are sitting there doing nothing, you'll understand.

Some folks might never reach this point but everyone that's "been there" basically knows exactly what I'm talking
about. It's not so much that it's a terrible cartridge it's just that in the presence of others it loses its point.

Say you have three vehicles, a sportscar, a weaksauce Taurus with the small V6 and a crew cab diesel pickup....

Guess what happens to that Taurus- you will get rid of it because it's pointless and doesn't do anything the other two
won't do way better. .40 S+W is like that "crappy taurus". In a field of others it becomes pure, concentrated "meh". It's a snorefest masquerading as an autoloading pistol cartridge.

I've owned 5 handguns in .40 S+W and slowly sold them all. None of them were terrible. Some of them were
excellent. I keep trying to think of reasons to get a .40 S+W again someday and those reasons keep ending up in the "well, maybe sorta kinda when I have money to burn" pile.

-Mike
 
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[grin]I love my .40 never ever had an issue with the guns or the ammo.

Cant understand all the hate for this caliber.

Do you reload for it? I ask b/c this thread is in the reloading section. I think the .40 performs fine, but its not the most satisfying round to reload for. It has way less flexibility than the .45, 10mm, .357 Mag, or even 9mm IMO. It can't be loaded up (no +P loadings) and for me it didn't perform well loaded down.

In my experience, if I don't reload something...it rarely gets shot.

I beat this topic to death in this thread:

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/134290-The-.40-S-amp-W-and-plastic-hammer-hell
 
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Do you reload for it? I ask b/c this thread is in the reloading section. I think the .40 performs fine, but its not the most satisfying round to reload for. It has way less flexibility than the .45, 10mm, .357 Mag, or even 9mm IMO. It can't be loaded up (no +P loadings) and for me it didn't perform well loaded down.

The few hundred rounds I made in .40 with power pistol all came out fine. It's not horrendous to reload for, then again I didn't have Glock bulges or anything like that to deal with at the time, either. You're definitely on the mark though as far as
there's nowhere for the caliber to go. Making excursions above book values is a good way to get a KB in a .40. There's not a whole hell of a lot of headroom unless you're running 155s or something.

-Mike
 
I don't own or reload for .40 (yet). The only reason I may eventually do so is to fit within the rules of USPSA. If you're shooting limited, or single stack .40 is the minimum caliber to make major power factor. For these divisions .40 gives you a capacity and/or a cost advantage over .45. That and the fact that most of the brass I find at the range is .40 and not 9mm or .45 [wink].
 
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