I have Red Dot, Green Dot, Blue Dot, Power Pistol, Unique and Bullseye on the shelf for pistol loading.

I use 5.1gr of Bullseye with a 175 TC bullet in my 40 SW, I was hoping to use this same load for 10mm to start. I just wanted to check and see if anyone has some other starting loads I can use.

Any of the above powders is fine, I'd prefer Unique or Bullseye since those are open, but whatever it takes is fine.

Depends on what you are looking for.

I shoot cast in my 10mm. I cast my own, 175 grain SWC with a tumble lub band from a Lee six cavity mold. My alloy is isotope lead. It tests a BHN of 11 air cooled, and 30 when I water drop the bullets from the mold. I size them to .4015.

I cannot light load the hard bullets as I need the pressure to get them to seal the bore to prevent leading. To that end, I load AA#9 or Blue Dot for 'full power' loads, and use Unique for practice loads. The faster burn rate of Unique gives me similar pressures to Blue Dot but lower velocities since the curve is faster.

I loaded up and shot a bunch of rounds with 7.5 Grains of Unique with a COL of 1.260". THIS IS AN OVER MAX LOAD!!! My speer manual listed 8.0 grains as a max load with a 180 gr bullet, but after I had loaded them and shot them, I cross referenced both my Lee Manual and my Hornady manual. Both of these list 7.0 grains as max for 180 grain (COL 1.250). These loads where OK in my guns (Witness's with the old style slide and 22lb recoil springs)

However, I do not advise this load to anyone. It exceeds the published standards of Alliant and Hornady (parroted in the Lee manual). I can only surmise that my longer COL + lighter bullets (they drop from the mold 171 grains) helped keep the pressure down.

You seem to be a fan of Alliant powders. Blue Dot, Power Pistol and Unique all should work great for you. I would suggest using the data for 180 grain bullets. Inspect your bore for significant leading after a few fouling shots. Remember, leading is more often an indicator of undersize or too hard bullets than over-speed or too soft.

Interesting, I didn't realize that the too hard bullet could cause leading. I dropped them into a bucket of water.

I have some that are air cooled and some that are water cooled, maybe I'll load some next to each other and try them out.

Thanks for the data.

bohem3006, Be careful the loads sqlbullet listed are 10mm and not 40S&W!

You can use the data from the jacketed bullets for the cast but you should work your loads up in you own pistol to see how the performance is for the barrel in use.

I answered you PM with some data for the 40's using Blue Dot which I have tested in S&W1006 and Glock 29 with 40S&W conversion barrels.

Check your PM!

Be sure to look here for 10mm loads using Alliant or other powders too!

http://guitarsalon.biz/10mm/10mmdata.htm

http://guitarsalon.biz/10mm/alliant.htm

Thanks for the PM and the email. Just to clarify, I have starting loads for 40SW using B/eye, but not for 10mm and I'm looking for 10mm loads.

THanks

The Alliant PDF files I sent you has plenty of both 10mm and 40 as well as other calibers!

BTW, did the two files come thru as sent to your e-mail?

Yep they came throughthank you.　Ｉthought it might have been confusing which caliber I wanted, so I wanted to clarify it. Thanks for the data I'm going to take a look at it now. It was a busy evening and I didn't get a chance to look yesterday.

Thanks, Shadow, for clarifying those are 10mm loads. And, absolutely always start low and work up cross referencing several sources.

I mentioned my over-max load specifically to illustrate that point. Normally I don't cite my load data at all. However, in this instance I felt if was instructive. The day I was loading, I was in a hurry (mistake 1) to get some loads done between two range sessions. I had already worked up a load with Unique and cast bullets, but one of my youngsters had toddled off with my notebook (mistake 2). I remembered that my load was .5 grains under max, so I grabbed my nearest manual and looked up the max load for Unique in 180 grain and reduced by .5 grains without cross-refencing at least one other source (mistake 3). I then headed to the range and fired them off without carefull inspection since it was a 'known' load (mistake 4).

Point is, gotta follow all the rules all the time. I got lucky.



I would recommend this article by Glen Fryxell. Short story is bullets have to be plastic enough at operating pressure to deform and perfectly fit the bore. Matching your pressure to the bullet hardness ensures this.