Barnes 40 S&W 155 gr. M/LE Recipe

[buckshotlee]

I need help loading some Barnes 40 S&W 155 gr. M/LE! Can any one help me?

[Red Hat]

I'd use Gold Dot info on those bullets. Look at these recepies. Alliant Powder - Reloader's Guide

11 grs of Blue Dot will give you around 1,221 fps.

[buckshotlee]

The Blue Dot powder at 11 grs sound great but the overall length of the Barnes M/LE bullet is much longer then a lead based bullet and I have some concerns about the overall loaded ammo length? I don't want to compress the powder and possible kill myself as I load them!

[Jes]

Originally Posted by buckshotlee

The Blue Dot powder at 11 grs sound great but the overall length of the Barnes M/LE bullet is much longer then a lead based bullet and I have some concerns about the overall loaded ammo length? I don't want to compress the powder and possible kill myself as I load them!

If you are worried about compressing the load use Bullseye. Looks like 4.5-4.7 grains for a starting load in the 40.

This is a guesstimate looking at the loads for lead 155gr and XTP 155gr in Lee Modern Reloading 2nd ed.
**I am not responsible if you get blowed up**

The Barnes website shows only loads for the XPB bullets. They use 4.4-4.9gr of Silhouette and 5.1-5.6gr of Longshot.
http://www.barnesbullets.com/images/40S&WWeb.pdf

[buckshotlee]

Okay, I built up so courage and loaded some of the Barnes M/LE bullets. Here is my results! I can't measure the FPS but with 6.0 gr. of Unique, I had inconsistent loads, also shot high on the target. From 6.6 to 7.2 gr of Unique, I could hold a better pattern but may need some fine turning. For the record, the 7.2 gr was very compressed in the shell case and I didn't trust it. The 6.6 gr was compressed, but not much. I don't have much experence with compressed loads and will not load any at 7.2 again!

Thanks for the help all!