Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 40 S&W reload issues, NEED HELP!

Looking for some help from the 24HR experts.

I am reloading 40 S&W for a Glock 23C and 23. The components are:
Brass- Winchester trimmed to 0.845
Primers- Winchester WSP
Bullets- Berry's 165 FP
Powder- Hodgdon CFE Pistol. (6.6 gr to 7.5 gr)
C.O.L.- 1.135

This is a load right off of Hodgdon's website.

I can't get this bullet to fly. It tumbles and keyholes probably 50%-60% of the time. I have tried every variation of powder weights without any change. What am I missing??

Undersized bullets ??

Berry's bullets are known to have this problem. Generally plated bullets are not recommended for Glocks or higher pressure rounds.

If factory ammo shoots fine...what does that tell you?

Try some name-brand jacketed bullets or coated lead bullets and see if the problem goes away.

You might want a lone wolf barrel.

Bullets are .400 to .4010, so not undersized.

TopCat, you are correct, factory loads shoot great. Both 23c and 23 have been very accurate with factory or handloaded Hornady XTP's.

Why is it I've heard some say they have great results with plated ammo in a 40 S&W? Maybe they don't really know?

Don't know about the 165 FP, but have used the 155RN in my CZ 2075. Great bullet, hits to point of aim no issues. Mild load with 5.1g Titegroup.

Well... you might have a problem with trimming the brass...the inside of the case neck needs to have a soft inside radius, no sharp edge, and even with that, the crimp has to just barely touch the jacket. You can try doing that, but you are not alone with your problem.

So it is well known that the plated bullets are sensitive to over-crimping, but then again, I have friends that I shoot competition with that have used Berry's in different calibers and different guns, and they had good results for several seasons...until they got a batch that started keyholing and shooting shotgun patterns, or the jackets were peeling off for no apparent reason.

Now, these guys are very experienced and dedicated reloaders and shooters and they didn't change anything else during the reloading process, but there was something wrong with that batch of bullets and they couldn't fix it.

Berry's won't acknowledge the problem, or take them back so they just can't use that bad lot of bullets and they have 3k defective bullets sitting under their bench...this scenario has happened more than a few times that I know about.

Considering that they are more expensive than lead, and cost about the same as a jacketed bullet, I don't see the point, and I don't know anyone who bothers to use them anymore, but you can find some guys that find a good deal and haven't had a problem yet.

So I'd recommend to be careful with the crimp and see if you can get those to work, and if not just move forward.

If you shoot in competition, you get to see the end results of a lot of rounds downrange.

I've used Berry's and Rainier plated in my K40, not a Glock, but a Kahr with polygonal rifling. Never had a problem.

I agree you should check your case mouths and use very little crimp, you don't want to break the plating.

Yep a slight tapered crimp is best. I have had Berry's plated bullets that did not work well in a 45ACP. Moved on to just plain lead. In the .40 at the higher velocity's I wanted to try the plated bullets, and they were what was available. I would try the 155RN again.

Same here with a Colt LW commander in 38 Super shooting the Berrys, the 124 gr plated fmj-fp's, they hit really close to my SD loads using the 125 gr Barnes and provide equal accuracy.

Thanks for all the tips guys. Back to the bench to apply the advise.

A plated bullet reloaded with a light crimp in a Glock .40 S&W is the trifecta of goofy things to do. Yeah, let's take a notoriously bad reloaded cartridge/pistol combo and throw in some bullet set-back to liven things up.

Berry's bullets sometimes keyhole. Get some different bullets.

I will admit I have burned more than a few lead bullets in glocks and have never had a problem. Do I shoot a 1000 rounds without cleaning the barrel? No, a quick pass with a choreboy pad pulls any lead out and I go about my business.

I have been burning a lot of Bayou bullets lately and have been very pleased as a good, low cost alternative to jacketed.

Ran 100 rounds thru the Glocks today using a light crimp on the 165 gr FP Berry's bullet. Every bullet went thru the paper straight. In the past I had a hard time getting one to fly straight, huge improvement! Once these plated bullets are gone, only gonna shoot jacketed bullets. Thanks again for the tips, it worked.