Jim Taylor
Me and Waterboy
Wednesday, June 28, 2023, 12:13

Well... I am not sure Waterboy has done this ... yet.

The other day I was sitting around doing nothing when this thought came across my brainways ... What is the O.D. of the .40 S&W cartridge?

So I wandered out to the shop and dug out my Browne and Sharpe dial calipers and LO AND BEHOLD .. measuring at the solid head just north of the extractor groove they measured .425" to .427"!

So I grabbed a primed .44 Special case, dumped in 5.0 gr. of Bullseye and shoved the .40 S&W case into it base first and crimped it.

Then I took some heavy white towels and folded them up and placed them with a heavy board backing them.

I loaded my .44 and from about a foot I fired into the towels. I loaded one more with 6.0 gr. of Bullseye and fired it into the towels.

The 6 gr. load penetrated the deepest of course ... a few inches further than the 5 gr. load. A couple inches and it would have exited the towels.

Now I am gonna have to go the range and scrounge up some .40 S&W's and load and test them for accuracy. They are light and will slow down quick, but I figure for 20 - 25 yards they should do right well. For aerial practice, they won't fly that far and should work well. I would load them down to about 650 fps. We shall see.