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Another subject entirely, but if anyone cares, I notice the old Winchester 155 grain STHP has reappeared, which my 4040PDs are particularly fond of.
My 4040 also seems to have a noticeable preference for the 155gr STHP. While I'm not a particular proponent of the mid-weight 155gr .40 loads, a few years ago I noticed that a full box of the 155gr STHP appeared in the 'range ammo' bin at my agency's range.
Nobody else seemed interested in it, and I had my 4040 with me that day, so I decided to add it to the other loads I was running through the 4040. I was
very pleasantly surprised by the load, being a bit brisk, but fully manageable, and producing some
very consistently tight groups, no matter the drills or shot strings fired.
I checked a number of gun shops and was unable to find any on the shelves, nor anyone who had seen any for some time. I asked a shop where I'd done business for many years if they could order it. They checked and said they could get it from their distributor, but it was going to cost just shy of $65 per 50rd box. I ordered 2 boxes. I save it just for the 4040, and use other 180gr loads (and occasionally some 165gr T-Series) for my other .40's.
Back when I first bought that 4040 in the mid 2000's, I noticed that the really narrow and tight mag bodies, combined with our 180gr GS duty load, could sometimes allow a round rising up at the mag catch tab inside the magazine (the mag catch sticking inside the mag body's mag catch window), to stop the round stack from rising.
Looking at the mags when such stoppages of the round stack rising occurred (in various mags I was using), it appeared as though the folded notch cuts were sometimes possibly hanging up on the edge of the mag catch tab. Whenever the stoppages occurred, the GS bullet noses were positioned such that one of the folded/notching cuts were in the lower part of the mag body's mag catch window. When I switched over to other JHP designs without the wide ogive, wide JHP nose cavities
and without similar notching cut designs, the round stacks rose smoothly inside the narrow & tight mags.
When I called to discuss my experiences and thoughts with one of the LE contacts at S&W, he said that sometimes bullet size/shape (ogive), nose cavity configuration and any features like jacket notching cuts might potentially lend themselves to feeding issues in some magazines, and it was prudent to check for compatibility in any particular gun/ammo combination. If one brand/type ammo didn't work, try another one, or at least another production lot of the same ammo (which is pretty common advice heard in armorer classes for different gun companies
).
That 155gr STHP load fed in my 4040 mags (at least for that initial 50 rounds) like they were greased and slick, though. Nicely manageable recoil and practical accuracy, too.
Seems to like my older duty loads like the RA40TA (165gr) and RA40T (180gr), too. However, the 155gr STHP is a real tack driver, at least in
my 4040, in
my hands.
Just wish it would appear on shelves for $40/box, but the guy at the gun shop who ordered it for me said his cost was higher than that nowadays.
There’s probably something else out there that works as well, but I don’t want to try to find it. A box of fifty should last me 3-4 years. Two boxes will do nicely.
