Reloading brass for factory glock barrel?

[Calvin]

I have a G21 .45 auto and a much more experianced reloading friend steered me toward using the Lee small base die to resize my spent brass due to the factory barrel not being fully supported. I read in the previous post recomendations against reloading for the .40, and wonder if the cartriges are that different. I am planning on getting an additional glock for conceal carry in .40 and was wondering about whether I just needed to get another small base die from Lee, or if it is a must to get an after market barrel with the fully supported chamber.

 

[Calvin]

My bad, I said it was a Lee Die, but was mistaken. My above post refers to the undersizeing die from EGW, which is describe thus:

EGW offers custom made, carbide sizing dies that are 0.001" smaller in diameter than typical dies. These dies also flair lower than some other sizing dies and size the case further down, which may prevent feed failures from cases bulged near the base as is typical of brass fired in Glock and other loose chambered guns.

This has worked great in my 45 Auto reloads fired from a factory Glock barrel, but the 45 Auto is relatively low presure. Does anyone have experience using these Dies on the .40? Are there powders I should steer toward, Or is watching for preasure signs as I work up a load for my Glock 23C all I can do???

 

[WHELENATOR]

Calvin, I'm sorry I but I just found your post and questions. I have a Glock 23, which of course is the 40 S&W. i hadn't even planned to load for it because ammo is generally cheap, but here in Alaska, cheap ammo, is sort of a misnomer...meaning they kill the good prices with freight charges tacked on...
Anyway, I decided to go ahead and try it since i use a Dillon 550. that would at least speed it along so it doesn't drive me too crazy on a single stage press. It turned out real well, and you don't have to worry about fooling with small base dies. as a matter of fact, those are designed for rifles like the M1A, Garands, and AR's. It keeps the brass reduced a bit smaller so they feed better. In fact, if you tried this with semi-auto brass, it would make the brass too small, and give it a head start expanding. I feel this would be detrimental to good accuracy, cause high presures, and impact the head spacing of these rounds. My 40's have so far worked great...I bought a big box of 500 rounds of some 155 Gr semi round nose bullets with copper coating to keep fouling down. I don't even remember who made them, but I just went by whatever book load i could find for that type and weight bullet, with the powders i have at the house. They work great, plus, I was given a literal bucket of 40 brass a few years back and now i don't haveto even bother picking it up if I am out somewhere and want to blow some ammo. i get no pressure signs, or whatever, but the usual "glock" smeared firing pin marks.
Please, don't worry much about the chambee BS you hear about the Glocks, as long as you go by the book and be careful not to double charge a case, you'll be fine. As for your friend, where did he find a pistol small base die?? i don't believe they even make that for pistols. there's no reason to at all..

 

[Calvin]

I purchased both the 45 and 40 undersized die from EGW.
www.egw-guns.com
I've used the 45 auto one for about a year with good results. i have the 40 but have not finished buying the rest of the dies yet.

 

[fredj338]

Calvin, never had any problems loading for the .40s&w or the Glock. Just stay away from max. loads using fast powders & you should be fine. I use Dillon dies, they seem to be fine.