STI European Team Loads
Complete functional reliability of your pistol is the Holy Grail of practical pistol competitive shooting. Without this major corner stone you will not be able to give your best performance in any IPSC event. Functional reliability of you pistol falls into two areas. The first is the quality of the pistol that you are using and the second is the quality of the ammunition which you use in your pistol.
Team STI
The STI European Team competes in IPSC competitions in Europe and indeed world wide using STI pistols and the quality and functional reliability of these pistols is well known.Having a functionally reliable pistol is only half the battle, as the other half is the ammunition which you use in it. As the STI European Team is using a pistol with a known reliability they also need to use ammunition with a known reliability. As the team reloads the ammunition they use they need to use quality components and these are provided by Fiocchi and Vihtavuori. Fabrizio Pesce, Gregory Midgley, Juan Carlos Jamie Diaz and Ralf Jensen compete in Standard Division use Vihtavuori powder and Fiocchi bullets, cases and primers. In this part of the article we will look at these components and duplicate the .40 S&W calibre loads that the STI European Team Standard Division competitors use.
Happiness is a warm reloading machine! Here Ralf reloads .40 calibre ammunition using a Dillon 1050 reloading press. A KISS bullet feeder is also attached to the 1050 press.
Vihtavuori Reloading Powders
The Vihtavuori Plant was originally founded inLaukaa,Finlandin 1922 to produce propellants and explosive materials. Now located inJyvaskyla, the company developed and expanded into various products. Today about 50 employees work at the Vihtavuori Plant and cover the following range of products; charges for artillery and mortar systems, medium calibre rounds, fuses, base bleed units and hand grenades, as well as the range of powders that IPSC competitors are familiar with.
Juan Carlos Jamie Diaz’s position as Europe’s number one IPSC Standard Division competitor depends upon the accuracy and reliability of his ammunition.
Vihtavuori Reloading Powders are known and respected as top grade products of consistent quality. The quality control covers the whole production chain beginning from the production of nitrocellulose to the bottling of the end product. These quality acceptance limits have helped reloaders and cartridge manufacturers to achieve similar loads regardless of the production lot. Their complete product line of powders satisfies every need for ammunition, from .22 rimfire through to artillery shells. All Vihtavuori powders are made using nitro cellulose produced from cotton linters and the range available covers 26 different types, which provides a suitable choice for all disciplines of competitive shooting or hunting.
Ralf has reloaded over 50,000 rounds using Fiocchi bullets, cases and primers and Vihtavuori N320 powder with complete reliability.
Vihtavuori N300 Series
The N300 series powders are single base porous powders suitable for many handgun applications. There are altogether nine handgun powders with different kind of shooting properties and suitable applications. The powder used by the STI Team to reload .40 calibre ammunition is N320. This handgun powder has a comparatively fast burning rate. As well as .40 S&W it is useful in many popular cartridges. Currently available data includes 9mm Luger, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, .45ACP and .45 Long Colt.Fiocchi
Based inLecco,Italy, the company is led by the fourth generation of Fiocchi entrepreneurs, who for 130 years have been manufacturing ammunition. Today Fiocchi S.p.A., cover everything from defence and hunting through to sport shooting and its product range is the result of constant investment in technological research. The company has developed an in-house production process and designs its own manufacturing plants. Fiocchi manufacture a range of bullets, cases and primers suitable for reloaders. The Fiocchi components used by the STI team for reloading .40 calibre ammunition are the 170 grain full metal jacket bullet, .40 cartridge case and small pistol primers.
Another round chambers into Ralf’s Executive. Ralf has found that loaded over all lengths of between 29.50 and 30.50mm will work reliably.
Load Development
The .40 S&W round was designed to operate in pistols that originally had a 9mm operating platform. The length of factory .40 S&W ammunition is generally around an overall length of 28.80 mm. While this may work OK in pistols such as the Glock and Sig, for those of you who use pistols such as STI, SVI and Para Ordnance you will probably experience failures to chamber properly with ammunition loaded to factory length. The way to overcome this problem is to reload ammunition to a longer overall length. The top IPSC Practical Pistol Competitors who use STI pistols in Standard Division on the European IPSC Match Circuit reload their ammunition to an overall length of around 30mm. In our load development trails we assembled ammunition in two lengths; 29.50mm and 30.50mm.
Ralf has been using an overall length of 29.70mm with 5.4 grains of Vihtavuori N320, which works very well in his STI pistols.
Before loading a large quantity of ammunition with either of these overall lengths, reload a few rounds without a primer and powder charge and ensure that they will chamber properly in your pistol. You may have to adjust the overall length of the loaded round to suit your pistol.
REMEMBER
If you increase the overall length you will DECREASE the velocity and pressure.If you decrease the overall length you will INCREASE the velocity and pressure.
The ammunition was assembled on a Dillon 550B reloading press and they were tested in a .40 STI Executive pistol. The velocities were recorded using a CED Millennium M2 Chronograph. As well as being suitable of IPSC competition, they are also suitable for regular range days.
|
VIHTAVUORI 320 AND FIOCCHI 170 FMJ – OAL 29.50mm |
|||
|
POWDER WEIGHT GRAINS |
VELOCITY ( FPS ) |
EXTREME SPREAD ( FPS ) |
IPSC POWER FACTOR |
|
5.2 |
1037 |
21 |
176 |
|
5.4 |
1048 |
35 |
178 |
|
5.6 |
1062 |
25 |
181 |
|
VIHTAVUORI 320 AND FIOCCHI 170 FMJ – OAL 30.50mm |
|||
|
POWDER WEIGHT GRAINS |
VELOCITY ( FPS ) |
EXTREME SPREAD ( FPS ) |
IPSC POWER FACTOR |
|
5.4 |
1034 |
22 |
176 |
|
5.6 |
1061 |
33 |
180 |
I selected 20 bullets at random and checked their diameter and weight. The diameter of all 20 170 grain FMJ bullets was a contestant 0.3990 inches or 10.13 mm. Weighting the 20 bullets showed a variation of 1.4 grains from 169.8 to 171.2 grains. The average weight was 170.5 grains. You can purchase bullets with a lower weight variation, but you will be paying up to three times at much for them. The shape of the Fiocchi 170 grain FMJ is optimised for feeding. I fired a total of 500 rounds. No stoppages on the feed ramp were experienced using the overall lengths of either 29.50 or 30.50mm.
The shape of the Fiocchi 170 grain FMJ is optimised for feeding. I fired a total of 500 rounds. No stoppages on the feed ramp were experienced using the overall lengths of either 29.50 or 30.50mm.
Regarding recoil I thought that pushing a 170 grain bullet at over1000 feetper second ( fps ) would produce a snappier recoil when compared with a 180 grain bullet at 970 fps, but this was not the case. Ralf Jensen commented, “When I compare my split times for shooting A zone hits at 10, 20 and30 metres, I did not find any difference that you would call statistically significant between me shooting a 180 grain bullet at power factor 179 or a 170 grain bullet at exactly the same power factor”.
“The Vihtavuori N320 burns very cleanly and gives very soft recoil. There was no problem with muzzle flash on indoor ranges while using these loads” Ralf added. The velocities were consistent, with extreme spreads of between 21 and35 feetper second. Primer ignition with Fiocchi primers in the STI Executive was 100 %. I also tried these primers in a Glock 17 and CZ SP01 and again ignition was 100 % reliable. Ralf commented “I have used over 50,000 rounds loaded with Fiocchi primers and has had no failures to ignite”. Suisse Production competitor Oliver Josi has shot over 30,000 Fiocchi primed rounds through his 9mm Sphinx 3000 Production pistol with 100% ignition.
Accuracy testing at 25 meters while resting the pistol on top of my 5.11 range bag. The velocity was measured using a CED M2 chronograph.
Power Factor
All of the above loads were assembled and tested to achieve the correct power factor ( PF ) for IPSC Standard Division, which is a PF of 170 plus. Accuracy testing at25 meterswhile resting the pistol on top of my 5.11 range bag produced five round groups of between 40mm to 70mm, or 1.6 to2.75 inches.
The smallest five shot group went into 1.6 inches, or 40mm.
This five shot group went into 2.5 inches or 63mm.
This load utilising Fiocchi 170 grain FMJ, cases, primers and Vihtavuori N320 powder is used by all the STI European Team Standard Division competitors, who all load there own ammunition. They use N320 over the slower powders because of the accuracy, consistency across the chronograph, softer recoil and clean burning. It also meters a consistent charge through your powder measure. Ralf uses an overall length of 29.70mm, while the rest of the Standard Team uses an OAL of between 30.0 to 30.5mm.
Ralf did not find any reduction to his performance when using the Fiocchi 170 grain FMJ at over 1000 fps, when compared with 180 grain bullets at a lower velocity.
The Team
Turning to Open Division STI European Team members Emile Obriot, Irene Canetta and Saul Kirsch all use STI pistols in .38 Super calibre. I asked the STI European team captain Saul Kirsch about the load he is using. “I am using Vihtavuori N350 powder with a load of 8.2 grains. I am using Fiocchi .38 Super brass, primed with Fiocchi small rifle primers. For the bullet I am using Fiocchi 123 grain round nose FMJ, loaded to an OAL of 30.4mm”.
”I run them to a power factor ( PF ) of 168 to 170. I like to stay well above the 160 minimum, as I do not feel there is much of an advantage to lowering the PF by a few points. I can’t really feel the difference between 163 and 168 FP”. Saul’s reloading gear consists of two Dillon 1050’s; one for 38 Super and one for 9mm and .40 calibre. Each of his 1050’s is set up with a Mr. Bulletfeeder bullet feeder.
STI European Team Captain runs his .38 Super STI at a power factor of 168 with N350 powder and a Fiocchi 123 FMJ bullet.
Finally I asked Saul about his thoughts on load development and the components that he uses. “There is no question that if you are serious about IPSC competition shooting, you will find yourself reloading your own ammunition. Factory loads simply do not give you the options you will want to experiment with to find the best load to meet your needs and pistol set up. I do not think that one should spend endless amounts of time on this, as some do, trying always to find a “flatter” load, but I do think some testing should be done. Once you find something that feels good, stick with it. I have always liked Vihtavuori powder for its performance and consistency, and have stuck with it for many years now. The Fiocchi brass, primers and bullets are all an excellent choice, offering top performance.”
For Further Information
