Peter Gun,
You're welcome ...
If you're able to get this Winchester Silver Tip load at an inexpensive price, I'd stock up whenever convenient, as it's become rather expensive out my way. Maybe if Winchester dropped the price on this .40 S&W load, they'd sell more of it ... I don't know what their marketing strategy is.
I know you can buy the SXT loads for less, and they're premium loads, as well ... Just no 155gr load available in SXT ... and 155gr is the only Silver Tip load available in .40 S&W, although there are 165gr & 180gr loads available in other Winchester ammunition lines. Go figure. My uneducated guess would be the Silver Tip bullet design allows for a certain desired level of performance (expansion & penetration-wise) at the velocity the 155gr load develops, while the SXT bullet, with its different notching-cut design, may not perform as well as they'd desire at the higher velocities ... yet. Don't know.
I've always had decent luck with other Silver Tip loads that use regular copper jacketing, with the nickeled Silver Tip plating, instead of the softer aluminum jackets, so I'm not surprised this 155gr load works well for you. The box of these rounds I fired certainly seemed accurate enough.
Something to keep in mind, however, is not to allow your recoil spring assembly to weaken appreciably, if you're going to shoot a LOT of 155gr loads. While the 180gr loads develop less slide velocity, they develop slightly more "felt", or perceived recoil, in the palm of the shooter's hand. This is related to the bullet weight, as well as the slightly slower "dwell time" of the recoil force being transferred into the hand. It doesn't take much of a change in bullet weight to affect the way Newtonian physics makes us "feel" recoil forces related to momentum ...
The 155gr load's recoil forces have a shorter dwell time, and so you feel less "kick" in the sense that it's occuring faster, so you don't feel "as much" of a recoil impulse. This is a human perceptual thing ... The slide is moving much faster, though, so the pistol (recoil assembly & frame, & locking block) is absorbing more recoil force delivered in a shorter time period. This is harder on the pistol. Not too hard, as long as the pistol is in good mechanical shape, just harder than the 180gr rounds.
Physical perceptions aren't always the same for our human hands and the pistol's mechanical innards.
Just make sure you check your pistol's recoil spring strength periodically, or have a Glock armorer check it annually.
Another spring issue is your magazine springs. Faster slide velocity means the magazine springs must be strong enough to keep the rounds at the top of the magazine lips so the top round is picked up by the stripper rail of the slide.
Recoil forces go in all directions, and most people don't realize the rounds in the magazine can actually "bounce" downward during recoil, and then are forced back upward by the spring. If this "bounce" is too long, the top round won't be held back up at the lips in a manner sufficient to allow the slide stripper rail to strip it from the magaizne in the proper "timing".
Hotter rounds need "fresh", or sometimes even stronger, springs in the magazine to resist this recoil generated bounce and keep the rounds positioned properly in the magazine. Some pistols are more susceptible to this phenomena than others. If the slide travel is long, the magazine springs usually have time to get the rounds moving back upward before the slide is back forward enough to pick up the round ... as long as they're strong enough to do their job. I've had this occur in a couple of pistols ... one of mine, and another shooter's ... and it was resolved by simply installing stronger magazine springs.
Lastly, check the trigger spring for proper strength periodically. This is where one other manufacturer's pistol started failing. The harmonics of the recoil forces generated by the 155gr loads actually affected the physical structure of the little coiled spring after a while, causing it to "crystallize" and shatter in as few as 3000 rounds. It apparently accelerated the expected wear, and shortened the spring's service life. That's also why another manufacturer uses a fiber insert in their little spring to dampen such forces and protect the spring in one of their pistols.
You're not the only believer in this round's effectiveness in certain situations and circumstances. Just keep your pistol in tip-top shape.
Did you grow up watching the TV show too?
