Max load = too light?

[Crash40SW]

My reloads are currently 40SW .400 165gr Xtreme plated, ww231 @5.3gr, OAL 1.120

In my newly purchased XD Mod2 (used pistol, well broke in), I'm getting a LOT of failure to feed/cycling issues. I have discovered that they arent cycling the slide all the way back in order load the next round, or even lock the slide open when empty. in my XDS-40, it's every round unless I get an ironclad grip on the frame.

As a result of this, I tried a step up in loads from 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6 gr I did three batches with every round - hand measured, casings and bullets weighed and measured, and final OAL and weight checked.

All of the hot loads cycled beautifully in all of my pistols; however - according to ALL the published reloading data I could find, 5.3gr ww231 is max load and I was exceeding this.

These rounds dont feel right compared to factory 165gr of any brand.. they feel like super light plinker loads. With my xd4tactical, the 5.3 'max' loads felt soft and occasionally I'll get a stovepipe ejection as well.

I'm looking for ideas on how to correct for this. Velocity is less of a concern for me than 1) proper cycling of the pistol, and then 2) decent precision - in that order. If the pistol doesn't cycle reliably, all else is moot.

The pistols I'm testing this load through are : XDS-40 3.3 (w/DPM Recoil Spring), XD-40 Tactical (w/5.5" EFK Firedragon Bbl), and XD Mod2 4.0 Service (stock), Taurus PT 24/7 G2 (stock)

[Ranch Dog]

All of the hot loads cycled beautifully in all of my pistols; however - according to ALL the published reloading data I could find, 5.3gr ww231 is max load and I was exceeding this.

Was the published data specific to the details of your load:; bullet, OAL, etc? If not, it probably isn't a max load. Any published data is only valid for the specific components.

[Crash40SW]

Yes it was. I used the 165 Berrys load data from Winchester Powders, and the berrys/Xtreme bullets are both plated and have the same dimensions and profile. The OAL listed is 1.125 though, so I went back and ran another 10 rounds out, and they are in fact 1.125, not 1.120 like I had first posted.

WW's data : Winchester 231 .400" 1.125" 4.8gr 946fps 28,100 PSI - 5.3gr 1001fps 32,500 PSI
Which is oddly identical to their load data for a SIerra 165 GR JHP and Hornady 165gr XTP, and sierra's load data for the exact same round. (I -rarely- see identical data like this between a bullet mfg and powder mfg for the same load, which makes me think they came from the same source, and were just reprinted by both companies)

I swear some days I'm looking at oceans of inconsistent 'trusted' load data from powder and bullet mfg data, as well as wildly different practical/in-use load data from other reloaders using the same exact components.

I do have a new(to me) chrony coming in that I just bought off a retired IPSC shooter (PACT Professional XP), so hopefully I'll be able to get a better control on this.

I've had a local reloader tell me that the 40SW 165gr load data out there can be flaky because the round was developed based on a 180gr JHP, and extrapolated down from there (which is why there's published load data for 135, 150, 155, 165,170, 180, 200gr) I haven't found bullets available in over half those weights. He gave me a copy of some old IPSC load data for 40SW which are substantially over all commercially printed load data. (180gr cmj&fmj, 5.6gr & 5.8gr loads in PF175 range)