The next day I took myself to the range along with 150 rounds of ".40 Lite" loaded with 180-grain lead and jacketed bullets. After running half of them through my Glock 35, three things became apparent: Recoil was very--and I mean very--light; accuracy was more then adequate; they would not function reliably in my Glock. Specifically, the slide would not lock back on an empty magazine. To verify that this problem was caused by the ammunition, I single loaded and fired 20 rounds of my .40 Major load through the G35, and the slide lock worked every time. OK, back to the drawing board.

CCI provided small pistol primers, while Hornady and Laser Cast contributed bullets to the efforts.

When I described my problem to my local 'smith, he asked which weight of recoil spring I was using. I told him the factory unit (17 pounds), which led to his suggestion that I try a lighter spring. Accordingly, I contacted Wolff Gunsprings and obtained a sampling of its reduced-power recoil springs and a steel spring guide rod. A bit of experimentation showed that it was necessary to install a 14-pound spring in the Glock to ensure reliable functioning with these particular loads.

While I had become fascinated with the concept of lowering the recoil of the .40 cartridge to ultra-manageable levels, I not only had to ensure that it would function reliably in a variety of pistols, I had to keep USPSA and IDPA power factors in mind. Therefore, in addition to my Glock 35, testing was also conducted with a Glock 22 and Para-Ordnance 16.40 Limited pistols.

Reloading components were supplied by Winchester, Hodgdon and Alliant (powder); Hornady and Oregon Trail (bullets); CCI (primers); and Remington (brass). As shooting lead bullets in factory Glock barrels cannot be too highly discouraged, I installed an Olympic Arms aftermarket barrel in my Glock 35, while only jacketed-bullet reloads were fired from the Glock 22. As the Para 16.40 is capable of digesting either lead or jacketed projectiles, it was fired as it came out of the box.

While other types could no doubt be used, experimentation was limited to four powders popular with action-pistol shooters: Hodgon TiteGroup, Winchester 231, Alliant Bullseye and Power Pistol.

Research was initiated by using the minimum recommended powder-charge/bullet combination as listed in the respective manufacturers' reloading manuals, after which I reduced the loads by a few tenths of a grain at a time and chronographed them until I had reached the velocity and PF ranges I wanted. Then each load was tested for functioning and reliability.

The results were an education in themselves and can be broken down as follows:

Recoil control: Even with 180-grain bullets, I was able to reduce felt recoil to where it was lighter than that generated by standard-velocity 115-grain 9mm ammunition. In fact, when launched from the all-steel Para 16.40, some of the 155-grain loads made it feel almost like I was shooting a .22. This translated into significantly less muzzle flip and the ability to fire fast, accurate follow-up shots.