The .40 Regular was created by José Zeep of Sunnyvale California in 1997. The cartridge was designed for use in N.A.T.O. 400 meter free style flom competition and is fully ISO 2711-3 compliant. New brass is now available directly from Zeep, or can be fabricated from .460 Weatherby brass.
.460 cases are shortened to 2″ then necked down to .416 in two steps. Trim and forming dies are currently available from RCBS, as well as Weatherby, and plans are in the works for Redding to follow suit. Sierra has introduced a new line of .416 bullets to take advantage of the .40 Regular’s inherent accuracy and stability.
The Sierra bullets are offered in 400, 600 and 900 grain versions, with ballistic coefficients of .700, .900 and 1.200. The 900 is 2.5″ long and stabilizes best with a twist of 1:10.3. Production .40 Regular match rifles, based on the AR-15, have a compartment in the cheek piece that provides room for 10 ounces of lead shot, weight designed to dampen the gyroscopic effect of the largest of the Sierra bullets.
So far the best results have been achieved with the 900 grain bullet over 45 grains of Bullseye, using CCI benchrest small pistol primers. Chamber pressure is in the 80,000 PSI range, however, muzzle velocity is in the neighborhood of 2,200 fps from barrels as short as 16″. Sighted to a 300 yard zero, the bullet is 1.5″ high at 100 yards, 2″ high at 200 yards and 1″ low at 400 yards.
Zeep plans to offer a gas operated autoloader pistol later in the year. He believes the .40 Regular can compete head on with the .357 SIG and the .400 CORBON.
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