158 grain swaged 38special bullet in a 9mm case.

hatman1793

hatman1793

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 95.1%
36   2   3
Location
Kanada is lost! Trudeau's socialist utopia keeps g
I recently found myself with a cache of 158grain swaged .38special bullets. Unfortunately they left the factory undersize for that caliber. Instead of .358, they "mike" out @ .3570 to .3575. Way too small for 38 target.

Rather than melt them to make something else, because they are so nice, it seems to me that these undersize bullets would be perfect for .356. Ten grains heavier that the standard 9mm 147 grain bullet, and approximately the same length, I thought they would make a great experiment in reloading. Im sure that this has been done before, especially in this forum but, what the heck, why the hell not?

So I used once fired 9mm cases to start. The recommended powder for a 147g FMJ is 3.2 grains of WST. I used 3.0 as a precaution. The bullet seats deep but it appears that it sits "just" on top of the powder or compresses it a little bit.

Trying to keep the velocity down to avoid leading, the swaged lead bullet should easily fill the 9mm barrel grooves.

They load in the magazines okay & one 9mm you people know easily ate & spit out the loaded cartridges.
Next comes the firing. Coming soon.....
 
Okay so I fired some of these reloads in my Glock 17. The rounds fed from the mags into the chamber, fired & ejected.
An examination of the fired case showed no excessive pressure, the SPP had the typical Glock firing pin impression but did not flow or crater.

I was firing at plates so accuracy was not catalogued, but that comes next.....
 
What data recommended using WST with a 147gr FMJ 9mm bullet? I'm interested because when I developed my WST/147gr load there was no published data on that combination.
 
Last edited:
hatman1793 said:
Unfortunately they left the factory undersize for that caliber. Instead of .358, they "mike" out @ .3570 to .3575. Way too small for 38 target.
Click to expand...

This isn't always the case.
I've loaded and fired plenty of 9mm projectiles in 38 special (measured in at 0.356"-0.355") with surprisingly good accuracy.
Of course this is dependent on the gun, some guns will tolerate undersized projectiles, some won't.
It wouldn't hurt to load up 10-20 rounds to try, you may be pleasantly surprised.
 
I likewise had good results with jacketed .355 bullets in my Marlin .357
Pressure will not be an issue with swaged lead. It will be the limited case capacity with a heavy bullet that will raise pressure s.
Don't trust primer appearance.
Chrono your loads.
I was quite surprised when I tried some 124gr hollow points with titegroup a few weeks back, I fired one shot and had a shockingly high velocity. Thankfully I got a Chrono reading on the first shot and didn't fire the whole magazine.
Start with light loads and work your way up to a reasonable velocity (850fps should be doable)
Reliability might be compromised with a stretched case.
 
.3570 and .3570 undersize? You do realize that you are talking about .001, one, one thousands (1/1000) of an inch right? They will shoot just fine out of any .38 special revolver or pistol made.

I experimented with .38 special, 158 grain lead bullets out of 9mm years ago. My P-38 loved them my P-08 not so much.

Lets us know how it works out for you.

Scott

Scott
 
4n2t0: was perusing the Hodgdon 2019 Annual Reloading Manual, page 150, 147 gr HDY XTP section. Most of the powders are fast burning & range from 2.6 700X to 3.0 WW231, 3.2 TG, .....all starting loads. Extrapolating reasonable load using WST, I started at 3.0.

The previous owner(s) of these bullets specifically chose not to use them after testing them to be unsuitable for Target or Bullseye. These guy(s) are top shooters & I have no reason to doubt what they said about these bullets.
 
hatman1793 said:
The previous owner(s) of these bullets specifically chose not to use them after testing them to be unsuitable for Target or Bullseye. These guy(s) are top shooters & I have no reason to doubt what they said about these bullets.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, someone's reputation within a community doesn't supersede common sense.
Your original assertion that the bullets were inaccurate because they where smaller than 0.358" may have been the case in one/two particular gun(s).

However, gun barrels are highly variable, even two guns made one after the other can shoot wildly different with the same ammunition.
This is exactly the reason you work up your own load rather than copying someone else's recipe verbatim.

Since you're already open to experimentation, it would take all of a few minutes to load and fire a few test rounds. Worst case, they shoot like crap and you're forced to find alternative uses.
 
The Beretta 90-Two ate them up & spit them out, leaving the trademark distinctive Beretta firing pin mark. The CZ SP01 didn’t like them as they bullet is still too far out or not deep enough in the case. The firing pin impression showed a flattened primer with a small cratered-like FP impression. Not good.

Oh sure they flew well & did not tumble. A six o’clock hold put some in the X ring @ 25 yards. However they were high out of the CZ. The G17 & the 90-Two showed the most promise but the CZ is a fail. Seating them even deeper to achieve reliability & lockup......not going down that road......
 
FYI, Campro just started making 158gr 9mm bullets. I asked for some samples of 115s and 124s (had already bought 147s) and they sent me those in addition to 135s and 158s. They are new products and not listed on teh website yet but the person I was emailed confirmed to me that they are in production.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom