.357 bullets in a 9mm or 38 super?

madcow

madcow

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
253   0   0
Location
Edmonton
Was just doing a quick inventory of my supplies, I found a box of 152 grain jacketed bullets that I used to load for my 357 revolver. Since I don't shoot my 357 anymore, has anyone tried to use .357 jacketed bullets in a 9mm or 38super?

No use having 2k of these bullets staying around and collecting dust.

I know in the only days they weed to use .357 bullets in 9mm's all the time.

Worst case senario, I can load them for my 9mm AR, without toommuch a problem.
 
Last edited:
I got a bunch of 125grn campro .357 bullets for a great price. I loaded them on top of 4.2 grains of Titegroup and they worked as well as one could hope. Aside from being a bit heavy I don't see why your 152s wouldn't work. I think OAL should be all you have to tinker with.
 
The 9MM case is pretty small. I doubt you could load them up and chamber the cartridges using that bullet. Get a 9MM case. place the bullet beside the case with a 1.110 OAL and see how much room you have for powder. If you are still ensure measure the length of the bullet here and someone will be able to work out for you whether or not the bullets, when loaded would likely chamber. Are the bullets round nose, SWC design or truncated cone. The bullet olgive will determine to some degree how long you will be able to load the cartridges before the bullet hits the rifling. IMHO you might be better off selling the bullets as opposed to try loading them in the 9MM. You don;t want to compress ball powder or reduce the available space in the case for powder or things might get exciting in a hurry.

Take Care

Bob
 
madcow said:
Was just doing a quick inventory of my supplies, I found a box of 152 grain jacketed bullets that I used to load for my 357 revolver. Since I don't shoot my 357 anymore, has anyone tried to use .357 jacketed bullets in a 9mm or 38super?

No use having 2k of these bullets staying around and collecting dust.

I know in the only days they weed to use .357 bullets in 9mm's all the time.

Worst case senario, I can load them for my 9mm AR, without toommuch a problem.
Click to expand...


slug your 9mm barrel and take it from there
mine slugs at .... .357"
 


worst case scenario, I can load them in 38 super, or my 9mm carbine, as it can take reloads between 1.135-1.140 area.

powder choice shouldn't be a problem to avoid a compressed load, have a decent variety to work with. I was looking at maybe using IMR 4756 (3.3 grains) or 700x (2.8 grains) for 9mm
 
Last edited:
Load a dummy long enough to just barely fit the magazine. Chamber it and see if it hits the rifling. If it does , seat deeper and try again. As you seat deeper, watch for a bulge at the base of the bullet. This can prevent chambering.

When you have an OAL that fits the mag and does not hit the rifling, load a few in increasing powder charges of o.2 gr.

Then shoot and see if they stabalize. I think they would, but some makes of guns have slow twist.

If the holes are round, see what load groups the best. Recoil should be quite mild.
 
Last edited:
Ganderite said:
Load a dummy long enough to just barely fit the magazine. Chamber it and see if it hits the rifling. If it does , seat deeper and try again. As you seat deeper, watch for a bulge at the base of the bullet. This can prevent chambering.

When you have an OAL that fits the mag and does not hit the rifling, load a few in increasing powder charges of o.2 gr.

Then shoot and see if they stabalize. I think they would, but some makes of guns have slow twist.

If the holes are round, see what load groups the best. Recoil should be quite mild.
Click to expand...


That's the only problem I'm worried about, tumbling. The biggest factor was the .357 diameter, OAL wasn't a major issue as if the bullets were too long with for the 9mm casings, I can always load them for the 38super, worst case the 9mm carbine (higher powder load thiugh).

Guess I have to break out the crony, from what I read, optinum speed will be in the 900 fps range.


thanks all for the advice all....
 
madcow said:


worst case scenario, I can load them in 38 super, or my 9mm carbine, as it can take reloads between 1.135-1.140 area.

powder choice shouldn't be a problem to avoid a compressed load, have a decent variety to work with. I was looking at maybe using IMR 4756 (3.3 grains) or 700x (2.8 grains) for 9mm
Click to expand...

What is the diameter of the bullet AFTER you seat them? Unless the above bullet is designed as a heel base bullet the bullet appears to be resized significantly by the cartridge case. You maybe ending up shooting bullets that are in fact only .356 or less in diameter after the case resizes them.

Take Care

Bob
 
I've been wondering about this too because I have a bunch of .357 110gr bullets I'd like to try in my 9mm (they proved to be rather bad in my Henry .357mag rifle, that gun really seems to prefer 158gr bullets). To date, all the concerns here seem to revolve around the COAL, but 9mm allows up to 1.169" so I don't really anticipate an issue there with light 110gr bullets.

What worried me was that the 9mm bullets are normally .355-.356 in diameter, so would I be putting undue pressure in my barrel by forcing a .357-.358 jacketed bullet down my 9mm barrel's length? I found accounts of people doing it successfully on other forums (using load data for 115gr), and Ganderite here is saying something similar (but he assumes his barrel's size, that makes me a little uncomfortable).

Anyone else has thoughts or experiences?
 
Grawfr said:
I've been wondering about this too because I have a bunch of .357 110gr bullets I'd like to try in my 9mm (they proved to be rather bad in my Henry .357mag rifle, that gun really seems to prefer 158gr bullets). To date, all the concerns here seem to revolve around the COAL, but 9mm allows up to 1.169" so I don't really anticipate an issue there with light 110gr bullets.

What worried me was that the 9mm bullets are normally .355-.356 in diameter, so would I be putting undue pressure in my barrel by forcing a .357-.358 jacketed bullet down my 9mm barrel's length? I found accounts of people doing it successfully on other forums (using load data for 115gr), and Ganderite here is saying something similar (but he assumes his barrel's size, that makes me a little uncomfortable).

Anyone else has thoughts or experiences?
Click to expand...

355 vs 357 is inconsequential.

The only way it could matter is is the gun had a tight throat/neck and there was no room for the brass to expand to release the bullet.

As it happens I was shooting some 110 gr .357 Winchester HP bullets in a 9mm (Star BM). Over the years a number of makers have used
small barrels (same thing as fat bullets.) The Ruger Mini-30 came out with a 308 barrel to shoot .312 bullets. And a number of German makers used .318 barrels to shoot .323 bullets.

Just follow the loading manual data for 115 gr bullets and make a selection of powder charges to see what shoots best.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom