.38 S & W /9mm Para question...

[Meroh]

I have noted that some have been using 9MM brass in their old .38 S & W revolvers; that begs the question; can one use 9mm dies to reload .38 S & W with the proper shell holder? Anyone try it?

I did see on line a set of Lee dies designated for both.

 

[bearhunter]

Yes. I used to do it regularly. One thing though you have to bell the case mouths to accept the larger diameter bullet required just a bit more.

 

[Ganderite]

9mm brass works well. But, if you have a 9mm and some real 9mm laying around it is just a question of time before you touch one off in your 38. 9mm is 357 Mag pressure.

 

[bearhunter]

That is something a big CAVEAT should be made up on.

9mm surplus ammo can be brutal on old pistols. It seems to shoot them loose very quickly and in some cases will bulge barrels and even cylinders.

I should have twigged onto this back in the sixties because I had lots of the old 38-200 rounds to shoot off and they had stout recoil. When that stuff ran out there wasn't anything else around that was cheap or for that matter available. I had seen others using surplus 9x19 in their Webly and Enfield pistols and the only drawback was that the cases had to be pushed out with a rod. I never tried them in the S&W MP revolvers chambered for 38 S&W/38-200.

The felt recoil from the 38-200 cartridges and the 9x19 cartridges feels similar. It didn't register that the pressures were higher. Duhhhh