Hello all,
A couple months ago I inquired about the feasibility of shooting .357" bullets in 9mm cases, because I had hundred of those bullets on hand and my Henry Big Boy Steel apparently does not like at all to shoot anything other than 158gr (every lighter bullet I've tried made the groups open up). After gathering the answers from the community here and from other sources I thought I should share back some results.
In brief: it works quite well!
I've been shooting them from a Beretta Cx4 that has a tad over 5000 rounds through the barrel and a slightly lightened OEM trigger (it's at about 5 pounds pull by guesstimate). I get no indication of overpressure (or at least nothing different from all of the other 9mm semi-hot loads I've tried to date). The brass comes out quite dirty as usual (from the straight blowback design of the Cx4), with very light cratering of the primers on about half the spent brass.
Load data: Brass: IMI previously fired 2-3 times / Primer: WSPM / Powder: 5.9gr of Hodgdon CFE Pistol (about max charge) / Bullet: Hornady .357" 110gr XTP
load 1729 is lightly crimped on the bullet's canelure, giving them an OAL of 1.054"±0.003",
load 1733 is lightly crimped almost as long as I could reasonably make it for that short 110gr bullet, OAL is 1.140"±0.003".
Results: All my results are taken from series of 10-round groups at 100m, shot from a front rest and rear sand bag, in two batches shot on different days. I measured the groups with all the impacts, then the best nine holes and again the best eight holes only.
Load 1729 (5.9gr, 1.054" OAL, 12 groups): 10/10rds 4.0 MOA; 9/10rds 3.2 MOA; 8/10rds 2.7 MOA
Load 1733 (5.9gr, 1.140" OAL, 7 groups): 10/10rds 3.8 MOA; 9/10rds 2.9 MOA; 8/10rds 2.6 MOA
I tend to regard the "9 of 10" results as likely the most representative of my "normal" shooting, since those groups are pretty regular in shape (no undue stretch in any direction, so I either have every possible shooting problem at the same time or none of them in any great amount at least).
For yardstick, those results are slightly better than what I've gotten with quality 9mm (.355") bullets from Hornady (124gr XTP), or cheaper Winchester 124gr FMJ and Campro 115gr FCP-RN. And a lot better than what I've gotten from Sierra 90gr JHP or Bullet Barn 124gr LRN cast bullets.
Since the store had some in stock and I'd never tried that brand, I bought a box of Sig Sauer 9mm 115gr FMJ... oh boy, what a waste that was. I shot 2x5, 2x10 and 1x20 groups. Every single group was about 6 inches wide, and the 20-rounds group was perfectly centered on the bullseye... except it covered 9" high x 6" wide in area!
Right after the Sig Sauer rounds, I shot some reloads I had made with CamPro 115gr FCP-RN bullets to validate it's not me or the rifle, and did much tighter groups. Weird stuff.
And now that I think of it, I also have some left over CamPro .38 cal 125gr FCP-TC that the Henry doesn't like... hmm......
A couple months ago I inquired about the feasibility of shooting .357" bullets in 9mm cases, because I had hundred of those bullets on hand and my Henry Big Boy Steel apparently does not like at all to shoot anything other than 158gr (every lighter bullet I've tried made the groups open up). After gathering the answers from the community here and from other sources I thought I should share back some results.
In brief: it works quite well!
I've been shooting them from a Beretta Cx4 that has a tad over 5000 rounds through the barrel and a slightly lightened OEM trigger (it's at about 5 pounds pull by guesstimate). I get no indication of overpressure (or at least nothing different from all of the other 9mm semi-hot loads I've tried to date). The brass comes out quite dirty as usual (from the straight blowback design of the Cx4), with very light cratering of the primers on about half the spent brass.
Load data: Brass: IMI previously fired 2-3 times / Primer: WSPM / Powder: 5.9gr of Hodgdon CFE Pistol (about max charge) / Bullet: Hornady .357" 110gr XTP
load 1729 is lightly crimped on the bullet's canelure, giving them an OAL of 1.054"±0.003",
load 1733 is lightly crimped almost as long as I could reasonably make it for that short 110gr bullet, OAL is 1.140"±0.003".
Results: All my results are taken from series of 10-round groups at 100m, shot from a front rest and rear sand bag, in two batches shot on different days. I measured the groups with all the impacts, then the best nine holes and again the best eight holes only.
Load 1729 (5.9gr, 1.054" OAL, 12 groups): 10/10rds 4.0 MOA; 9/10rds 3.2 MOA; 8/10rds 2.7 MOA
Load 1733 (5.9gr, 1.140" OAL, 7 groups): 10/10rds 3.8 MOA; 9/10rds 2.9 MOA; 8/10rds 2.6 MOA
I tend to regard the "9 of 10" results as likely the most representative of my "normal" shooting, since those groups are pretty regular in shape (no undue stretch in any direction, so I either have every possible shooting problem at the same time or none of them in any great amount at least).
For yardstick, those results are slightly better than what I've gotten with quality 9mm (.355") bullets from Hornady (124gr XTP), or cheaper Winchester 124gr FMJ and Campro 115gr FCP-RN. And a lot better than what I've gotten from Sierra 90gr JHP or Bullet Barn 124gr LRN cast bullets.
Since the store had some in stock and I'd never tried that brand, I bought a box of Sig Sauer 9mm 115gr FMJ... oh boy, what a waste that was. I shot 2x5, 2x10 and 1x20 groups. Every single group was about 6 inches wide, and the 20-rounds group was perfectly centered on the bullseye... except it covered 9" high x 6" wide in area!
Right after the Sig Sauer rounds, I shot some reloads I had made with CamPro 115gr FCP-RN bullets to validate it's not me or the rifle, and did much tighter groups. Weird stuff.
And now that I think of it, I also have some left over CamPro .38 cal 125gr FCP-TC that the Henry doesn't like... hmm......
