9mm in 357 mag or 38 Special case?

[Lastmohecken]

I have been cleaning up and trying to organize my reloading room, and I have been finding stuff I forgot I ever had. And I found an army-can full of 113 grain jacketed 9mm Hollowpoints. I guess I thought that I might start loading 9mm but I never did. So, I had a thought, Ruger used to sell a 357/9mm convertible, I though. And if that's the case, then couldn't I shoot these 9mm bullets in 38 cases, through one of my Ruger Blackhawks? Those Ruger 9mm convertibles had the same barrel diameter as the regular .357's didn't they? I suppose the 9mm cylinder could have had slightly smaller throats than the .357 cylinder?

Has anyone tried this?

[trapper45]

They've worked fine in my .357 Blackhawk and my Win '94 .357 Trapper, using the same charge of 231 as in standard .38 and cowboy .357 loads. Sorry gang. I misspelled 231 as 731 (no such animal!)--oops!

[Lastmohecken]

They've worked fine in my .357 Blackhawk and my Win '94 .357 Trapper, using the same charge of 731 as in standard .38 and cowboy .357 loads.

Since there is no crimping groove, did you just do a very light crimp with the standard 38 special seat and crimp die, or did you use a taper crimp die? Or did you seat and crimp with a 9mm die, adjusted up a little bit, to allow for the longer case? I guess with those light loads it probably didn't matter much.

[Malamute]

One of the guys on P-F loads 9mm bullets in his Smith 19 with good results.

I recall some discussion about 9mm groove diameter supposedly being .355, but many guns actually run .356-.357" groove diameter.

[Lastmohecken]

One of the guys on P-F loads 9mm bullets in his Smith 19 with good results.

I recall some discussion about 9mm groove diameter supposedly being .355, but many guns actually run .356-.357" groove diameter.

Yep, I did a little more research today, and it looks like groove diameter over-laps, pretty close. About the only concern is getting enough crimp on the bullets so as not to have them jump crimp, or set back in a tubular magazine, but such light bullets going ever fairly fast, probably don't generate enough recoil to give much trouble, I guess. I was thinking about pushing them at 1000 to maybe 12fps.

[piller]

Keep the magazine no more than half full to limit spring tension it you are using them in a tubular magazine. Of course, on this site, that is probably obvious.

[Lastmohecken]

RCBS makes a .357 taper crimp seating die, sold by Midway. I think I will probably purchase one of these. Anyhow, I will probably not mess with handloading 9mm, so I think I will give it a try.

[AJMD429]

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I'm thinking you could also use the Lee 'Factory Crimp' die that has the four-fingered collet - it will crimp into the heaviest-jacketed bullets if needed.

They made them in 357 Mag, 44 Mag, and 45 Colt as options (versus the 'pistol' type, which have a cylinder 'collet' and are not really as nice).

Current cost is $30 for one in whatever chambering/case you want - https://leeprecision.com/custom-service ... crimp-dies

That would be an easy solution. I use my FCDs for all three of those cartridges above, because the crimps are so reliable. You really can crimp even jacketed bullets solidly where there is not crimp groove.

[piller]

They do indeed work well.

[trapper45]

They've worked fine in my .357 Blackhawk and my Win '94 .357 Trapper, using the same charge of 731 as in standard .38 and cowboy .357 loads.

Since there is no crimping groove, did you just do a very light crimp with the standard 38 special seat and crimp die, or did you use a taper crimp die? Or did you seat and crimp with a 9mm die, adjusted up a little bit, to allow for the longer case? I guess with those light loads it probably didn't matter much.

I use lead bullets, so a regular roll crimp into the lead with the .38/.357 die holds the warheads securely. Standard .38 and cowboy-level .357s don't need heavy crimping, even in my .357 Winchester Trapper. I load for fun shooting, not mastodon safaris!

[Lastmohecken]

They've worked fine in my .357 Blackhawk and my Win '94 .357 Trapper, using the same charge of 731 as in standard .38 and cowboy .357 loads.

Since there is no crimping groove, did you just do a very light crimp with the standard 38 special seat and crimp die, or did you use a taper crimp die? Or did you seat and crimp with a 9mm die, adjusted up a little bit, to allow for the longer case? I guess with those light loads it probably didn't matter much.

I use lead bullets, so a regular roll crimp into the lead with the .38/.357 die holds the warheads securely. Standard .38 and cowboy-level .357s don't need heavy crimping, even in my .357 Winchester Trapper. I load for fun shooting, not mastodon safaris!

Ok, yes, lead bullets no problem. I have the 9mm jacketed hollowpoints, with no crimp groove, that I was thinking about shooting up, using 38 cases or even 357 cases.