.357 bullets for 9 mm cyl

[woodperson]

.357 jacketed bullets slip easily into my Blackhawk 9mm cyl. throats. My coated .357 fit in but a sticky fit. I do not currently load 9mm nor do I have dies. But my temptation is to buy the dies and load .357 diameter bullets. Will this improve accuracy or will the lead 9mm bullets spread out enough to tighten everything up? I tried a search but the search engine is down.

Edit: I withdraw the question. The expanded neck sure cannot help chambering and headspacing on a tapered cartridge that headspaces on the taper? I think I had rather load and shoot slow .357's anyway and will probably stick to factory 9mm. I pushed a .357 bullet into a fired 9mm without resizing and it does markedly expand the brass. My 9mm accuracy is still better than my shooting anyway.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I'm guessing that accuracy in your Blackhawk would improve but your 9mm cartridges would look a little funny being swelled up and all. :D

 

[mikld]

While I don't have a Ruger with a 9mm cylinder, I do cast, load, and shoot a lot of lead bullets in my 3, 9mm autos. Yep, you gotta flare the case to seat the lead bullets, but I use a taper crimp die to straighten out any flare to enable good chambering (I do not crimp, just remove any flare). I don't think this would be an issue with a revolver cylinder, even if the cases headspace on the chamber throat/end.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=how%20does%20a%209mm%20headspace%3F

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

As long as they chamber you are good to go and accuracy will be improved.

 

[woodperson]

Okay, I think I see it now. And the bullet shape matters. I think I will order some light round nose .357 and give it a try. I have some 110 Hornady now that might work. Any excuse to buy another set of dies and start working up another load. Thing is, I can load lead .357's cheaper and as slow as the 9mm but I guess that is not the point. I do have enough projects and expenses ahead of this one that I might wait a few months to try it. Thanks for the information.

Bill

 

[Thumbcocker]

I load cast boolits sized .358 for my convertible although the cylinder has been reamed for uniformity.

 

[woodperson]

Progress so far: bought dies. loaded 39 rounds with 115 gr , .357 dia, round nose from Bayou Bullets and with Universal. They went through the factory crimp die fine.

Sometimes a plan just does not work. My reloads will not fully chamber in the gun. Upon checking, the bullets are a nice, slightly loose fit in the throats at the front of the cylinder. But the cylinder throats are tapered back to the chamber. So the bullets will not pass through the throats down near the end of the cartridge case and the shells will not fully chamber because the bullets hit the edge of the throat.

Bought some 9mm FMG at the range since my shells would not shoot. That factory 9mm is the most accurate load I have tried in this gun to date. Shot very well indeed. Better than I am getting with the .357 cyl. I guess I was piddling with a problem that did not exist anyway.

 

[WIL TERRY]

The 9MM PARABELLUM cartridge does NOT---NOT!!!---headspace
on the taper. Never has never will. Furthermore I've shot tems of thousands of .357"O.D bullets through all of my 9MM pistols[dozens] with every success. MOST all of the european 9MM pistols have a BBL I.D. of right ar .357". My BR HP is dead on .3572"I.D. Seen 'em bigger. NO NONE NADA American 9MM pistol has kept to the so-called 9MM BBL standard of .355"I.D. EXCEPT for the S&W guns from the M39 on to all the rest of their pistols that I've measured. My M39 gobbles up .358" cast bullets and shoots .358 swaged 38 bullets clean as a whistle.
AND...so it goes...

 

[woodperson]

My update on this:

I bought some 115 RN powder coated bullets in .357. I loaded 20. They would not fully chamber in the gun. The bullets hit the throats in front of the cylinder. I tried dropping the bullets through the throats. They drop in the front of the cylinder fine but will not go through to the chamber. The gun has throats reverse tapered from the chamber to the front of the cylinder. About .002". And consistent for each chamber. ( I measured it with a hole gauge and digital caliper)

Yes, it headspaces on the front lip of the cartridge casing.

I bought a box of 9mm factory. They shot great. I bought some 9 mm copper plated bullets. (Berrys Bullets). They shoot good in the gun. For my gun I do not seem to need to load the .357 bullets. So I have a bunch of 9mm stuff now and some wimpy 115 grain RN .357 loads that also shoot pretty good.

 

[Cheesewhiz]

How long did you load these bullets in the case? What is the overall length of the finished cartridge?

 

[woodperson]

Same length as the factory loads. Same OAL as the Lee reloading manual. I decided that since the bullets would not pass through the throat I did not really want to load them. I thought about just setting them back into the case until they worked but decided against it when I found 9mm bullets that shot well.