Originally Posted by David Sinko

So the 9xWHATEVERmm conversion increases your ability to chamber different cartridges in the J Frame... but at what cost? The old standby 9mm when handloaded to its true potential won't work without moonclips because you had the cylinder reamed out. Is that really worth it? If it was done right, the .38 Super should work without moonclips, but is that really important? Or look at the 9x23... Does anybody really care about this cartridge anymore? Any of these is lucky to be the equal of the old .38 Special on a good day. Where are you going to find hot .38 Super or ANY 9x23 in an emergency? So you handload, that's good. Because most of these *******ized conversions are brass eaters anyway. Make sure you have lots of brass for when your case heads get warped in the oversize chambers they call home. What more versatility do you need when you have a 9x19 with modern, heavily loaded factory ammunition? And again, NONE of these is the equivalent of heavily handloaded .38 Special. The whole 9xWHATEVERmm vs. .38 Special argument doesn't have much merit when we're considering 2" barreled revolvers, at least in terms of power (which I believe was the original question). The straight wall .38 Special has more case capacity, can fire heavier bullets and be extracted with compete reliability thanks to its rim. A properly loaded 9x19 in a properly made STOCK 940 is almost its equal in power and I believe actually more versatile when moonclips are added to the equation. You can argue that a .38 Super conversion of the 940 is even more versatile, but at the top end of the handload spectrum the compromise will be very compromising indeed.

Dave Sinko