At the range today a friend of mine walked up and asked if I reloaded 9mm, told him yes, I do. He handed me a zip lock baggie with over 300 casings he just picked up from the plate rack range. I thanked him, continued on with what I was doing and then went home.

I decided that as long as the Dillon 550 was set up for 9mm, I would run these casings through and have some more ammo for a practice session. Had to make a few adjustments on the dies...no big deal right?

I loaded all 300 or so of them and then noticed that they are NOT 9x19 Luger but rather 9x18 Makarov instead. No wonder they sized so easy!

They sure do drop into the case gauge easy, now I have over 300 Makarov casings loaded with 124 grn. 9mm projectiles!!!

I know they will chamber in my CZ 82 Makarov but the bullet is way too small, they will chamber in all of my 9mm Luger handguns NO problem there, the bullet would be right, but I don't know if the 1mm difference in length will cause it to not fire because the firing pin cannot reach that far........

And the 9x18 Makarov casings look near identical to 9x19 Lugers!!! I KNOW.....I should have checked them again before starting......I can easily spot .380 acp casings....apparently not so with Makarov's!

Darn it!!

I think it is going to be a long evening with the inertia hammer

Randy

PS. I know that no one on HERE has ever done anything like that...

Try it and see before you go to pulling the bullets. I'd bet it works. I have fired .380 in a 9x18 Mak, no problem and grouping was not terrible despite the undersized .380 bullet. If you or someone you know has a Mak, they will work in it for sure.

Are you thinking running the ammo through the CZ 82 with under-sized bullets or running the shorter casings through a standard 9mm Luger and see if the firing pin will strike the primer? Or both? Which I can do......

Randy

Well, if you promise not to tell, I found out by accident that either .380 or mak cases sized and loaded with 9mm WILL FIRE in my M&P 9mm, apparently held in firing position by the extractor.
I didn't load 300 of them, but got a few mixed in with the 9mm Luger brass and neither I nor the Dillon, not the M&P noticed anything amiss until I picked up the wrecked cases from the ground.............
hits on the IDPA targets weren't too bad either............

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Science plus Art

The first one with nearly no bell would have raised a red flag for me.

Funny thing is that the belling bar of my 550 powder measure belled the case mouth just enough for the bullet to fit into without problems.

Were it .380, probably would have noticed just like you would have....

Randy

I am confused. You say the bullet is to small. For a 9x18 a 124 grain bullet is heavy or big. If you hve a CZ 82 it is a 9x18 but I would not try the 124 gr bullet PLUS you did not mention the powder charge,

Just play the song "If I had a Hammer" and sing along,

We have all screwed up somewhere sometime, no matter what some people say!

Are they lead or copper bullets? A collet die puller is much less work, If they are lead than the hammer is the only way. No sense risking life, limb and gun trying to shoot them even if they MAY work in a 9mm They may headspace on the extractor?

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Still Running Against the Wind

I wouldn't try running them in either a Mak or a 9 MM Luger pistol. The short case would bother me for the Luger and in the case of a Mak pistol, those rounds are loaded to 9 MM Luger powder specs and are more powerful than a Mak cartridge should be. Just looked at the Hodgdon reloading data site and it shows the Makarov as having a max pressure of 24,000 psi. 9 MM Luger runs roughly 10,000 psi higher than that.

Just the thought of 9mm loads in Makarov cases scares me. 9mm loads in .380's is the stuff that nightmares are made of.

To answer some questions.....

They are loaded with 124 TNC lead projectiles that are sized at .356 with 4.0 grains of Unique...so they are not a hot rod load.

So they will chamber properly in my CZ82 but would be launching a round that is 10 thousands of an inch undersize.

In a standard 9mm Luger chamber they will launch a correct sized bullet but the casing is far enough forward that the firing pin may MAY not ignite the primer.

Will keep you all posted with results!

I made an erroneous assumption by not checking.....never assume!

Randy

UPDATE!

Went to the range today and shot the 9x18 Makarov's through my CZ 75b with NO ISSUES what so ever. Looked at the primers and they are well struck to say the least! Shot very accurately as well.

As the Makarov casings were load to 9mm OAL, I could not load them into the CZ 82 magazine, but could have fired them one at a time....didn't want to do that however.

Was quite surprised by learning this!!

Randy

Refer back to post #4. They head spaced on the extractor, which will work but puts excessive wear on it.

Glad you got to shoot them and not have to break them down,

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Still Running Against the Wind

I haven't.

I haven't either....I make it a habit to inspect every case, look at every head stamp and look inside each case for "stuff" , have found a spider's nest in one.
300 cases and you never looked at one ?

A mak round is only a mm shorter. Otherwise its the same round. I have shot them in my 9's by mistake on occasion, they will shoot, but will most likely not feed properly and cause a jam.

I'm 78 and have been reloading for a very long time. If a cartridge is not the proper size for the firearm, I don't shoot it! A small change in head space can cause serious problems.

Well using that "logic" a 380 is only 2 mm shorter than a 9mm and a 10 mm is only 1 mm fatter than a 9mm

Heck some people shoot 40 SW in a 10 mm, doesn't make it right or safe.

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Still Running Against the Wind

Not quite the same round....a Makarov bullet is .365 in diameter and a 9mm luger is .355. Yes there is a difference in case length as well. But on the ground and in the bag they sure look the same.

Again, I made an erroneous assumption by not checking every rounds head stamp. However, the first three rounds out of the tub to reload really were 9mm's leading me to wrongly assume that they were ALL 9x19 mm lugers. I know...never assume.

.380's will go down the barrel of a makarov but not the other way around. Soviet block did this on purpose so that their ammo would not function in any NATO 9mm firearm. Bullet is too big for the barrel!

Randy

The one and only time I hit a 9x18 MAK on my press, it sure didn't size EASIER. IT stopped the press. The case mouth is what, 0.010" larger than 9x19?
I know nobody wants to hear it, but I always sort and inspect my cases--and I still missed a 9x18 MAK. Case inspection is a vital part of reloading and should include a look at the case head.

You decide to pull the bullets at first I was slow as Christmas with an inertial puller. I got the hang of the technique and 1 to 3 whacks on my big wood block will usually get it. So now it's quick, easy and the preferred way for me.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

To the utter horror of some, I used a semi auto bullet puller made by CZ and nothing blew up. My eyes, hands and arms are still attached.

Randy

......"Heck some people shoot 40 SW in a 10 mm, doesn't make it right or safe."....well.......[insert quibble voice here] my S&W 610 revolver seems to like them.....[quibble /OFF]

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Dum vivimus Vivamas

A revolver and semi auto are two different animals.

I guess I should have been more specific but we where talking semi autos

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Still Running Against the Wind

I wish someone had handed me 300 9x18 cases. I convert 9x19 to 9x18, and it gets a bit tedious.

That will surely confuse some one finding a lost round like that!

Randy

I don't know what the case length is after sizing down, but the 9mm MAK case is just the 9x19 case, with the taper removed and, maybe, 1mm (0.039") shorter (sizing it down could increase the case length a little bit).