Loading 9mm jacketed bullets into 357 mag

Can you load 9mm bullets in a 38/357 cartridge? I measured my 9mm bullets and they co

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Diameter might be too small for .38/.357 dies; just a guess as I've never tried it. Undersized .355" bullets might work and give decent accuracy if the bullet can be held firmly in the case. You'd just have to experiment with it, or use jacketed bullets of the right diameter, .357".
 
Although this isn't part of the OP I regularly load plated 135 grain .357 RNFP bullets in my 38 Spl and 9mm! Great accuracy for plated bullets! :)
 
I routinely load 146 grain cast 9mm bullets sized to .358" in my 38 and 357 loads as well as my Browning HP.

I roll crimp the 38/357 cases over the beginning of the bullet's ogive and that holds things together pretty well. The HP in 9mm gets a taper crimp.

Accuracy is on par with any other bullet in my revolvers.

A proviso if you will. S&W revolvers generally slug out to .357" bore diameter, and jacketed 9mm bullets are generally .355" in diameter. Accuracy may suffer a bit in an S&W, although older Colt revolvers often slug out at .355" diameter.
 
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Probably. Depends on the bullet. Are we talking about lead or jacketed bullets? .355" v 357" jacketed bullets. 124 gr and 125 gr are pretty close in weight and dia. Bullet migration would be my greatest concern in a revolver. That might cause the cylinder to lock up. Happens with revolvers loaded with .451 dia. bullets without a cannilure, even in a revolver designed to shoot 45 acp ammo.

Revolver bullets are designed to be roll crimped where as auto loader bullets are designed for taper crimp. I've gone to .452 lead bullets with a crimp groove for my 45 acp revolver because of excessive bullet migration.
 
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The various comments about the details are correct, but I've done it in the past and am pretty sure will again, and it works, but less than ideal.

These were practice rounds that needed to be good enough, where it was more about looking around and what I had an excess of, and use up some of the 9mm projectiles :)
 
Rainier's 130gr .356 RN have shot equally well in both 9mm and 38 Special applications for me at the indoor range @ 50'...

They were so inexpensive at the time they rivaled swaged lead... But, a whole lot cleaner!

Cheers!
 
Yes. I was gifted a bunch of 9mm slugs but didn't have a 9mm. They worked just fine out of my revolvers. Heavy charges of slow powers gave impressive displays around dusk.
 
There should be a third choice - "Yes surely you can do anything, but why would you want to?"

Possibly harder to crimp, possible loss of accuracy. If you don't have a nine, trade them to someone who does. Or if its just a well see if it will work, then go for it.
 
Kinda depends upon just where your nominally .357 in groove diameter barrel falls in the tolerance window. Industry standards allow 0.356-0.358 in tolerance on groove diameter for a ".38/.357" barrel. Way back when, the first barrel blank I bought had a 0.356 in groove diameter and guns barreled from that blank were a bit picky on what they shot best.

Also, bullets can be a wee bit fat or skinny from nominal.
 
Yes ... it can be done and I have done it a lot .
But ... check your bore size , I have a older Colt Trooper that has a .355 bore ... so the 9mm jacketed bullet works in this revolver ... but I have to do a couple tricks to make it work .
1.) Using a 9mm luger sizing die I "neck size" the sized 357 mag. case to just below where the bullet base will end up after seating . To insure the case gets a good tight grip on the bullet .
2.) Seating the bullet and then Taper Crimping it is done with the 9mm Luger dies in two seperate steps ...

Basically you are loading with 357 Magnum sizing die then using 9mm Luger to size the case mouth/ neck (?) to hold the bullet and use 9mm Crimp die to taper crimp the 9mm bullet ,,, they usually have no crimp groove or cannelure .

I put a decent taper cimp on the 125 gr. bullets and have fired several 6 shot groups ... checking the 6th round for bullet "pull out " and a good solid taper crimp will hold them in place .

I have a bullet mould (from NOE) that casts a 124 gr. truncated cone gas checked 9mm bullet ... it works great in 9mm and 38 Spcl , 38 Splc+P and 357 Magnum ... using the above steps.
Gary
 
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gwpercle said:
Yes ... it can be done and I have done it a lot .
But ... check your bore size , I have a older Colt Trooper that has a .355 bore ... so the 9mm jacketed bullet works in this revolver ... but I have to do a couple tricks to make it work .
1.) Using a 9mm luger sizing die I "neck size" the sized 357 mag. case to just below where the bullet base will end up after seating . To insure the case gets a good tight grip on the bullet .
2.) Seating the bullet and then Taper Crimping it is done with the 9mm Luger dies in two seperate steps ...

Basically you are loading with 357 Magnum sizing die then using 9mm Luger to size the case to hold the bullet and use 9mm Crimp die to taper crimp the 9mm bullet ,,, they usually have no crimp groove or cannelure .

I put a decent taper cimp on the 125 gr. bullets and have fired several 6 shot groups ... checking the 6th round for bullet "pull out " and a good solid taper crimp will hold them in place .

I have a bullet mould (from NOE) that casts a 124 gr. truncated cone gas checked 9mm bullet ... it works great in 9mm and 38 Spcl , 38 Splc+P and 357 Magnum ... using the above steps.
Gary
Click to expand...

I've never measured the older Colt .38 or .357 Magnum bores, but as you mentioned, they are considerably tighter than S&Ws which are usually around .357". .355" sounds right for an average for the Colts, but I believe it was gunwriter Ken Waters who stated in an article that some of the Colt barrels were as tight as .354". Regardless, I use cast bullets of .3575" to .358" in all .38 Special and .357 Magnum revolvers. They work fine and are accurate. .355" 9mm bullets would probably work well in the older Colts.

I wound up with some Super Vel 110 grain .38 / .357 jacketed bullets years ago. Super Vel sold component bullets but I don't know how popular they were. I don't recall the diameter but they were noticeably undersize for .38 caliber. To use them I would have had to change the adjustments on my dies which I chose not to do for a partial box of bullets. Undersize bullets may lower pressure but I'm not sure they would do much for accuracy.
 
Using Barry’s 124 plated bullets over 3.3 - 3.5 grains of Bullseye with light roll crimp, I haven’t had any problem with bullet pull or performance. They are definitely capable of minute of beer can.
 
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Thejohn316 said:
Thanks for all the replies. I think I'll wait and get some 357 bullets.
Click to expand...

Granted, the right bullets will probably be better. However, if you're curious and enjoy load development, give the 9mm bullets a try unless you only have a few and then it wouldn't be worth the trouble.

The opinion of others who may have much experience is always helpful, but there are no rules that don't have exceptions.
 
Thejohn316 said:
Thanks for all the replies. I think I'll wait and get some 357 bullets.
Click to expand...
For a newer reloader that's a good idea. While a .355" bullet only has .001" "interference fit" in a barrel with a .357" groove diameter, and if you have access to .357" jacketed or .358"+ cast bullet, even if a short wait is needed, start off using the "proper" size bullets...
 
I looked up an old target that I shoot back in 2013, testing out the
38 vs 9mm bullet use in my S&W 686 6", while testing out my, at the time, new chrony.

Here is that target and how the two different dia. bullets, matched up.
The 38 was a 125 Gold Dot, the 9mm was a 124 gr JHP w/o a "can".

A picture is worth a 1,000 words.
 
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