9mm bullets in a 38

[wolverine]

Anybody tried to shoot 9mm (.3555") 124 gr bullets out of their 38 special?

I ran out of 38 wad cutters but have about 3000 9mm 124 gr RN sitting in a box under my loading bench.. While I'm waiting for my 38 wc to show up I though I would try a few 9mm to see if they would group..

They group fantastic (about 2" group at 18 yards) but the group is about 3" right & about 2" low of my standard wad cutters..

I didn't trust the crimp as I didn't want to change the settings on my loading press so only loaded one at a time in the gun..

Just wondering if anyone else has tried it & if so how did it work out for you?

Wolverine

 

[john traveler]

Years ago, when I was a lot younger and a lot dumber, I loaded several hundred 125 grain RNL Lee cast bullets into .38 Special cases using a light load of Bullseye powder.

The results were less than spectacular. Accuracy was okay, about 3" groups at 20 yards, some four or five inches below POI compared to 148 target wadcutters. However, I got a couple dozen squib shots with the recoil, report, and velocity much lower than they should have. Also got several bullets stuck in the bore. Luckily they were removed before firing again, so no damage was done.

Nowadays, I am much more careful about only loading bullets for their intended caliber and use. I guess you could say that I am a lot less adventurous in my old age!

 

[Steve C]

I've tried it and got rather poor accuracy.

 

[jason223]

I have done the .355 in 38 special. 125 lead RN well they are .356. Light load of bullseye or titegroup and your good to go. They have worked well in my S&W 637 and charter arms off duty guns.

Jason

 

[max]

I have done it and with light loads, there were no problems.

 

[TSQUARED]

I ave used full metal jacketd 9mm 0.355" and 0.356" bullets in my S&W 627. Accuracy was not quite up to the 0.357 & 0.358" bullets but for practical purposes such as steel plate shoots, USPSA & IDPA you could not tell the difference.
A friend of mine loads 125 gr. lead 9mm bullets with Trail Boss powder in 38 Special cases and cannot see any practical diffrences in accuracy - he is apractical pistol shooter not a bullseye pistol shooter.

 

[Missionary]

Good evening
With all cast bullets the real questions are.. Is the bullet large enough to seal the cylinder throat and Is the bullet of the right hardness for the load.
A too small diameter too hard bullet is the worst bullet to load in any firearm. Lead hardness should be governed by the pressure the load places to the base of the bullet. You can get good accuracy from a proper diameter very hard lead bullet but why use expensive lead alloys to achieve a low velocity load when a pure lead bullet would accomplish the same task?
There is no reason a 9mm bullet should not shoot correctly in a 38 Special Revolver IF the bullet is of proper diameter, hardness and pushed fast enough to stabalize for the required distance.
There may also be the need to use a Lee type Factory Crimp die or taper crimp die IF the 9mm bullet does not have a crimp groove.

 

[colt_saa]

I have been doing it for decades. The other way around as well.

Performance is more than a yes or no answer here.

Accuracy depends on the type of rifling and the actual measurements of your firearms bore and groove diameters. Any firearm with deep rifling will show no accuracy degradation over traditional projectiles. Firearms with shallow rifling will demonstrate accuracy loss. Firearms with polygonal rifling will be pretty bad as well.

As to crimping, get a LEE Factory Crimp Die. Seat in one step and crimp in another. This will take away any doubts of a good crimp.

As to going the other way, Winchester's 125 grain, 357 Magnum, JHP works GREAT in the 357SIG cartridge.

I use the Frontier 357, 158 grain, swagged and Plated Truncated Cone in my 9MM sub-sonic ammunition. It does a wonderful job duplicating the old IMI/Samson 158 ammunition.

 

[btruman]

Some yrs back there was a shortage of .38/.357 bullets in my area. Having a lot of cast 125 gr Rn 9MM bullets on hand I loaded quite a few for shooting at the indoor range. At 7 to 10 yards they worked at fairly well. Never tried them at the longer ranges because I figured it was a waste of time.I think a lot also might depend on the particular gun