9X19 Vs 9X18 Cases

[AJ]

I was cleaning, sizing, depriming and belling cases tonight for .38 Special, .45 ACP and 9 MM. While working with the 9 MM cases, I for some reason was looking at head stamps. I noticed a 9X18 head stamp. I found a couple more, so I must have picked them up inadvertently at the range. Got me to thinking what would have happened if I would have loaded them and fired out of my 9 MM? I am thinking they would have worked as they are the same except for 1 MM in case length. Am I correct or wrong?

 

[glenwolde]

You're probably right. The extractor could hold it in place well enough to fire. You should notice they were difficult to resize.

 

[AJ]

You're probably right. The extractor could hold it in place well enough to fire. You should notice they were difficult to resize.

No, they were not difficult to resize. I did not notice any difference between the 9X19's or the 9X18's in the press. The ones that I notice are the .380's that get mixed in once in a while. I have seen a .380 fired in a 9 MM years ago. A friend loaded some commercial reloads into his pistol that his neighbor had given him. The neighbor worked for the reloading company. Mixed into the 9 MM's was a .380. It loaded from the mag and fired, just would not extract and the next round up caused a jam.

 

[SMSgt]

9x18 is the 9mm Makarov round, which is .363ish caliber, not .355 like the 9x19. I convert 9x19 to 9x18 for my CZ-82. They look a little odd until fireformed but function fine. The rim is slightly different also.

I am not sure how going the opposite direction works.

 

[robertrwalsh]

I strongly suspect it would work just fine. Depending on how your crimper is set up it might not have chambered, but assuming it chambered it should fire and extract. As noted above most rounds will headspace on the extractor if it comes down to it.

 

[Nevada Ed]

I strongly suspect it would work just fine. Depending on how your crimper is set up it might not have chambered, but assuming it chambered it should fire and extract. As noted above most rounds will headspace on the extractor if it comes down to it.

Except it is not a good thing for the extractor if you are shooting full loads...........

over time the thin metal will give out and you will get a broken extractor.

Headspace needs to be done in the chamber.

 

[mikld]

9x18 is a 9mm Makarov. Bullet diameter is .365" vs .355" for the 9x19 Parabellum, .010" difference. Also the Makarov is.041" shorter. Might be able to size the OD down .010" and fire a cartridge with a .041" shorter case, but I don't think I'd try it in one of my 9x19 pistols...

 

[AJ]

I always police up my brass at the range for reloading. Sometimes others have not done such a good job of cleaning up. When this happens I clean up everything. I sort it out normally when I get home. Sometimes you miss stuff. I usually find a .380 case or two when I am sizing. For some reason I checked a case and it had MAK 9X18 for a head stamp. Don't know if I had just policed the that day or if I reloaded them and shot them.

 

[iouri]

I can't rely on a head stamp, cause I convert 9x19 to 9mm Mak, so after cleaning I stand my "9" mm cases and sort them by height, after a while you can really see that 1 mm difference


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[Ron IL]

That's what I do too. I stand them up and can see those and if I miss a 380 they stand out too. I can look down in them and see any water or debris in them. I will pull them and clean them out before I tumble them.

 

[johnnydogs]

I made a spacer from a .357 wadcutter. I drop it down the throat of my cordless drill and it holds the 9x19 casing with exactly 1mm sticking out of the chuck. While running the drill with the casing sticking out I touch it to my grinding wheel and poof a 9x18 is created. Much more simple that the Lee tools I purchased for this chore.

 

[SRG]

A few years ago I had some 9x18 brass get mixed in with my 9x19 brass. Shooting a SIG MPX, the rounds fed into the chamber but the extracter did not hold them. The firing pin pushed the round further into the chamber but did not fire the round. It took a cleaning rod to get the round out of the chamber. Unfortunately this occurred twice at a major shooting match. I had always been pretty thorough about looking for 9x18 cases but these were marked 9mm Mak, which I hadn't seen before, and they slipped by me.

 

[austintexas]

When I reload 9mm I usually do 1000 at a time. I usually can feel the difference between 380 and 9. I have had 2 380 cases slip thru over the years and fired and extracted both rounds. When I picked up the brass I noticed the bulged 380 cases. No other problems.
SWCA 892

 

[Fishslayer]

I usually can feel the difference between 380 and 9.

Same, especially when I was collecting tonnage of range pickups. VERY rare for a .380 case to make it to my press, then I would catch it in the sizing step.

All the 9mm Mak brass I've found was a reddish hued color except for a few PPU (IIRC).

 

[AJ]

Same, especially when I was collecting tonnage of range pickups. VERY rare for a .380 case to make it to my press, then I would catch it in the sizing step.

All the 9mm Mak brass I've found was a reddish hued color except for a few PPU (IIRC).

The Mak 9X18 that is/was mixed in was the same color as the .380 and 9 MM. I do run a magnet over the picked up brass to remove the steel cases.

 

[gregintenn]

A 380 shell doesn't give any resistance in the sizing die. I found one round of 9x21 in my brass. No idea where that came from.

 

[AJ]

A 380 shell doesn't give any resistance in the sizing die. I found one round of 9x21 in my brass. No idea where that came from.

You are right about the .380. However, it by the time you figure it out the casing has been deprimed.

Strange things get picked up at the range. I found some .38 AMU's mixed into my .38 Super and .38 ACP cases. Now where did that come from?????

AJ

 

[gregintenn]

I've got a couple of 40 cases. Never have I ever even handled a 40 caliber pistol.

 

[glenwolde]

I can't rely on a head stamp, cause I convert 9x19 to 9mm Mak, so after cleaning I stand my "9" mm cases and sort them by height, after a while you can really see that 1 mm difference


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I don't shoot a whole lot of 9mm Mak, but since I reload all three of the "9x's" (x17, x18, x19) I started putting the 9mm Mak up in converted nickel 9x19 cases. Then I don't ever use nickel for the other two. Helps keep them straight. If you don't have any nickel 9x19 cases I've found just about anybody will be glad to trade you theirs for brass cases.

I also only take one of those calibers to the range at a time.

 

[WR Moore]

Foggy memory reminds me that, decades ago, there was a 9 mm Ultra in Europe, possibly Germany. This was, IIRC, a true 9 mm with a 18 mm case length. While the roll out had some mention of police use, I expect this was actually another attempt to get around rules in some countries about it being illegal for civilians to own firearms in military calibers. Obviously, a 9 x 19 mm round wouldn't chamber. If there's some brass floating about that's 9 x 18 mm and it's not Mak brass, maybe it actually did find a toe hold somewhere. I do believe the 9 x 21 mm round won the commercial market for places where 9 x 19 mm is verboten.