158gr swc in Ruger PCC

[pacmule]

Found a large margarine bucket of .358, 158gr swc that I had forgotten about. Thinking of resizing to .356” and loading in 9mm for the Ruger carbine.
Anybody try this before? Powder suggestions? Any feeding issues?

Thanks for any feedback.

Pacmule

[ysr_racer]

If they plunk, load them. No need to resize.

Mine has a short throat, so they don't plunk. Ymmv

[Cowboy T]

First, make a couple of dummy rounds with them and see if they chamber.

[pacmule]

Thanks guys, so YSR, have you loaded them before? Powders that worked or did not work for you?

[Sandspider500]

I've tried it. Due to the full diameter of the shoulder I had to seat the bullet fairly deep to plunk in the barrel. I'm sure the tapered case swaged the bullet down as every one of them tumbled and made nice silhouette bullet shapes in the target. After that I throated the barrel and was able to load them fairly long, which also increased my powder capacity. They fed and functioned from the magazine and made nice round holes in the target. My pistol is a weird one though and exceeded max OAL for a 9mm. I never really tested at what length they stopped tumbling, just throated and loaded real long.

You might be better off trading them for a heavy bullet designed for 9mm. Seen plenty of places that cast 160gr round nose for 9mm.

[pacmule]

Well that’s not very encouraging. When I get around to it I will obviously have some testing to do. I guess if doesn’t work out I will have to buy a 38 revolver.

[ysr_racer]

They probably won't plunk, but it's easy to tell with a Ruger PCC due to how easy it is to take off the barrel.

[ysr_racer]

I use .356, .357, and .358 coated bullets in my 9mm all the time. In my .38 special/short colt I use .358 coated bullets.

As always, consult a manufactures load data, and plunk test your loads.

[sigstroker]

Originally Posted by pacmule

Well that’s not very encouraging. When I get around to it I will obviously have some testing to do. I guess if doesn’t work out I will have to buy a 38 revolver.

Good thing you didn't find any .458 bullets. It could get expensive buying a rifle.

[pacmule]

Sigstroker, already got that covered.