Loading 9mm with .357 diameter bullets?

[plinkmeister]

I`ve got a question for the reloading pros here:

I`ve got 2000 .357 diameter hp`s which I`ve bought for .38 spl loads a few years back... is it possible to use them for 9 mil reloads?
The 9`s measure .355 so there`s only a .002 difference. Any ideas?
Thanks

[buffybuster]

I`ve got a question for the reloading pros here:

I`ve got 2000 .357 diameter hp`s which I`ve bought for .38 spl loads a few years back... is it possible to use them for 9 mil reloads?
The 9`s measure .355 so there`s only a .002 difference. Any ideas?
Thanks

Depends...... on the chamber of your pistol. Some throats are large enough to accept the .357" bullets, others are tighter and will not chamber the larger bullets. Make up a dummy round (no powder, no primer) and try it. Also, depending on the HP configuration it may or may not feed well. Only way to know is to try it. The .002" won't be an issue.

[plinkmeister]

Thanks, that`s some good advice. I`ll try that!

[ojisan]

Time to precisely measure your bullet, bore and chamber sizes.
Many ".357" bullets measure .358" or more...this is too big for a jacketed bullet in a .355" (9mm) bore, and may also make the case / loaded round too large to fully chamber or easily extract.
If there is no room for the case mouth to expand a little and release the bullet, chamber pressures can go dangerously high.
Jacketed bullets should be no more than .001 -.0015" over bore size.
You really need to measure your exact gun...chamber and bore dimensions do vary.
If you have a "large" chambered and bored 9mm you may be OK.
This ammo would only be for use in your gun, should it fit.
If you cannot accurately measure everything to confirm there is room for the larger bullet, then don't use these, the money saved is not worth the risk of gun damage or injury.

[J-cat]

Most 9mm bores are not .355". They are .357" or larger so shooting .357" bulets is no problem so long they chamber at reasonable OAL's.

[buffybuster]

Most 9mm bores are not .355". They are .357" or larger so shooting .357" bulets is no problem so long they chamber at reasonable OAL's.

+1

Very few 9mm barrels are actually .355". Most are .356-.357" with some going as large at .358-.359"

[maschronic]

i actually posted up this question a while ago. with 1k of 357 bullets, a lot of people gave their advice. so, i did load them. they fired fine in my beretta 92. i would do it again, but would rather use 9mm .355 bullet though to be on the safe side.

[plinkmeister]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Made 2 dummy rounds and manually cycled them in my HP.
Gonna load a small batch and see how it works.

[J-cat]

I58gr 357" bullets are a bit too long to work in the short 9mm case. When I was doing this, I stuck with 125gr stuff and it worked great at a 1.050" OAL. One load that worked absolutely great was a 125gr Bear Creek lead bullet over 3.7 to 4.1grs of 231. Not only did it kick like a 22, it shot sub-1" groups at 50 feet from a stock Beretta M9 THROUGHOUT THE CHARGE WEIGHT RANGE. This means 3.7 shot great. 3.9 Shot great and 4.1grs shot great. Awesome load.