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Anybody ever tried loading 158gr cast .357 in a 9mm. I have a Lee mold and tried a few with 3.5 gr Unique. Decent results out of my Browning HP. Any potential issues with the bullet just being too heavy? No indications on cases of excess pressure. Anybody else try it? I’ve asked both Lee and Alliant and got the “never tried it” line.
There is some old load data out there for it, can't remember where. I tried a while back. Hoping to move my Sig's combat POI to a target POI at the top of the front sight. Didn't work out for me, but an interesting exercise none the less. Had problems with either the front of the boolit hanging up on the chamber mouth, or, if seated deeper, swaging the base of the boolit. I was using promo and was getting pressure signs with very low charges, maybe 2.5-2.8 grains, if I recall correctly. Loaded some a few years ago in a hipoint carbine. Very quiet and put a nice smack on steel plates!
Here is some pretty good reading.
https://www.shootingtimes.com/editor...mm-luger/99514
Yes I played with heavy 9s for little bit there are multiple threads from the past if you search I know I had one at one point. You can make Lee 358-158-RF work but I like NEO 358-158-TC ELCO better. Either way you have to have a gun that will take these meaning long throat or have it reamed like Doug did my Canik TP9 SFX or you'll have plenty of stuck bullets and your gun locked up. Also because 9mm is tapered you cant seat those very deep which you would want because these are fairly long for 9mm. Sort brass by headstamp and def get rid off any stepped brass. I only did this with Blazer and RP brass as I found these were thin enough and soft enough that seating didnt swage my projectiles down. I think I loaded those with 3gr of HP38/W231 but I'm at work and I dont have my data here so work it up slowly from around 2.5gr up until it cycles. With that large projectile you wont have a lot of room for powder so dont go crazy as you might spike pressures quickly with so little room inside the case.
Its all doable you just have to find what works for your gun and whether it works at all. They are fun to shoot and definitely subs are nice and quiet. I still shoot those here and there but I dont find these as reliable as my usual Lee 356-125-2R which I shoot the most.
The best bullet (light or heavy) I've found for the 9mm is cast from the obsolete Lyman #358212 mould, a 150-grain .38 Special round nose design. Feeds reliably and is accurate. I use 3 grs. Bullseye for a muzzle velocity of around 870 fps. I'm pretty sure I could increase the powder charge, but see no need to do so. With bullet of this weight or heavier, slight powder charge increases could quickly become dangerous when using such a small case.
I have loaded 160 grain round nose bullets in 9mm. The slide cycled so slow that I went back to 147s. I was also concerned about the use of fast powders with so little case capacity. Ultimately it just didn't do anything a 147 grain round nose didn't, so I stopped loading it.
Type in "158gr boolits in 9mm" in the search function above. Quite few topics on it. Todd/3leg
There is data in the Lyman 44th manual for loading the Lyman 358311(160 grain) in 9mm. The manual can be downloaded online.
I have used this boolit with good results but not outstanding.
I also prefer both the NOE TC ELCO and the Lyman 359212. Both of these can be cast in 147 grains and use data readily available for that weight boolits.
The ELCO was designed from the start for the 9mm and can be loaded long with a minimal amount of the boolit inside the case. I use slower powders with it and it works a treat.
I get similar results with the 358212.
When you use heavy boolits in the 9mm, you are turning your pistol into a high capacity 38 special. Nothing wrong with this as I like the 38 special. The issue is the 9mm wasn't designed to be used with boolits that heavy and does it's best with lighter boolits.
My issue as well. I have also run 160gr in several 9mm. In heavy slide steel guns, the recoil impulse is sluggish at 130PF. In something like a G26, feels better, but I prefer 147-150gr.Quote:
Originally Posted by downzero
Back in my younger day's . Lyman #358156 , 155 gr. SWC GC sized .357 in a WWII era Walther P-38 .
That gun has a long throat and would chamber just about anything .
With a modest load of Unique , it fed , fired and ejected them OK . Accuracy wasn't anything to write home about . The P-38's sights can be adjusted but it's not easy (they didn't want troops fooling with sights ) the heavy boolits didn't print close to the sights ... I moved on to other experiments with boolits of less weight .
Oddly enough the boolit that the old P-38 loves is the Lee 105 gr. SWC sized .357 , 4.7 grs. of Unique and I get one ragged hole groups , dead on with the iron sights ... that load is just amazing in that pistol .