9mm Largo Load

[dougader]

There is data for the 9x23 Largo in Speer 14. IIRC, you need to keep the velocities down to 9mm X 19 or the pressure can batter those Star pistols. SPeer says they keep their data to 30,000 psi.

Never use 9x23 Winchester data in your Star. You will break things.

Starline has both 9x23 Largo and 9x23 Winchester (9x23 Comp). You might as well by the right brass, it's a whole dollar less than the 9x23 Comp brass.

https://www.starlinebrass.com/order-.../all-cases.cfm

per Speer 14: 124 gr. tmj/4.3 - 4.7 grs W231 gives 951 - 1013 fps

[gunauthor]

I settled on the lowest powered load that would cycle the slide on my Astra 400 (3.9 grains of 231 in 38 Super/38 Auto brass with a 125 grain cast lead bullet). Cheap to shoot and easy on the old pistol......

[rintinglen]

With 115 grn bullets, I load 5.0 grns of ww-231, with 125 grn boolits I load 4.5. When I started reloading for mine--1992, IIRC--I used 9mm Luger top end loads for start and 38 Super starting loads for my stop. I use 38 super dies for reloading, but I have used 9mm dies in the past.

[Walkingwolf]

i use .38 super dies to load for my largos.

use .38 acp load data. ( do not use .38 super data.} i use the rcbs tc 124 gr bullet.

for carrry i use cci 124 gr gold dot hp.

The Star B, is the same gun as the Star A. The B is a 9mm, and will take 9mm standard pressures, so the Star A will take the same pressures(38 Super). But the 9mm Largo is a tapered case, the 38 super is a straight walled case. I use 9mm dies for Largo, Use a 38 acp FCD for crimp.

That said I do stay on the medium side of 38 super loads, 1100 fps. But most my loads in most of my guns are on the medium side.

[Doc1]

Since my last post on this thread I have tried several different cases in my Star Super 9mm Largo. Cases that work and cycle well have included .38 Automatic, .38 Super, .38 Super Comp and - of course - Starline 9mm Largo. Note that I'm talking about cases and not load data. I just picked up an old Astra 400 9mm Largo pistol and tried a magazine full of these mixed, different cases and all cycled fine. That was only one magazine, so it's hardly a comprehensive test. I thought the semi-rimmed .38 Super cases might hang up or cause the pistol to fail to go into battery, but it seems to digest them without complaint (just like the big Star Super). I've been sizing all of these cases in an older RCBS carbide .38 Automatic (not .380) die I found on a private seller's table at a gun show for $5.

As Walkingwolf said above, the Star Super B is an identical pistol to the "A", but is chambered in 9mm Parabellum, so I have no safety concerns about my "A" handling the essentially similar .38 Super pressures. Nonetheless, the pistol is an old girl so I load it to lower-end .38 Super data or 9mm Largo data with cast bullets. It's important to note that the Astra 400, while a well-manufactured pistol, is a blowback design and is not as strong as the Star Super's locked-breech design. I would strongly advise against using hot .38 Super load data in the Astra. Most of the low-end .38 Super data I've read is right in the ballpark of 9mm Largo data, but remember that research and load development is YOUR responsibility. All of these old pistols are interesting examples of shootable history, but there's no good reason to try to hot-rod them or push your luck. Short of concerns about kabooms or injuring yourself, finding parts for the old Spanish pistols is a lot harder than finding, say, 1911 parts, so you don't want to unnecessarily strain these old machines or break anything.

Best regards
Doc