9mm Largo Load

[Eddie O]

Just picked up a Star A in 9mm Largo (9X23) have 1,000 Rounds of Surplus Ammo from Century for plinking but looking to reload some decent Ammo.
My favorite Pistol Powder is HP 38. Can anyone suggest a good starting load?

Will my 9mm Luger Lee Dies and a standard 9mm Luger JHP along with 9X23 Starline Brass work to reload this Cal.

Thanks,
Eddie O

[500MAG]

95 grain with 5 grains of HP38.

[afish4570]

Just picked up a Star A in 9mm Largo (9X23) have 1,000 Rounds of Surplus Ammo from Century for plinking but looking to reload some decent Ammo.
My favorite Pistol Powder is HP 38. Can anyone suggest a good starting load?

Will my 9mm Luger Lee Dies and a standard 9mm Luger JHP along with 9X23 Starline Brass work to reload this Cal.

Thanks,
Eddie O

Starline brass is available in 9mm Largo.....way back when they came into country you could by after market barrels from a now defunct co. (forgot name) so I bought a 9mm luger barrel for around $30 or so..... Gun is accurate but the 9mm case is 19mm long and the largo 23 to reliable feeding with the shorter case is not as reliable as I would like. It has been a safe queen cause of this. afish4570

[bob208]

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.

[Eddie O]

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.

I had heard that the .38 super will chamber in the Largos and some folks in fact shoot the .38 out of their Largos, is this a bad idea?

I assume Midway is as good as any for the components, my assumption is there is not a lot of once fired Boxer Brass out there.

Thanks,
Eddie O

[bob208]

.38 super is a very bad idea. you use the super dies and a 9mm shell holder. .38 super brass has a small rim. some people do alter their pistold to use that brass. or you can trun the rim off and use it. or you can buy the starline brass. i used to do all kinds of forming and truning. but now i just buy the starline brass. it is way eaiser.

[Eddie O]

.38 super is a very bad idea. you use the super dies and a 9mm shell holder. .38 super brass has a small rim. some people do alter their pistold to use that brass. or you can trun the rim off and use it. or you can buy the starline brass. i used to do all kinds of forming and truning. but now i just buy the starline brass. it is way eaiser.

Of course your right,
Counting pennies saved hardly equates to looking at your hand and counting four fingers and a thumb.

I'll spring for a box of the 9X23 Starline Brass and a set of Largo Reloading Dies.
Like the cheap Surplus 7.62X25 it can't last forever, and living in Maryland you can never tell when they may try to pass another Ammo Ban.

Although lately Murderland liberals have been taking a beating. It's been an uphill battle but there is a lot of support for Concealed Carry in Md. and it may come to passage. Our big problem is Baltimore City and the Counties bourdering D.C., which have been a wart on our *** for years.
Thanks,
Eddie O

[bob208]

i escaped from md. 40 years ago. grew up westminester carol county.

[Eddie O]

My Son-In-Law's Family lives in Westminester and my good friend Dave Hawn has a farm there, nice area.
As a Teen we used to hunt Ground Hog, Squirrel and Pheasants there. Nice meeting you Bob and thanks for the info, I still butcher a little Brass but only easy alterations like 9X19 to 9X18.
Later,
Eddie O

[Freischütz]

Your 9mm Luger die should be fine. I've used one for reloading 9mm Steyr and never had any problems.

[Eddie O]

Your 9mm Luger die should be fine. I've used one for reloading 9mm Steyr and never had any problems.

Thanks,
That will keep $40 in my pocket,
Eddie O

[Mr Peabody]

I load mine with 9mm Luger dies, works fine. If you use a 124gr bullet start with 4.7 gr's of HP 38, max is 5.9. 5.3 should get you 1150 fps. Nice pistols to shoot.

[Eddie O]

I load mine with 9mm Luger dies, works fine. If you use a 124gr bullet start with 4.7 gr's of HP 38, max is 5.9. 5.3 should get you 1150 fps. Nice pistols to shoot.

Nice to hear from someone who has been there and done that, have eerything but the Brass this sounds like it will be another load under mt belt, does the Lee 9mm Luger Shell Holder work ok with the 9X23 Brass?
Thanks,
Ed

[GaryM]

Chuck your barrel up in a lathe and remove a few thousands from the tang on the rear of the barrel and you can use .38acp/.38 super brass.
ETA; 1911 recoil springs will work in these pistols.

[Eddie O]

Chuck your barrel up in a lathe and remove a few thousands from the tang on the rear of the barrel and you can use .38acp/.38 super brass.
ETA; 1911 recoil springs will work in these pistols.

Hi Gary,

My Astra 400 pistols is factory-marked 9mm/38 my understanding to signify that they would also accept .38ACP. I've read that there is no significant difference in the barrel chamber dimensions between Largo and .38ACP, only at the bolt face. The Largo is rimless, so the bolt face counter-bore is larger by a few thousandths to accept the semi-rim of the .38ACP case. I understand these guns are also very happy shooting 9mm Steyr. On a leap of faith I would assume the Barrel of the "Star A" is of the same configuration.

I assume your suggestion is to allow a little "Play" so that the .38acp will seat and extract without "sticking". The suggestion sounds interesting but to be honest I am not entirely comfortable in altering the configuration of a Barrel. I also have concern for people who will own and fire this Weapon long after it leaves my possession, not knowing of the alteration I made. (This is a reason I like to do a Wax or Metal casting of the Chamber before firing a Surplus Weapon. I've done some Lost Wax Jewelery Casting and found the Jewelers Plaster is very inexpensive and very little shrinkage giving an excellent detailed chamber cast. Soap and water clean up. )

I've also heard of people shooting 9X19 and 9X18 and other rounds that would fit the chamber, if it were Battlefield conditions and my life was on the line then and only then would I load and fire anything that would fit.

As long as components are available I will stick to firing 9X23 Largo Ammo. However I have no idea what may happen to the Ammo Market in the future (I save my Berdan just in case), as such I thank you for your suggestion and will file it in my Largo folder. If you have a rough drawling of the exact position and size to make the cut I would be interested in seeing where to make the cut.

Thanks,
Eddie O

[Freischütz]

38 ACP loads made a good starting point for my Steyr 1912

[Franklin Zeman]

I lucked into some cases for 38 Super. Been using them in a Destroyer Carbine. They seem to be an exact fit in the chamber to replace Largo brass.

[leftiye]

The 9X23 brass (Starline) fits my Largo chamber like a glove. When fired with stiff loads there is no (reads none) bulging atall! My modelo Super has no unsupported areas in the ramp area either. Dimensions don't change much if any between loaded and fired. 9X19, 38 auto and Super all have different dimensions. 38 auto/super bulge like crazy for this reason. The 9X23 is slightly larger at the head. 9X19 dies work fine, but you may probly need to open them up a little. The Super will take a hot load with 9X23 brass, but it might beat tar out of the recoil areas. Ain't saying whut I mean by hot load, but it borders .357 with a 125 grain bullet. Pressure wise, these are built to take 9X19 pressures, the larger case don't slow em down none. (you know what the europeans load 9X19 to, don't you?)

[frnkeore]

---------------psi -----cup
9mm Luger 35,000 33,000
38 Automatic 26,500 23,000
38 Super 36,500 33,000

9X23 Winchester 55,000 - psi
This info obtain direct from Winchester

This is the SAAMI pressure info that I found. Why psi and CUP are different for 9mm and super, I do not know!

In regard to using 9X23, the case capacity is less in that case because it's meant to with stand that 55,000 pressure and any Largo or 38 Super load will have higher pressures when using that case. If you use the 9X23 you need to look for low end, pressure tested loads that don't exceed 33,500 PSI.

I use Starline 9mm Largo brass and shoot 11.5 gr Lilgun with surplus 147 gr 9X19 bullets. I also replace my spring with the heavier Wolf spring (it jammed w/o it). It's my most accurate load in my Star Super.

When I bought my Star brass, they recommended against the 9X23 but, I think if you reduce the load they would last longer, that is for the ones that you can find to reload

Frank

[Doc1]

A few thoughts: There is no SAAMI pressure spec for 9mm Largo, but I have read a few sources which claim it's 33,000 PSI. This is not drastically less than .38 Super's 36,500 PSI. I haven't done it yet, but I've known a few guys who shoot .38 Super out of their Star Super 9mm Largos without problems. The Star Supers are very beefy. There are a few things to bear in mind when thinking of shooting .38 Super in a 9mm Largo pistol. All pistols are not created equally! Some folks were shooting - or claiming that one could shoot - .38 Super out of Astra 400 9mm Largo pistols. I think that is a very bad idea. The Astra 400, like the later Astra 43/600 9mm Parabellum, is a blowback design. They are well-made pistols, but are not inherently as strong as the Star Super's Browning-type, locked breech design. I own an Astra 43/600 and trust it completely with 9mm Parabellum, but it's an antique pistol so I don't load it hot. The older Astra 400 is, well, antiqueier (I just made up a word), so I wouldn't push my luck with it. There were a lot of reports of German troops in WWII shooting 9mm Parabellum in the 400, but the different case dimensions caused feeding problems. This was why Astra created the 43/600 specifically for German use with the 9mm Parabellum. I am not aware of any kabooms resulting from the WWII German practice of shooting 9mm Parabellum in 400s and back in the '70s I had a friend who used to shoot 9mm Parabellum in his 400 without problems. We are - hopefully - smarter now and have access to a lot more information.

.38 acp is obsolete and hard to find. Even if you could find it, it's unnecessarily weak for 9mm Largo pistols. I am going to slowly work my way up to shooting .38 Super in my Star Super 9mm Largo. I now have 9mm Largo brass and will try various bullet and propellent combinations as I work up loads and velocity. Some published 9mm Largo loads put that cartridge right up into .38 Super territory and this, combined with the experiences of people I personally know who do it, indicate that it's going to be a safe experiment. Nonetheless, I'm going to proceed in baby steps. One thing I will do is take a micrometer to the chamber and see if I can detect any swelling. I don't think there will be, but it doesn't hurt to be safe.

Best regards
Doc