wad cutter in 9mm

[9x19]

Has anyone had any experiance shooting straight wadcutter boolits in the 9mm Browning. I have found that boolits of .358" shoot great but cannot get them to feed, any help appreciated.
9x19

[garandsrus]

I have shot SWC in a S&W 9mm which worked fine... I have never tried a full WC.

John

[9.3X62AL]

Not sure why you would want to run "wadcutters" in an autopistol, unless it is clean cutting of holes in target paper. Any sharp-shouldered boolit design will cut pretty cleanly, e.g. Lyman #452460 or H&G #68 and its pantheon of imitators.

I use Lyman #358242, a 121 grain RN with sharp shoulder meant for the old 38 Colt. Lyman #356402 or its imitators also provide good holes in paper (and jackrabbits).

[Rod B]

I believe the only two semi autos that use wadcutter bullets are the Colt 1911 .38Special target model & the Smith & Wesson model 52.

Other semi autos are not designed for the wadcutter bullet.

[45 2.1]

You might try the LEE 105 gr. SWC. That one shoots well in the 9mm and 380 ACP.

As a side note, the 1911 Colt 38 Super feeds and shoots wadcutters very well when loaded correctly, which is about half the WCs length into the case give or take a little.

[MakeMineA10mm]

I have a set of 115gr SWC moulds with my casting machine. They didn't sell well, because they don't feed well. Same problem it sounds like you're having. I have a Browning GP-35, and it doesn't like them either. They do feed in a couple of my 9mm pistols, and I've come to the conclusion that it's the relationship of the magazine height to bore-axis with a substantial factor of feed lips (release) thrown in...

Might I suggest my "Slippery" 9mm for a good-feeding design? (It's why it was invented.)

[kawalekm]

Hello 9X19
I have a 358477 SWC mold that casts bullets weighing 147 grains with my alloy. Thought I'd try it in 9mm and it works great in my P89. I load it with 6 grains of Blue Dot to an OAL of 1.100". It has totally reliable feeding in my P89, and use it as my standard 9mm load. It gives me nice clean holes in the target paper, though the cartridges look so funny with a crimping groove sticking out. I also have a Walther P1, but it doesn't like this load (jams). The only load that works well with it is a 120 grain Lee TC.

By the way, a little experimentation might cure your problems. My 1911 would not feed 45460 SWCs and I found that it had two problems needing solving. The suggested OAL was too short, and got it to feed only after making the cartridges 1.175". The second problem entailed case bulge because of the slightly larger diameter of the cast bullets. The cartridges would feed into the chamber but the slide would stop about an 1/8" before lockup. A taper crimping die solved the second problem.
Michael

[Buckshot]

...............9x19, welcome to the board. I don't have a 9x19 but do have a 38 Super. I haven't tried WC's but have shot SWC's.

http://www.fototime.com/94E23D0AC147FC1/standard.jpg

This is the RCBS 38-162 which is a GC design. It feeds well and shoots very nicely. You probably know all this but feed geometry is very important. So far as Max OAL is concerned, your magazine sets that in the first place, your barrel configuration second. If your barrel will accept, and the slide will close on a WC seated to magazine max OAL that is you limit.

Then you have to begin dealing with feed geometry. Simply make up 4-5 dummy rounds and load'em in the mag and seat the magazine. Retract the slide by hand and allow it to slowly move forward. Pay close attention to what is going on. Adjust the cartridge's OAL as required. To get good feeding.

If it seems to feed well then retract the slide and let it run forward under recoil spring pressure. If all is well, load up a magazines worth and try'em out next range trip. The feed ramp should be smooth. If your extractor is a tight fit to the rim (distance from the breechface to rim of the case) there may be an issue, as a full WC will feed at a more acute angle.

Lets face it, the designers didn't intend for a WC to be fired from the pistol ever, and it was probably the farthest thing from their minds.

..................Buckshot

[Char-Gar]

The feed ramp design was changed on the Browning Hi-Power a few years back and now they will feed HPs and SWC well. Before that, they would choke on anything but RN stuff.

That said, I doubt if you will get a Hi-Power, of any vintage, to feed full wad cutter bullets with any degree of satisfaction. It is possible of course, that I am wrong, and if you feel like "giving it a go" then forge ahead.

I have an older 125 grain SWC mold from NEI that feeds great and gives wonderful accuracy in most any 9mm autopistol including the Hi-Power, which by the way, along with the 1911 are my favorite pistols.

With a dose of either Unique or AA5, I run this bullet 1 to 1.1K fps, for an accurate, reliable load that is easy on the pistol and has plenty of "omph" for small game or practice. .

Like you, I have found .358 to be just the ticket for shooting cast bullets in the Hi-Power.

Good luck and let us know if you strike gold!

[Dale53]

I would like to add a caution to any of those who are even THINKING of using a hollow base wadcutter in a pistol:

I had a number of friends who, in the early days of the transition from revolvers to autos in NRA Bullseye, decided that they would try a .38 Super 1911. Asw EVERYONE knows, an autoloader helps in timed and rapid fire a great deal (less time operating the handgun and more time aiming and squeezing within the time limits). they were all using Colt .38 Supers. One of the fellows bulged the barrel on his pisol. He claimed that he was shooting slow fire, saw the bullet strike the target and bulged the barrel on the next shot. We (me included) gave him the horselaugh and informed him that he had stuck a bullet, then fired another up the spout causing the bulged barrel. We flat made fun of our good friend. Then, with a new barrel, he did it again! He again stated that he was shooting slow fire, spotting each shot and there was a bullet hole in the target just before the shot that bulged the barrel. Our friend was not terribly mechanical but neither was he a liar. I begin to have a glimmer, but still could not quite imagine the scenario that would allow this damage to occur (twice, yet!).

I was on the firing line next to ANOTHER friend who was shooting his Super. He fired a shot, and for some reason I was looking at his pistol. I saw "something" sticking out his barrel. He was firing a timed fire string and I let out a SCREAM to stop! He did. We investigated and discovered that the skirt had separated from a bullet. The skirt stayed in the barrel while the front end hit the target making a perfect hole where it should have.

Now, we realized what had happened to destroy our friend's two barrels. We passed the word and the use of hollow based wadcutters in pistols, ceased. We also apologized to our good friend for making fun of him when it was absolutely unwarranted!

FWIW, these were target loads with a "soft" spring to allow function. After that people with the Supers used SWC's. About that time the S&W Model 52 got popular and the local NRA Bullseye shooters either got a converted .38 Special 1911, a Model 52 Smith, or like most of us, just learned to shoot the .45 1911.

Moral of the story. Do not use HBWC's in auto pistols... ( except those like the Model 52 S&W where there are lots of GOOD and SAFE Loading data), AND, do not try to drive them faster than target velocity in ANY handgun.

I shoot LOTS of HBWC's but ONLY at target velocity.

Dale53