Round ball in 9mm for plinking

[tazman]

Has anyone tried shooting a round ball in their 9mm?
I was wondering if this would even work.
Lee makes a .360 round ball mold that could be run through a sizer giving a 70 grain projectile.
Loading data would be a problem most likely.
Thanks

[blackpowder man]

I did it in my .45 acp. It worked as a single shot. I guess you could put a light enough recoil spring to make it work, assuming that they'll feed. I use a lot of the ranch dog .360-95 rf in my 9mm. It shoots really well. Maybe you'd be better with a lighter boolit instead of the round ball. I've tried round balls in a lot of calibers so if you are feeling experimental you should try it and post some results. Loads should be pretty easy to work up.

[Michael J. Spangler]

I have a bunch of round balls lubed. I think I'm going to coat some more with hi tek lube and give this a try.
Good idea!

[junkpile]

I've seen it done before, but in a lever rifle. Hodgdon lists loads all the way down to 80gr in their online loaddata center thing. I would be interested to know if it will work, but would be hesitant to try it myself in an auto. If you do it, be safe.

[Larry Gibson]

As long as you're going to cast (Lee makes a .360 round ball mold that could be run through a sizer giving a 70 grain projectile.) you'll get a lot better performance (accuracy and action functioning), even with "plinking" loads, using a real bullet. For the 9mm I suggest the Lee 358-105-SWC or the 356-102-1R.

Larry Gibson

[tazman]

As long as you're going to cast (Lee makes a .360 round ball mold that could be run through a sizer giving a 70 grain projectile.) you'll get a lot better performance (accuracy and action functioning), even with "plinking" loads, using a real bullet. For the 9mm I suggest the Lee 358-105-SWC or the 356-102-1R.

Larry Gibson

I suspected that might be the case. I already have the 358-105-swc with loads worked up.
I am trying to locate one of the new Lee 356-95-rf mold from a lgs nearby.

[.5mv^2]

I've been using the Lee 105 swc in 380, 9, 38spl and 357. It's a good shooter.

[NavyVet1959]

I tried resizing a .360 round ball to .356 tonight and shooting it in a CZ-75. The cartridge comes out of the mag and heads right for the top of the barrel and jams. After hand loading it into the chamber, it fired, but it did not completely eject. I was using Alliant Promo (Red Dot equiv) and used the max powder load for a 120 gr bullet as an estimate of a starting point.

[Petrol & Powder]

I experimented with RB in 38 Spl. just to see if I could do it. The answer is yes but I've now satisfied that curiosity and moved on.
A sphere obviously uses the least amount of lead (and therefore weight) to achieve the needed diameter but you very quickly come to the question of, "why bother".
Getting the pistol to cycle with that 70 gr ball may be difficult and not just because of the low recoil forces involved. I'm sure it could be done but I'm not sure what would be gained.

[JSnover]

I shot RB loads out of revolvers and automatics years ago and had the same result. Kind of fun but mostly pointless.

[Lefty Red]

I have loaded the LEE 105-2R and 95-RF, and Berry's discounted 100 HBRN plated bullet, in my GLocks and was very surprised at the results. Now I use the lighter bullets exclusively. My Glocks are stock, so no powder puff loads, close to printed max loads to keep everything moving.

BTW, the round nosed 105-2R was the best in both 380 and 9mm loads. Now to get LEE to make it in a 6 cavity!

[Michael J. Spangler]

there is so little resistance with a round ball due to the small bearing surface, it doesn't usually have enough resistance to give a good clean burn and build pressure.
think of it like a light crimp on 38 special loads, they are erratic, tighten up the crimp and they start to burn right.
i've had better results with running an unsized .360 ball pressed into the case to give a little more resistence, or sizing down a larger ball say .375 so you have some flat bearing surface on the sides.
this worked especially well with .490 RB sized down to .459 for the 45.-70

[Petrol & Powder]

.......or sizing down a larger ball say .375 so you have some flat bearing surface on the sides......

No doubt you'll get better results that way but now you're starting to swage a bullet out of a round ball rather than shooting a round ball. :?


Kind of like a small double ended wadcutter with no lube groove........

[NavyVet1959]

I've shot them out of revolvers before, but I was curious whether it would work with the CZ-75 that I had with me at the time. Because of the angles or whatever, it would not feed the few times I tired it. It seems that it needs more of a nose to guide it in. I'll try it with .357 SIG one of these days to see if the bottleneck round makes a difference.

[justashooter]

000 buckshot is close enuf to generally work on the cheap

[str8wal]

What kind of accuracy could be expected? Even when "plinking" I like to hit what I'm pointing at.

[NavyVet1959]

A sphere obviously uses the least amount of lead (and therefore weight) to achieve the needed diameter but you very quickly come to the question of, "why bother".


I suspect that you could go even lower with a hollow base bullet.

[Tom W.]

I tried something similar with a .440 roundball sized down to .430 out of my Ruger SBH some years ago. Can't remember the results,except that they were underwhelming at best.

[BAGTIC]

My solution to erratic performance is to use a fast burning powder, I use Red Dot, and to seat the round ball directly atop the powder, slightly compressed.

[NavyVet1959]

What kind of accuracy could be expected? Even when "plinking" I like to hit what I'm pointing at.

You don't like to practice suppressive fire? ;)