Stop me from doing something stupid

[histed]

When I get bored, I start to think and that can be dangerous. The "good idea" fairy has visited again. I started to size some 158 SWC to .357 to try in my 9mm, as my measurements indicate that the COL will work and I can still get enough Bulleye or Red Dot under it to make a decent target load. Then I remembered someone here has a tag line saying that sometime you have to ignore the good idea fairy. So, like the title says.:veryconfu

[country gent]

It used to be done in 38 supers to make major but was on the very upper end or just over on pressure. 9MM are loaded with 147 grn bullets but I believe are also sub sonic. Above all if possible find data to work from and be carefull, heavy bullets small cases and fast powders can spike pressures pretty fast. Definitly work te load up slowly to accuracy level desired, feed and functioning, but above all safe pressures.

[tazman]

I have loaded that weight and style boolit in my 9mm but had rather poor results. Accuracy was poor due to the base of the boolit getting swaged down because of the case thickness that deep. Feeding was problematic as my pistols don't seem to like the shoulder on semi-wadcutters very much.
I used a slower powder than you are suggesting to keep things safe but was getting good enough velocities.

[histed]

Thanks guys. I know 147s are used, but I haven't found any reliable data on this weight or style. Since I don't really need to do this, think I'll move on and ignore this bright idea.

[pewpewpewco]

Xtreme bullets sell 165gr 9mm pills and they shoot just fine for some subsonic rounds

[bhn22]

In the olden days, prehistoric, pre-internet, it was pretty common to load 158 gr lead (Lyman 358311) bullets in 9 mm cases with small loads of Bullseye. It worked then, and it still works today. With todays mind boggling availability of moulds for most calibers many people have forgotten how to adapt to shortfalls. Elmer Keith even mentioned it in his book "Sixguns". I don't load much 9mm anymore, but when I did, I'd often used Lyman 358156 without a gascheck. The bullet profile without the check closely resembles the much later Hornady 147 JHP. Feeding was flawless if I did my part, as was function. One quick point, although 9mm bores are listed as having a groove diameter of .355-6, very few ever were, and and most reloaders quickly discovered that .358 dia. bullets functioned best, but you need to examine your individual circumstances and make your own decisions on this.

[taco650]

I have agree with other posts in that its not a BAD idea, just one that needs to be approached cautiously. I find it odd that the 9mm can use as slow burning powders as it does due to the small case size. As others have mentioned its less the weight and more about getting the bullet shape to function in a semi-auto. I made some hardcast 147 loads several years ago for a G17 I owned at the time. They functioned fine but would key hole at 25yds. I shot them all up but wasn't happy about the results but this was in my pre-casting days. I know now that they were too small (sized at 356) for my barrel.

Bottom line, give it a try, might work out pretty well.

[tazman]

In the olden days, prehistoric, pre-internet, it was pretty common to load 158 gr lead (Lyman 358311) bullets in 9 mm cases with small loads of Bullseye. It worked then, and it still works today. With todays mind boggling availability of moulds for most calibers many people have forgotten how to adapt to shortfalls. Elmer Keith even mentioned it in his book "Sixguns". I don't load much 9mm anymore, but when I did, I'd often used Lyman 358156 without a gascheck. The bullet profile without the check closely resembles the much later Hornady 147 JHP. Feeding was flawless if I did my part, as was function. One quick point, although 9mm bores are listed as having a groove diameter of .355-6, very few ever were, and and most reloaders quickly discovered that .358 dia. bullets functioned best, but you need to examine your individual circumstances and make your own decisions on this.

You are quite right about the 358311 being loaded in 9mm years ago. I just checked a copy of the Lyman 44th handbook and that loading is listed. There is data for Bullseye, Red dot, Unique, and Herco.
Max for bullseye was 3.5 grains
Max for red dot was 3.6 grains
Max for Unique was 4.5 grains
Max for Herco was 4.6 grains.
The suggested accuracy load was 3.0 of Bullseye.
There was no OAL listed other than the standard max length.
Some of those appear to be a bit heavy to me but many of the older loadings were.

[histed]

Interesting - just when I thought this would go nowhere. Tazman - thanks for the data. If I do try this, I'll let you know how it works out

[tazman]

If you would like to download the manual, there is a copy on castpics.com. Here is the link.

http://www.castpics.net/LoadData/OM/Lyman44.pdf