Very heavy boolits in a 9x25 Dillon

[ThaDoubleJ]

I got my eye on a Glock 20, and being a fan of all things bottleneck from a pistol, I wouldn't mind a 9x25 barrel for it. Got to looking at energy numbers, and realized I was looking at more energy than my 300blk subsonic rounds. Then I found a thing called a 35 Remington, which uses a 200+ grain .358 boolit. They also have these things called sizing dies for boolits that could bring that baby down to about .356.

Question is, could I stuff it in that 9x25 case, make it do about 1000fps?

[ReloaderFred]

I load and shoot 9x25 Dillon, and the short answer to your question concerning a 200 grain bullet in this caliber is: NO. I've got a 1911 and a Witness in this caliber.

The round was developed for 115 gr. bullets, but there is data for 124/125 gr. bullets. I know some people have experimented with the 147 gr. bullet, but I've just stuck with the lighter bullets it was designed to shoot. A 200 gr. bullet wouldn't leave any room for powder, since you're limited to an OAL of 1.260", the same as the parent 10mm. Anything longer wouldn't fit in the magazine, and most likely wouldn't chamber. And as far as getting 1,000 fps from it, off the top of my head I'd say that's not possible with the limited volume of the case. It's easy to get a 200 gr. bullet up over 1,000 fps in the 10mm, but the bullet would have to be so long in 9mm it would extend into the case quite a bit.

I've loaded my 9x25 with a 105 gr. bullet and gotten it up over 1,800 fps, but the flash was blinding and it was extremely loud.

The bottom line is, I think you'd be trying to make the caliber do something it's not capable of.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[S. Galbraith]

I load and shoot 9x25 Dillon, and the short answer to your question concerning a 200 grain bullet in this caliber is: NO. I've got a 1911 and a Witness in this caliber.

The round was developed for 115 gr. bullets, but there is data for 124/125 gr. bullets. I know some people have experimented with the 147 gr. bullet, but I've just stuck with the lighter bullets it was designed to shoot. A 200 gr. bullet wouldn't leave any room for powder, since you're limited to an OAL of 1.260", the same as the parent 10mm. Anything longer wouldn't fit in the magazine, and most likely wouldn't chamber. And as far as getting 1,000 fps from it, off the top of my head I'd say that's not possible with the limited volume of the case. It's easy to get a 200 gr. bullet up over 1,000 fps in the 10mm, but the bullet would have to be so long in 9mm it would extend into the case quite a bit.

I've loaded my 9x25 with a 105 gr. bullet and gotten it up over 1,800 fps, but the flash was blinding and it was extremely loud.

The bottom line is, I think you'd be trying to make the caliber do something it's not capable of.

Hope this helps.

Fred

+1
I tried out the 9mm Dillon years ago, but decided that I preferred the ole 10mm instead. The biggest problem that I had was that it used 9mm Luger bullets which were designed for......well, the 9mm Luger and its velocity threshold. On some loads the bullets were key holing from being pushed too hard, and as ReloaderFred has said, the caliber does not do well with 147gr.

[ReloaderFred]

I've yet to find a 9mm bullet that will hold up to the velocity of the 9x25 Dillon for anything other than punching paper or knocking down steel targets. Even my swaged bullets using .32 acp cases for jackets just turn inside out when they hit anything. Bullets designed for 357 Sig and .38 Super come closer to holding up, but even those come apart when they hit any resistance at all. When I get some time, I'm going to work on swaging a heavy jacketed bullet just for shooting in the 9x25 Dillon pistols.

The problem with the caliber is it's short neck, similar to the 357 Sig round. There isn't much neck tension, and the OAL is limited by the magazine and chamber throat. NATO profile bullets can't be used, due to their long ogive. It requires a short ogive bullet, with a long bearing surface, but short length, if that makes any sense.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[ThaDoubleJ]

I do load for the 357 sig, so I get what you're saying about the short neck. I looked at the specs, and even though the 9x25 neck looks longer in photos, I think it's a bit of an optical illusion, as the difference in actual neck length is about 3/4 of a mm. I wonder if the twist rate is a problem as well since the 147s don't work well. Have you tried the XTP 147s? They work great in my M&P, and they've got a boat tail so you can skip the case mouth expanding step.

So if I did want to pursue this, which I probably won't, I'd need a faster twist barrel, a truncated cone shaped boolit that's very long, or I'd have to redesign the cartridge to have a longer neck, and probably a shorter body?

[dkf]

The .357sig can be loaded with 180 grain bullets, jacketed or cast.(double tap has 180gr cast ammo and I know someone whom loads 180gr XTPs in .357sig) The 9x25 is longer with more case capacity, so you may be able squeeze in a 200gr bullet if the nose is not too long and the neck is not on a lube groove. Just stick with a PB bullet because the base will be well below the neck.