[kalifornia]

sorry for not searching, Im to stupid busy trying to find a used gp. would I have ok performance with .355 fmj out of a 4" barrel? thanks

 

[Iowegan]

kalifornia, Yes, 9mm bullets will work but don't expect them to be as accurate as .357 bullets. Why in the world would you want to use 9mm bullets?

 

[Frank V]

I once loaded the Sierra 9mm 90gr JHC in a 4" .357 using 110gr data. Wow it'd take varmints apart. The accuracy was good enough for small game hunting, that was over 30 years ago & I don't remember the on paper accuracy & didn't have a Chrony then, but I do remember it was SPECTACULAR on varmints!
Frank

 

[kalifornia]

kalifornia, Why in the world would you want to use 9mm bullets?

I happen to have a ton of them

 

[john hupy]

he must have a stash of 9mm to try that. I think the day is coming when we bury our guns in yard to hide them from the gov. kinda like Germany years back,we know that turned out. what ever work's is worth a try

 

[john hupy]

o a ton! now thatsa stash! I got half ton of .357 stuff back when it was cheap and a buck was a buck

 

[K57]

kalifornia, they will work but you'll get best results by trimming .357 Magnum cases to .38 Special length. That way you'll get better case neck tension on the 9mm bullet. When I have done this in the past, I also used my REDDING 9mm taper crimp die to apply crimp on the shortened cases. I used a number of powders that are slightly faster than the typical Magnum choices starting with Blue Dot but had better luck with V-V 3N37, AA#7 and the now unavailable Vectan SP-2. My reason for doing this was also an abundance of Remington 124 gr. 9mm JHPs, but also with 125 gr. 357" bullets in the "Short Magnum" cases to prevent extraction problems with the 7 shot Taurus Tracker and short barreled .357 Magnum S&W revolvers with short ejector rods and to make speed loading a bit quicker. Another good reason for trimming down .357 Magnum cases is for identification to help insure these loads never found their way into a .38 Special revolver.

 

[TMD]

kalifornia, they will work but you'll get best results by trimming .357 Magnum cases to .38 Special length. That way you'll get better case neck tension on the 9mm bullet. When I have done this in the past, I also used my REDDING 9mm taper crimp die to apply crimp on the shortened cases. I used a number of powders that are slightly faster than the typical Magnum choices starting with Blue Dot but had better luck with V-V 3N37, AA#7 and the now unavailable Vectan SP-2. My reason for doing this was also an abundance of Remington 124 gr. 9mm JHPs, but also with 125 gr. 357" bullets in the "Short Magnum" cases to prevent extraction problems with the 7 shot Taurus Tracker and short barreled .357 Magnum S&W revolvers with short ejector rods and to make speed loading a bit quicker. Another good reason for trimming down .357 Magnum cases is for identification to help insure these loads never found their way into a .38 Special revolver.

Only difference between .357 and .38 special cases is the length not the thickness. Trimming .357 cases back will give no more neck tension then an untrimmed case.

 

[K57]

Case neck thickness at the casemouth may be the same but when you trim .357 brass to .38 Special length the brass is thicker at that point than it is with a .38 case thickness at the casemouth. That comes from actual experience. Then there's the identification issue. If you attempt to do this with a .38 Special case your probably going to need an expander no larger than those for 9mm.

 

[CtYankee]

I see that nobody suggested using a 9mm sizing die. Since 9mm has a tapered case you should only attempt to size the 38Spl case as far down as you seat your bullets. I've used a 9mm taper crimp to taper crimp 38s and it works just fine. Although I've shot .357 out a 9mm, I've never tried it the other way.

 

[TMD]

I see that nobody suggested using a 9mm sizing die. Since 9mm has a tapered case you should only attempt to size the 38Spl case as far down as you seat your bullets. I've used a 9mm taper crimp to taper crimp 38s and it works just fine. Although I've shot .357 out a 9mm, I've never tried it the other way.

Doesn't matter, your still shooting an undersized bullet through the gun. If its lead then you will get leading no matter what. If its jacketed you will get excessive copper fouling. Either way its a loose loose load.

 

[firescout]

I happen to have a ton of them

I could buy your 'ton' of .355 bullets for loading my 9mmP, and then you can use the money to buy yourself some proper .357 bullets for your GP-100 loads...

 

[K57]

Doesn't matter, your still shooting an undersized bullet through the gun. If its lead then you will get leading no matter what. If its jacketed you will get excessive copper fouling. Either way its a loose loose load.

Shooting undersized cast lead bullets in an oversized bore is a bad idea, but the OP stated his bullets were FMJ. Concerning jacketed, if that were the case, Ruger would have stopped selling the 9mm/.357 Convertable Blackhawk a long time ago

 

[Seneca]

I tried 9mm (.355 diameter) bullets in a .357M revolver just out of curiosity...It worked yet I had less than stellar results. As a matter of fact accuracy was quite poor...

It is one of those...you can, but shouldn't things.

 

[Seneca]

I don't see an advantage to trimming .357 cases back. I used the standard sizing die for a .357, then switched out the .357 expander ball for the expander from my 9mm dies.

I'd see if I could find a home for the 9mm ammo and get some .357 ammo. There has got to be somebody out there sitting on a pile of .357 ammo wishing they could trade for some 9mm...

 

[K57]

I don't see an advantage to trimming .357 cases back. I used the standard sizing die for a .357, then switched out the .357 expander ball for the expander from my 9mm dies.

It worked yet I had less than stellar results. As a matter of fact accuracy was quite poor...

Maybe that's part of your problem. I was never satisfied with caseneck tension using full length .357 Brass even when using a 9mm expander. As I said before, my main motivation was to decrease extraction issues with thin cylinder walled 7 shooters and revolvers with short ejector rods. Most of my shooting was done in my wife's model 65 Ladysmith with a 3" barrel and accuracy was decent enough to hit ten cans out to 40 yards shooting DA. Powder selection was important in my experiments, but you didn't list the powder you were using. The powders I chose were for ballistic efficiency in 3" barrels as well as low flash characteristics important to me with defense loads.

 

[Seneca]

A GP100 is quite a bit different than a model 65 lady smith.

Using 9mm bullets in a .357 was for me, simply an excercise in curiosity, one I undertook years ago...and while I did...I can't say that I recommended practice. Just because you can doesn't mean you should...lol

I use .357 diameter bullets in a .357 and 9mm bullets in a 9mm. Just seems like the right thing to do...

 

[K57]

A GP100 is quite a bit different than a model 65 lady smith.

Using 9mm bullets in a .357 was for me, simply an excercise in curiosity, one I undertook years ago...and while I did...I can't say that I recommended practice. Just because you can doesn't mean you should...lol

Yeah, it has a barrel length that is 1" longer, thicker cylinder walls, heavier frame, coiled mainspring and it's a Ruger. I mentioned the Ladysmith because I had good results using it, but I've never had any extraction issues with full length .357 Magnum cases and it has a full length ejector rod. The extraction issues were with a 4" 7 shot Taurus Tracker that belonged to my shooting partner so I solved that problem while making a round that would also eject better with S&Ws that have barrel lengths of 2 1/2" or shorter and short ejector rods.

I don't necessarily recommend these rounds, but in my case there was a specific reason to do it, and it wasn't merely curiosity. Also, the OP stated a specific reason for asking rather than just being curious, LOL. Rather than tell him it won't work because of limited experience, I actually explained a method to get good results.

 

[Seneca]

With that I'll leave it to the OP to decide if using 9mm bullets in a .357 is something he wants to do...or not...lol

 

[Yurko]

Only difference between .357 and .38 special cases is the length not the thickness. Trimming .357 cases back will give no more neck tension then an untrimmed case.

Absolutely true.

And if you've trimmed those cases, you've created a VERY unsafe set of brass.
Imagine if those are mistakenly loaded to high .357 Magnum velocity?
You've created a bomb.

Trimming .357 Magnum cases to .38 Special length is not a good idea IMHO.