[BossHogg]

In picking up brass for a 9mm I've come across a 380 acp but no 9x18. These old eyes have trouble reading the small stamping and was just wondering what the stamping on the 9 x 18 was. Any others I should be on the look out for?

[Steve H]

I almost learned the hard way. DON'T mix 9mm luger brass with 9mm Markov

[Marlin 45 carbine]

winny has '9x18 mak' on theirs.
much of the foriegn ammo is steel cased but not all. s&b abd pp are brass, reloadable.
9x18 is slightly larger dia than .380 about .010.
IMO an overlooked carry gun.

[rondog]

Some will say 9x18, some will say 9mmMak, some just say 9mmM. It can be hard to tell, but if you stand them all up on a flat surface like a table top, the 9x18's are a tad shorter, and the .380's are shorter still. And 9x19 Lugers that have been cut down to 9x18 will really mess with ya. I always do the tabletop sorting thing, and use tweezers to pluck out the shorter cases. I shoot all three of them.

[BossHogg]

And 9x19 Lugers that have been cut down to 9x18 will really mess with ya.



Dang it, what in the world are they thinking?

[rondog]

Quote:
And 9x19 Lugers that have been cut down to 9x18 will really mess with ya.


Dang it, what in the world are they thinking?


I believe I'm getting a whiff of sarcasm, yes? I'm sure you're aware that 9mm Luger brass can very easily be made into 9mm Makarov? Lots better than buying or scrounging 9x18 brass, since 9mm Luger is as common as gravel at most ranges. Just have to be aware of them, since the headstamp still says Luger.

[res45]

Dang it, what in the world are they thinking?

Probably the same as me why pay for high price 9 x 18 Mak. brass when you can make your own from all that free 9mm lying around. I shoot in my back yard anyways so nobody will ever get any of mine.

Back when there wasn't any available 9 x 18 brass,the Speer reloading manual 9 x 18 data actually used converted 9mm brass and tested there load data with it.

9 x 18 stamps
* 9 mm Makarov
* 9x18mm
* 9x18mm PM
* 9 mm Mak

[BossHogg]

Sarcasm yes, I know the 9x18 is coming on strong. I see all kinds of good deals on guns for 9x18 Mak.

Making me rethink range brass pick up. I've been picking up for awhile now and haven't seen any 9x18, but know there's alot out there. Don't know if it's worth the trouble if I have to measure every round.

[MtnCreek]

Anyone here mistakenly loaded a 9x18 as a 9x19? If a 9x18 was sized and bullet seated to 9x19 spec, what would happen?

[capreppy]

Some will say 9x18, some will say 9mmMak, some just say 9mmM. It can be hard to tell, but if you stand them all up on a flat surface like a table top, the 9x18's are a tad shorter, and the .380's are shorter still. And 9x19 Lugers that have been cut down to 9x18 will really mess with ya. I always do the tabletop sorting thing, and use tweezers to pluck out the shorter cases. I shoot all three of them.
I bought a bunch of 9mm Luger brass. I heard about an issue with a guy loading a 9mm Kurtz (.380 ACP) and had a small accident when he fired it out of his 9mm Luger. That night I took the time (and it was some amount of time) to place each and every piece of brass on the table to check heights. I did actually find a few 9mm Kurtz in all of that and am happy now that I took the time to do it. Would have been really ugly. Now when I pick up brass from the range, I sort out anything 9mm on a flat surface (have seen 9mm Makarovs, 9mm Kurtz (380ACP), & 9mm Luger). When sorting 9mm brass it does pay to be careful.

[cougar1717]

Anyone here mistakenly loaded a 9x18 as a 9x19? If a 9x18 was sized and bullet seated to 9x19 spec, what would happen?

There's going to be several obvious signs that something is wrong before a reloader has a finished cartridge. First, since the 9Mak is shorter, the case will not bell as much as a 9x19 even if you do mistakenly run it through a 9x19 sizing die. Secondly, it's going to look strange when a reloader charges it because the powder level will be a little different than the rest of the 9x19 (assuming that you batch and not run a progressive). But thirdly, if a reloader manages to seat a .355 bullet in a case with significantly less bell (and not have the mouth crush or sidewall bend) the finished cartridge is going to look incredibly strange compared to others since the brass will be short and bullet long in comparison to a 9x19.
If you're a reloader that is even somewhat observant, you should catch one of these three.

[dwhite]

all the above and, that 9mm Mak case is a fair bit larger than the 9MM Luger case. It's going to take noticeably more effort to get it into the sizer.

All the Best,
D. White

[gamestalker]

I picked up a bunch of 9x18xthe other day. Can the 9x19 brass be loaded for 9mm?

[medalguy]

No if you mean load Mak brass for Luger but if you don't want the Mak brass I'll swap you 3:1 for 9mm Luger brass. I can use the Mak brass. PM me if you are interested in a trade.

[GLOOB]

all the above and, that 9mm Mak case is a fair bit larger than the 9MM Luger case. It's going to take noticeably more effort to get it into the sizer.

I haven't noticed that, at all. I've had no problems accidentally sizing mak with luger dies. If it makes it into the bin, I almost never catch it until after sizing. Hence, I usually have a few funky coke-bottle rounds in my mak reloads, at any one time.

I have been setting aside any military brass I find to make mak brass. No particular reason, other than I don't get that many, and they're relatively easy to identify. But I think I'm going to change gears and start cutting down Federal, no dot. It seems to have the thinnest walls. Cut down mak brass tends to be a little chunky.

[Marlin 45 carbine]

.380acp will fire and function the Makarov 9x18 pistols but not vise-versa. the Mak round won't chamber. gunboards had speculation the Mak designer had this in mind when he came up w/the round. they 'russkis' could use captured .380acp ammo if needed but the other side (.380 has seen lots of duty with militarys) could not use captured Mak ammo.
surprisingly to me my Mak groups moderately loaded cast slugs tighter than full-house jacketed. go figure?

[jdgreen]

Except for my first 100 9x18 Makarov Starline brass, all of my 9x18s are cut-down Luger cartridges. I use a sharpie to color the word "Luger" or put a colored stripe on the head stamp of my converted brass. Hopefully it's a flag for someone picking up my lost ones. When using them, I always stand them on the tabletop in a little group so an odd one will be visible.

[evan price]

After a while you can pick out the Makarovs and 380s in a pile of 9mm Luger brass by sight alone. Trust me!

S&B marks them 9mmM and most american companies will say 9mm Makarov or 9mm Mak. I've also seen 9x18 for the Mak.

380 is even more confusing. There's about 6-8 different caliber markings for that.

[steelerdude99]

From experience attempting to load a .380 case as 9mm w/ a LEE turret press and auto disk powder measure, it will not drop a powder charge. Sizing and decap went okay. However, the shorter case will not push up the powder thru die activated auto disk powder measure. In the few times a .380 case got mixed in, a distinctive different sound was made.

I always have some 9mm mixed in my unsorted brass even if I don't shoot 9mm that day as others around me do. When I get home, I sort 9mm, 38 special and .380 in one batch for cleaning. The brass does not tumble well if the little ones get in the big ones.