38 super out of a 9mm?

[Nowhere Man]

Is it safe to load and shoot 38 super bullets (.356) out of a 9mm (.355)?


Dave

 

[jcwit]

Lead or Jacketed?

 

[Nowhere Man]

jacketed.

 

[Walkalong]

Yes. The .001 won't matter, and many 9MM's are over .355 anyway.

 

[Nowhere Man]

Thanks.


Dave

 

[rcmodel]

There is a differance?????

Hornady, Speer, and others lists the same .355" jacketed & .356" lead bullets for both.

Hornady even lists some .357" bullets in the .38 Super data.

rc

 

[willymc]

I was given some .38 super bullets. I loaded them up in some 9mm brass. I did find that the taper of the .38 super is different than that of a regular 9mm bullet. When they fed into the chamber of my Sig, they scraped. They fed and shot ok but each bullet had a gouge in it. Here is a picture of them side by side. The “fatter” top of the 38 super gets gouged in my Sig.

 

[7.62 Nato]

willymc,
Were they the same weight ? Looks like the 38 super may have been heavier.

 

[willymc]

The 9mm in the pic is 115 gr. and the .38 super is 130 gr. I pulled out a 124gr. 9mm and looked at it. There is still a difference in the slope of the bullet, just not as pronounced.

 

[rcmodel]

I think what you have are .357 SIG bullets?

There is a differance in .357 SIG bullet ogives made necessary by the short case neck.

Such is not the case with 9mm & .38 Super.
They both use the same bullets.

rc

 

[willymc]

The bullet in the pic is a Remington, .38 Super, 130 gr. FMJ.

 

[1SOW]

willymc" That Remington 130 grmay not be clearing the rifling at the OAL your using.

You may have already done this, but: The two pics look like they are close to the same OAL. Drop check the Rems into the removed bbl. Make sure it drops in freely to seat on the case mouth and then you can rotate it. This checks to see if it's hitting the leade/rifling.

The 130 gr will need to be a shorter OAL than the 115gr bullet.