Original Caliber of the Husqvarna M1907

[Life During Wartime]

So, my dad used to have an Husqvarna M1907. It was (and is) his favorite pistol ever. His was in .380, which I understand was common of those imported into the United States. So my question is, how was the conversion done and what was the original caliber of the Husqvarnas, 9mm browning long or .32 acp

 

[rcmodel]

9 mm Browning Long.

Converted to .380 ACP by inserting a chamber sleeve and cutting the recoil spring.

rc

 

[Life During Wartime]

Is the chamber sleeve easily removeable to allow shooting of 9mm browning long

 

[Onmilo]

The chamber sleeve isn't easily removable, but a gunsmith with a .38 Super finish reamer and a lathe should be able to turn the chamber back to 9mm Browning Long dimensions.

 

[MikeJackmin]

9mm browning long ammo is not easy to find, or cheap.

I have one of these pistols, rather beat up, but inexpensive and interesting. Sometimes they have trouble feeding the shorter, .380 cartridges and I have heard that the magazines can be modified by adding a spacer if necessary. Mine seems to do fine with the mag as it is.

Despite the tiny sights and the beat-up exterior, that little pistol runs flawlessly and shoots quite well. I can understand why your dad enjoys his.

Compare one to a Tokarev sometime and you'll see the family resemblance.

 

[dogtown tom]

MikeJackmin 9mm browning long ammo is not easy to find, or cheap.

Sure it is and cheaper than 9x19

http://www.samcoglobal.com/Ammo-9mm-browing.html

 

[MikeJackmin]

That is a good price, but note the ammo is corrosive. Not the end of the world of course.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

Woud you be able to turn down .38 Super brass then to make 9mm Browning Long? Then you would have reloadable, non-corrosive ammo.

 

[Jim K]

Yep, just trim the .38 Super case to .80" and load with a 9mm Luger or .380 ACP bullet. Just keep the COAL to under 1.10".

Jim

 

[Life During Wartime]

What is the magazine capacity when it is in .380, the same?

interesting about trimming the .38 super

 

[nitroexpress]

9mm Browning Long, Bullet larger than 9mm

One thing to remember is that the 9mm BL uses a bullet around 0.358" in diameter, and not the more common 0.355" of the Parabellum. The 380 ACP or 9mm Browning Short uses a 0.356" bullet. If you look at the CIP specs, it'll make sense. The important spec to look at is the one for minimum chamber/bore. It gets interesting, to say the least.

The 9mm BL specifies a minimum groove diameter of 9.12mm (0.359") and a maximum bullet diameter of 9.09mm (0.3578").

The 380 ACP (9mm Browning Short) specs out at 9.04mm (0.3559"). Minimum groove and bullet maximum are equal.

For reference, the 9mm Luger (Parabellum), specifies a minimum groove diameter of 9.02mm (0.355") and a maximum bullet of 9.03mm (0.3555"). Interestingly 38 Spl and 357 Mag use the same specified minimum groove diameter.

IMO, shooting a 355 cast bullet in a pistol with a 359 bore, isn't the most desirable scenario. I measured the groove diameter on my FN03 /M07 and it's app. 0.360", (the 357 soft lead bullet I used for slugging slipped through without much effort.

For my pistol, if I were to shoot cast, an ideal bullet diameter would be 0.360", according to all the theory.

I had to ask, why is it fairly common knowledge, that you can load for the 9mm BL by shortening ............... and slipping in a 9mm (355) bullet.

I think publications like "Cartridges of the World" started this myth. "Handloaders guide to Cartridge Conversions" sites COTW as the source of their data, thus perpetuating the myth. I don't blame them, they did their best, what with no computers to access web sites not yet created, for a cartridge that was rare in NA. I think they just measured some handloaded ammo.

The barrel on my FN03 was pretty badly leaded, probably as a result of shooting undersized bullets. I bought several boxes of Prvi ammo, and considering I only find the brass for half of what I shoot, I'll be buying more. If I decide to reload, I'm going to try LEE 38 Short/Long Colt dies, and hopefully I'll have sourced a bullet by then.

http://www.cip-bobp.org/homologation/en/tdcc_public?page=2&cartridge_type_id=4

PS: I'm new to the 9mm pistol game, and when I slugged the barrel and got 360, I just had to dig into it further, find out what was going on.

 

[Jim K]

The history of that pistol is interesting. FN asked Browning to design a pistol to compete with the Luger and other high power pistols, since FN had only the Model 1900 pistol in 7.65 Browning. Browning designed a blowback pistol and cut the .38 ACP cartridge down to use in it. (Note that the Luger had not yet been adapted to a 9mm cartridge.)

Then Browning showed the gun to Colt; they were not interested in it as they already had the more powerful dual link guns, but expressed interest in a pocket pistol of the same design. Browning scaled the gun down a bit, and offered it to Colt in 7.65mm Browning, which Colt then called the .32 Colt Automatic Pistol (the first two words were later reversed and abbreviated to the familiar "ACP"). Thus was the Model 1903 Colt pocket model born.

Jim

 

[dogtown tom]

nitroexpress ..... It's one step worse than shooting 9mm bullets in a 38 special, and I haven't seen that to widely recommended....

So all those .357 Ruger Blackhawks with a spare 9mm cylinder are a myth?

Kinda hard to argue that its "not recommended" when its actually pretty common from the factory.

 

[nitroexpress]

So all those .357 Ruger Blackhawks with a spare 9mm cylinder are a myth?

Kinda hard to argue that its "not recommended" when its actually pretty common from the factory.

You are right, I edited that line out of my previous post.

The 38 Spl/357 Mag/9mm Luger all have the same minimum groove diameter according to CIP and SAAMI. All are 9.02mm (355"). Bullet specs are not the same.

Theory is theory, how many barrels are actually at minimum spec. Bottom line, is that the 9mm BL has a barrel with a minimum groove diameter of 9.12mm (358") and with jacketed bullets, a 38 Spl/357 Mag bullet may be more appropriate.

This whole 9mm BL thing has me a bit confused, and although better informed, I don't think I'm any wiser. If I didn't like my FN03 so much, I think I'd jump ship and go 40 S&W or something like that. I'm an avid handloader, but I think I'll just stock up on a case of Prvi and call it a day. I'll save as many brass as I can, and reload only if I have to.