Reloading for 9x18 Mak

[TooTaxed]

CLARK, you have me baffled. I've never heard of a MAK being damaged by firing the proper ammo. There is not even the occasional problem with 9-mm Luger of firing high power ammo designed for submachine guns in some pistols. The 9-mm MAK (9 x 18-mm) is a relatively low power cartridge, energy being roughly half-way between .380 Auto and 9-mm Luger (9 x 19-mm).

I think it's likely that the wrong cartridge was used. I remember that when they first came on the market there was confusion about the ammunition..."9-mm" meant the popular and common "9-mm Luger" to most people.

I have two MAKs, one Russian and one Bulgarian, and have fired thousands of rounds from perhaps a dozen manufacturers (plus some fairly powerful handloads for "business" use) without a problem of any kind. I've found them to be unusually dependable, and it's my favorite concealed carry pistol.

 

[Clark]

John,
I don't think they made 9mm Maks, but I think the guy got at least one round of 9mm ammo to chamber.

The 9x18 Mak is a wider cartridge the the 9x19 Luger.

 

[TooTaxed]

CLARK, you are quite right.

Although both cartridges are designated as "9-mm", the 9-mm Luger bullet is .355 diameter, while the 9-mm Mak is .363, considerably wider than the Luger...as well as the .38 Super (.356), 357 Sig (.3555), 38 S&W (.361), and .38-Spl/.357 Magnum (.358) bullets! "9-mm" is a rather rough designation.

I think they forced the slide shut on a sub-gun (extra high velocity/pressure) 9-mm Luger cartridge. The 9-mm Mak case is a streight-walled .390, while the 9-mm Luger is tapered, .380 at the mouth to .391 just in front of the base groove.

 

[bluetopper]

A Makarov is hell for stout. I'm not talking about the other pistols that shoot the 9x18.
Even shooting a live round behind a squib stuck in the barrel they won't blow up, just bulge the barrel.
Something else had to be in play when the so called Makarov blew up.

Just my opinion.

 

[Galen]

A friend of mine and I did some reloading for the CZ-82. We are using are using Meister Bullets 93gr RNL bullets, and Hodgdon Titegroup powder. We lowered the powder used from what Hodgdon lists due to these being 93gr and hard cast instead of jacketed.

Our results:

We started with a set of bullets loaded to 3.2, 3.4, and 3.6g as well as 2 boxes of S&Bs to use as a baseline. Results as follows:

S&B 95gr JRN Gun #1 Av Vel = 957 Hi=985 Lo 925

S&B 95gr JRN Gun #2 Av Vel= 1017 Hi 1053 Lo=998

Rel#1 93gr RNL 3.2g Titegroup Av Vel 1082 Hi=1110 Lo=1065

Rel#2 93gr RNL 3.4g Titegroup Av Vel 1177 Hi=1204 Lo=1141

We decied against shooting the 3.6gr set. At this point we were in our target of 1100fps.

More details at: http://billllsidlemind.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-07-16T17%3A14%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=15

I would not recommend this load in a FEG. The CZ-82 didn't even burp, but a FEG would probably blowup.

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

IMO you will do well to best Bullseye powder useing cast slugs for the 9X18 Makarov round. I load about 'medium' power and have good results at 20'.
some of my shoots have been in a 2" circle useing a 2-hand hold at the fireing line.

 

[joneb]

Thanks Galen, I believe my Midway bullets are Meister cast, I'm still waiting for better weather. Of the jacketed bullet data I have seen Titegroup seems to be a great 9x18 powder.

 

[Galen]

Your welcome jibjab. We used the 95gr jacketed bullet data as a starting point, and lowered the charge amount by about 20% for a starting load. After our experience, I will start my next load about 30% lower than the jacketed data.

 

[Galen]

Your welcome jibjab. We used the 95gr jacketed bullet data as a starting point, and lowered the charge amount by about 20% for a starting load. After our experience, I will start my next load about 30% lower than the jacketed data.

 

[Galen]

Your welcome jibjab. We used the 95gr jacketed bullet data as a starting point, and lowered the charge amount by about 20% for a starting load. After our experience, I will start my next load about 30% lower than the jacketed data.

 

[Galen]

You are welcome jibjab.

We used the 95gn jacketed bullet data for our starting point and lowered our charges by 20% to start out. After our experience with that, I will be starting out about 30% lower in the future.