9x18 mm reloaders question

[jagd1305]

For those who resize 9mm Luger cases to 9x18mm, do any of you reduce your powder charge any due to case capacity of the 9MM Luger demensions? Just wonderin...

By the way, my first post here!

[TN.Frank]

Welcome to the forum and good question. So far I'm using the same load I'd use in a 9x18mm case, didn't even both to think about reducing the load since my starting load of 4.0grs of Unique with the Hornady 95gr XTP wasn't even close to book specs. I jumped it up to the "max" load of 4.2grs and saw no pressure signs although Chrony data was all over the place from 624fps to 729fps to 1003fps. Not sure if that was just part of the fire forming process or what. Hopefully after the cases expand to proper size the next firing will be more consistent. Of course the 9 shot group I shot at 7 yards looked nice, equal to what I was getting out of my Glock G19 so I know the gun can shoot. Once I get more brass to play with and get it all fire formed I'll run more through the Chrony and see if I get more consistent velocities out of it.  I was looking for an honest 1000fps which shouldn't be too hard since all the Brown Bear and Silver Bear stuff is suppose to run around 1100fps.

[SMSgt]

Nope. I don't load max loads to begin with, and the 9x19 coverted case is obviously designed to work with much higher pressures than the 9x18 Mak cases. My load restrictions are based on the blowback design limitations more so than the case limitations.

[TN.Frank]

I normally don't load max loads either but the velocities listed in the two books I have(Lee and Hornady) seem so anemic compared to factory velocities that I almost have to load max to get anywhere close to factory specs out of this cartridge.
I mean come on, only being able to push a 95gr bullet at 975fps when the factory is getting 1100fps, I think the U.S. specs are way on the safe side in respect for older guns that may be in questionable condition but in a CZ82 or other quality gun you should be able to push them to max loads especially if you've installed a heavier recoil spring to stop premature ejection in the blow back designed handgun. 

[jagd1305]

I went out and form fired some of the 9mm Luger brass I had reloaded with some 95 gr. lead bullets I cast sometime back. I started with 3.4 gr. of W231 and will gradually experiment with my loads from there. A previous CZ 82 I had digested these well with this powder and bullets at 3.6 grains. We'll see how this one does with these. I also fed it some Sierra 95 grain HP's over a charge of 4 grains of Unique but it had a lot of feed issues with these. I'll try polishing the ramp and see if that helps.

[SMSgt]

I've been using 93 grain LRNs over 3.1 grains of HP-38 and every one has functioned perfectly in my -82 with the standard 14 lb recoil spring. The converted 9x19 cases have been 100% to date.

[Wobbly]

Welcome aboard !

No you just load them the same. The velocities will simply vary until all the cases expand fully.

 

[TN.Frank]

I plan on going to HP38 since I can still get it locally for just over $20/lb and Unique is no where to be found and the last lb I bought was $22 bucks.  HP38 is suppose to be just about the same as W231 which is what I used to load ammo for the Shooting Range in AZ. that I worked for.  I ended up going with W231 because with my research we could load decent velocity ammo with a minimum of powder and it was fairly clean burning so the rental guns didn't need to be cleaned as much as with something like Unique.
 I really need to find a Lee .365" bullet mold so I can make up some home cast to load for my first firing of my converted 9x19mm brass so I won't waste my XTPs.

[jagd1305]

The Lee Mak bullet mold keeps me shooting a lot. It also helps that there's a lead plant here that provides for Federal as well as local purchase.

[TN.Frank]

The Lee Mak bullet mold keeps me shooting a lot. It also helps that there's a lead plant here that provides for Federal as well as local purchase.

A lot of the fun went out of casting my own bullets when I started having to pay for used wheel weights. I had a large 5gal bucket that I got for free many years ago but it went bye bye about a year ago and I ended up having to pay $22/45lbs of wheel weights and I had to search through them myself which took about a hour to get the ones with no zinc and big enough to off set the weight of the clip.
 I've still got about 25 lbs of ingots left, I'd love to get the Lee .365" mold but no one has one in stock and even Midway isn't expecting them until 21st of June.