9mm major?

[BGREID]

Is this the way to go for an Open gun or should I go with 38 Super? What are the advantages or disadvantages? Also where do I find reloading info for 9mm major?

[kosh79]

Both have thei advantages and disadvantages

Most notably the recoil is different and the pulse of the shot feel completely different.

The availability of components vary depending on powders and brass

Try them both out before you make a decision the 9 has a snappier feel to it that 38 but with right setups both are good all depends on your preferences.

38 super brass is notably harder to get than 9 brass but you can still manage. Powders are another issue for both.

[remoandiris]

Cost differences are minimal. Many just leave 9 brass lay (I used range brass all the time) while Super brass gets picked up and reused because of the initial cost. My buddy reuses his Super brass 5 or 6 times. There are more powders that work with Super, but most shooters I know stick with 1 powder that works for them once they find what they like. Winchester Autocomp seems to be the powder of choice for 9 Maj. There is plenty of loading info on the forum. All you have to do is a search.

There will be some who get on here and decry Super is the only way to go, if 9 was the best, the top shooters would use it, yada, yada, yada.

Your money, your choice.

Edited October 19, 2014 by remoandiris

[Hi-Power Jack]

where do I find reloading info for 9mm major?

I've never shot a .38 super - don't know why it would feel different

than a 9mm major?? Guess it might - I just don't why the same

bullet at the same velocity would "feel different" ...

Anyway, The Best Place to get info on reloading 9mm major

is Right Here ...

Just click on "FORUMS" (top left of screen) and then scroll

down to "Reloading" and then to .38/9mm, and look for a

year's worth of postings re: loading 9mm MAJOR ..

Best to start with a 124 gr MG JHP bullet and whatever suitable

powder you can find (HS6 & Auto Comp top my list for

beginners) but there are at least another half dozen suitable

powder.

The trick is to find the powder.

Then, buy a chrono - very dangerous to try loading 9mm major

without a chrono.

And, work up SLOWLY. Start with a PF150, and work up to 168+

slowly - make sure you're not getting bullet set back before you

go past PF150.

If you don't understand any of the terms / concepts above, go back

to FORUMS, and then Reloading 9mm major and read some more.

Really not difficult - just don't take any unnecessary shortcuts - take

your time, and the 9mm major is a great way to enter the OPEN

arena.

IF you have A LOT of time / money - there are very few advantages to

shooting .38 super.

BTW, welcome to OPEN.

[Foxbat]

I have shot both 38 SC and 9mm IN THE SAME GUN, and saw no noticeable difference in feel or anything else.

Back when I was shooting 38, I would lose 200-400 pieces on average a month. It was not the cost that bothered me, but the difficulty of replacing it.

Now when I need more brass I just buy 1000 pcs for ten bucks.

[kneelingatlas]

I started shooting Open with a 9, but recently had a chance to pick up a complete 38 package with dies, brass and all, so I'm anxious to try.

My theory is not that the brass changes the feel, but that you can get away with more barrel holes with slower powder. I shoot 9 with a case full of SP2 (similar to 3N38) and a 115gr bullet, I don't think that load will make major in my new 38 (Bedell super shorty with three holes). I'm even going to try a 38 case full of SP3, which seems to take ~30% more powder to get the same velocity...

What are you loading Foxbat?

[Foxbat]

I use MG 124gr JHP's, and either 8.2gr of HS-6, or 7.0gr of Auto Comp. HS-6 is a tiny bit softer, but dirtier, and impossible to get. AutoComp is cleaner, and much more available.

[ctay]

9 did feel different to me - same gun, same power factor, almost the same load. Just felt a little more "violent".

I shot Aircooled6racer's 9 gun and it felt very soft so I think a lot depends on the gun.

38 sure is a lot more forgiving in loading. More powder choice, more case volume, stronger brass. But you do pay for it.

[kneelingatlas]

Same charge for both calibers?

Edited October 19, 2014 by kneelingatlas

[bonglee0507]

9 major

Sent from my Xiaomi Mi3

[Sarge]

I shoot 9MAJOR. There are a dozen threads at least on here about your very question. Hopefully by now most of us have learned to get along with each other when it comes to this debate. For instance I already disagree with most of the few posts here but I understand we all have our own takes on things. For instance, somebody said cost difference is minimal. Man, I so disagree with that. I can pick up 9mm brass after my local matches all summer and accumulate quite a lot of it. FREE! I work two or three majors a year and collect more, for FREE. I reload my 9MAJOR brass more times than I can realistically keep track of. I watch for it to start getting wore out, split, loose pockets, etc. So, it's not just 38 super brass that can be reloaded multiple times. That is a total myth!

Speaking of those few majors I work, for every 38 super gun I see, I see ten 9mm Open guns. So certainly not ALL of the big names are shooting them. And those that make it to several or all of the majors every year can most likely afford 38 brass at 15-20 cents a piece. For us more normal consumers I just can't see myself spitting that much money onto the ground at every match I shoot and only getting <half of it back. I shoot in grass, mulch, and gravel with grass locally and I watch the few 38 shooters at our matches hunt and peck for as many pieces of brass as they can and they never get nearly all of it back. That is too much of a distraction to the shooting for me personally. But like I said, everybody's situation is different and maybe you can afford to order 10 thousand new 38 brass every winter and consider it expendable.

I also will disagree with one poster that there is no difference in feel between the two. Again, this is all personal opinion but I can state with FACT that the flattest open gun I ever shot was a 38Super by SV. I imagine it was a function of the weight more than anything but it was also a very very hot load and it was like dry firing with a lot of noise. The gun did not move.But you could frame a house with it in an emergency! Is that totally needed to be successful in open? of course not. But there can be, and is, a difference in the way all guns handle.

I load my current 9major ammo to 175 PF with WAC and 115's and it is flatter than many other guns I have shot and it's more than good enough to go all the way to the top in the right hands.

Matt Cheely builds my guns and he builds more 9MAJOR guns than he does 38 by a wide margin. So there you have it! It's a personal choice that only you can make.

And +1 to"Welcome to Open"

[superdude]

All else being equal (same gun/barrel), the practical difference between how the two calibers feel should come down to the 9mm requires slightly less gunpowder to reach the same power factor because it has a shorter OAL. It's not fair to compare the feel of different guns in the two calibers since they might have different weight, balance, compensators, etc.

[Hi-Power Jack]

Hey, Sarge, I advice you talk in shorter paragraphs :roflol:

All good points, though. Good advise. :bow:

(Did I get it right?)

Edited October 19, 2014 by Hi-Power Jack

[Sarge]

Hey, Sarge, I advice you talk in shorter paragraphs :roflol:

All good points, though. Good advise. :bow:

(Did I get it right?)

I love it!

I typed that on the PC and didn't realize how long it was until I looked at it on my phone

[Foxbat]

All else being equal (same gun/barrel), the practical difference between how the two calibers feel should come down to the 9mm requires slightly less gunpowder to reach the same power factor because it has a shorter OAL. It's not fair to compare the feel of different guns in the two calibers since they might have different weight, balance, compensators, etc.

That is exactly so... this is why I mentioned the comparison in the same gun. Not a very significant point, at any rate, as there are many great masters shooting 9mm quite well, so it is not its recoil that is keeping me from being their equal! :-)

I doubt the choice of caliber will move any of us 3 points higher in our classification.

[ctay]

In my gun (chambered for 38 but runs 9 just fine).

38sc: 9.1 of HS6, 115 MGJHP, OAL 1.235 173 PF

9Major: 9.0 of HS6, 115 MGJHP, OAL 1.170 172 PF

(I stopped at 9.0 not because I didn't want to load higher but I figured if I was going to use 9.1 grains I may as well just use the 38 brass. No powder savings in my gun.)

I feel 9 major more in the hand - just feels more violent. I'm certain I would get used to it were I to do it more. Dot movement is similar, maybe a little more with 9 major but it didn't have quite as much gas. I probably could tune the 9 load better if I really wanted to.

The first open gun I shot was 9 major and it was very flat and soft. I don't think you would go wrong with either. The cost difference really isn't that much unless you have access to crazy cheap 9 brass. In my experience you need to be careful with 9 brass to achieve consistency. 9 brass can vary greatly by manufacturer and within lots of the same manufacturer.

In short, I don't plan to rebarrel my gun anytime soon but when I do need to rebarrel I will probably get a 9 just because it can be tough to find 38sc brass these days.

Edited October 19, 2014 by ctay

[Foxbat]

Regarding the mixed brass... I used to be very particular about the match ammo, only using once-fired brass.

Then I realized, that my practice ammo, using all sorts of brass, including the near-trash, has been 100% reliable, so I started using random used brass for matches... and so far no problem at all. So it is not just mixed, it is used several times.

[kneelingatlas]

That is shocking ctay, I was guessing it would take an additional 4%, someone else said 10% and you say 0%. I can't wait to see

[superdude]

ctay, what was your OAL for both rounds?

[ctay]

38sc oal of 1.235

9 oal of 1.170

[Light700]

I shoot 9mm major and like that if I don't want to pick up brass I don't have to. But on cooler days I will get out and pick up as much brass as I want as most people let it lie.

[Tyshoots]

Shoot what ever caliber you want in open. If you have never owned an open gun you will not know the difference. I just had my gun converted to 9 because brass for the super comp can be hard to find at times. To be honest I had not been shooting much over the last 2 years, and cannot see a noticeable difference between when the gun was a super and now the 9.