Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

Switch to major 9?


Steve Anderson

Recommended Posts

Sure Steve,

No reason to switch unless you get free 9mm brass.

I question if there will be mag related feeding problems also.

I could shoot any caliber but I use 38 Super. It works and is not a caliber invented to cure a non-existant problem. To each his own.

PS The 9mm ban was silly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with Bill; the only real pro that I see with 9x19 is the  lower brass cost.  If someone was starting from scratch and was guaranteed that 9x19 would feed through their mags properly then it might be a good option.  I certainly wouldn't make the changeover from a proven, reliable setup just to save $ on brass though.

(Edited by RKooi at 2:54 pm on Nov. 27, 2002)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its a pretty universal thought that if you have something that works, stick with it.   If you happen to plan on building something new, the Major-9 is only another alternative to consider.  It will be interesting to see how many new guns might try the Major-9 route.  Those of us with perfectly good set-ups now get an opportunity to see if the idea turns out to be the better mousetrap or not.  No need to rush to judgement.  It took 12 years to change the old ruling... we have some time now to explore the benefits (?) at our leisure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another deal with long maj. 9 is you have to have the chamber throated special to accomodate the longer seated bullet.

Short maj. 9 is a moot point, because you aren't going to get a wondernine with 29 round mags.

I really don't think we'll see very many people doing it.

(Back when it was legal, only a very few did it anyway.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am in the process of building a new Major 9 gun.  I do feel that I am going in uncharterd waters.  Thankfully I have a Gunsmith/sponsor who is willing to try it and absorb some of the cost if it does not work.  I can get free 9mm brass and we are "hoping" we can use a commander length slide and get it to run well due to the shorter brass.  I definately keep everyone posted and eventually post some pics.  I'll be chronographing some loads using N350 tomorrow.  It will be intersting to see.  If it does work I "believe" that more people in the area will want to change.  We'll see......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I guess you could say that I am switching.  I have an Caspian in 38 Super Comp and I am building a Glock.  

And, I am building a "short" Major9.

My experiment isn't driven by the 9x19.  I have been wanting to see if I can get an Open Glock running and make it competitive.  9x19 just makes it a bit more practical.  I get no extra benefit from 9x21 in the Glock, and if this gun doesn't do the trick in Major in USPSA, then I may see about running it in in other games.

If I can get the Open Glock to run worth a crap, I'll compare it with my Caspian.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Plus you've got the bonus of one platform, flex.

If this major nine had happened six months ago, I probly would have tried an open beretta on my steel billennium frame, but that would have been an uphill battle for sure.

I am thinking about an open 9 for steel though...

SA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another problem people trying it in 1911's will find is that light bullets are so short loading to 1.25" you're not going to have any bullet to hang onto.

The old days version like Paul Miller's was 160 gr. bullets loaded long and lots of freebore in the chamber.

On the plus side, I noticed Midway has a special on 9mm once-fired for about $14 per thousand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Went out and Chronoed today, a beautiful sunny florida day.  Well I tested some loads at 1.175 and 1.200.  The hottest loads were 7.6 grains of N350 with a 115 grain bullet.  *Now I was shooting these out of a stock SVI 38 super with 3 port holes and 6 port SV comp.*.  Everything ran great out of my mags, STI, and had only a few failure's to extract, which can be expected since it's setup for the 38 super.  I also loaded some with small pistol and small rifle primers.  At 7.6 grains it pf at 150 :-(      I will be trying some 124's next week and think I'll be able to get much closer to 165-170 pf.  I did load a few more tonight at 8.3 grains, man is it a compressed load though.  BE VERY CAREFUL.  And ONLY use small rifle primers.  The pistol primers really flattened out bad, the rifle however looked better than the major super loads.  I would also recommend using a long firing pin.  More R&D to come.

(Edited by PaulW at 10:50 am on Nov. 30, 2002)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

PaulW..good luck on the new gun...how does the short slide feel??

back in the P9 9x21 days...

I chronoed this for experimetation and reference..buy using WW540..(the powder of choice then)

Hornady 115XTP in Starlinge9x21 loaded at 1.165 OAL with 9.3gr ..went at 1528..I went as high as 9.9gr..nothing blew out..maybe a difference between 9x21 brass and the 9x19..

also loads with Hornady 124FP.. 1.165 OAL 8.5gr at 1423fps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

well eric and flex i did a search and found this thread. :D gooood lynn.

after visting with chris patty, roger kooi, and joey hardy at the tenn section match. i'm seriouly considering changing to 9mm major. i have a couple of questions to ask that i didn't ask these guys at the match.

1. should i just go to a new barrel or use the 38 super one i have now.

or whole new top end?

2. are 115gr bullets out of the question ( have about 6k mg left)

3. i'm using imr 7625. i've seen references that say it will work, but no load data.

4. if i use my 38 super gun i know i'll need a longer ejector, will the extractor need to be modified?

lynn

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FWIW I just built my first open gun, building anything OTHER than major 9 just didn't seem to make much sense to me. Obviously if you already have a .38 super that runs probably doesn't make much sense to switch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FWIW, I just loaded the 50,000th round of Super on my 1050. During that time I bought less than 5K new brass. Call it $500. I also spent $2000 on bullets, $800 on powder and $700 on primers. Were that all through one barrel, I'd be looking at a new one of those too.

Let's not get into match fees, travel and gas..

At less than 0.01 per shot, brass is the least expensive part of each round.. even cheaper than primers.

The biggest advantage I see for 9mm is the ability to shoot cheap factory ammo.

Give a hoot, don't pollute. Pick up your brass, whatever the caliber.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. I would suggest a new top end if you plan on running a similar set-up as Roger / Chris / Joey. There IS several advantages to using a Commander barrel / slide in 9mm, and Joey can describe this the best. In a nutshell, it gets the 9mm gas pressure /volume where it needs to be, when it needs to be there.

2. You can use 115s in my experience, but they don't offer an advantage. (IMO) I think SP2 / True Blue would be the only powders that would work w/115s. See link: 9major w/115s

3. I had some 7625 to try, and I made major without any issues, but I found that load to have too much dot movement / dot bounce. (Exercise caution and work up slowly carefully: my load was 7.0 7625 @ 1.150 w/ 124MGJHP

4. 9mm will use the same extractor as 38supercomp. If you could use supercomp brass, your extractor would work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jody-

I forgot about HS6 / HS7. I had not experimented with either of those powders. I think I remember reading that you had also used SP2 in your 9x21. How does the SP2 compare to HS6 and HS7? I kinda had avoided those powders because I heard they were filthy and slightly abrasive, but shot well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. I would suggest a new top end if you plan on running a similar set-up as Roger / Chris / Joey. There IS several advantages to using a Commander barrel / slide in 9mm, and Joey can describe this the best. In a nutshell, it gets the 9mm gas pressure /volume where it needs to be, when it needs to be there.

Bill, I'm very interested in this part of your post. Where or who can I bug to get further info on this? Thanks. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Someone had mentioned in another post that 540/HS6 was abrasive and hard on the comp, which it is, the exit holes in the baffles of my comp are rounded a bit, but this is after 1000's of rounds. HS7 works good too but is pretty dirty, and need lots of it to get the desired velocities. The upside of these powders is their density for use in small capacity cases and availability. SP2 is good stuff, but not readily available.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...