9mm Major Or .38super For First Open Gun

[Tactical Timmy]

I'm going to be getting my first open gun in the next couple of months and am not sure which caliber to get.

I work in an indoor shooting range and can get 9mm once fired brass for free till the end of time but I have heard a lot of bad things about 9mm major.

If you guys could help me out that would be great.

Adam

[Flexmoney]

Adam, that will largely depend on who builds the gun.

There are some smiths out there that seem to do quite well with 9mm. others, would prefer you go with Super. (well...Super Comp, etc)

[Azone41]

Free brass is a big plus when shooting open. I have both 9mm and super and the 9 is not any harder to reload for and makes major with no problems.

I have been thinking about converting my super to 9mm.

[bgary]

There are some smiths out there that seem to do quite well with 9mm

+1

My open gun was built in 9-major by JPL Precision (www.jplprecision.com), and he has it pretty well figured out. The guns just run and run and run.

If you're thinking of having one built, he's definitely worth a call.

Bruce

[Tactical Timmy]

I was thinking of getting the Trubore and building it up.

[BrianATL]

Best bang for the buck!!

http://www.cpwsa.com/hardy_custom.htm

[Singlestack]

Whats your reloading experience?

[Tactical Timmy]

ive been reloading .40's on my 550 for about 6 months

[Flexmoney]

I was thinking of getting the Trubore and building it up.

I can't say that I've seen much of a success rate with that approach. I'd most certainly have it built up completely by a smith that is comfortable with major9 in Open.

[basman]

been shooting 9 major for 2 years now, started with 38S. there are more powders available for 38S, but I have 4 powders that work well in 9 major and that should be enough for anyone.

once I switched to 9 major and stoped trying to get my brass back I started to enjoy (and do better) matches again.

[bgary]

have it built up completely by a smith that is conmfortable with major9 in Open

Yup.

The timing is different, the ejection path is different, the overall length of the round makes things interesting, the way the rounds stack in and feed off the top of the mags is different than Super, etc, etc, etc.

Best bet is to have someone who can *show* you they know how to build a 9-major open gun, build one for you. That's what I did - I didn't start thinkin' about 9-major until I saw how well JPL's own 9-major gun ran. Up until then, it just seemed like an "interesting experiment" that a lot of guys were messing with.

B

[Azone41]

My 9mm is a mongoose and you can't go wrong with a gun from JL Hardy

[smokshwn]

Definitely go with a custom gun from the get go. I have a Bedell that is flawless and going on around 30k rounds.

As mentioned you will also be money ahead as by the time you buy a Trubor $2600, you could have spent $400 more and get a gun setup the way you want and built by someone who knows there way around a 9mm open gun.

Good luck, Craig

[HSMITH]

I built mine in 9mm. Magazines ARE an issue. STI mags run fine once tuned with spacers, SV mags are a LOT easier to get along with and don't need spacers.

9mm Major is easy to load, as safe as Super, and not paying 12-14 cents a piece for brass is a real blessing.

[Alan Meek]

No reason not to go 9major if that is what you want to do. Have a proven gunsmith put her together and you will be fine.

As far as reloading (mm to major in comparison to reloading any other caliber. If you are comfortable loading any other caliber you cna reload 9mm to major. Lets compare, pick your components, measure powder insert bullets to the proper OAL that will work in your gun. pay attention to pressure signs. Is that not how we load all calibers.

I think it is a myth to say you need to be experienced to reload 9mm major. You just need to pay attention no more than any other caliber you load. There is no magical experience level to load any caliber.

Alan

[Newguy]

I agree with the other posters in terms of getting the gun built right. I went the way of the home build -- took a .38 super setup and just installed a new 9mm barrel. Lots of headaches along the way. Ejection was a big problem, especially spent shells getting caught up in the scope mount. Brazos tuned ejector helped. Then there was the mag issue. If the rounds are too short they jam in the mag even with spacers. Match bullets especially need to be checked for the proper OAL.

I'm not sure whether running hot 9mm loads wears out barrels quicker. My barrel lasted only 10k rounds or so before it stopped making major. Haven't put enough rounds in the new Schuemann barrel to tell how fast it will wear out.

Since I have a bad sciatic nerve, not having to bend down to find my brass made the hassles worthwhile.

[Bluemax29]

Anyone having pressure problems with the 9mm major?

[HSMITH]

I have been as high as 188 power factor with mine using 115 grain bullets, I have 5 powders over 180 power factor too and all of this was done with Federal small pistol primers. The edges were still visibly rounded on every single one. I haven't gotten primers completely flat or any sort of flow at all with my 9mm major gun.

I load all of my 9mm ammo long, 1.190" or longer. My barrel is a bit different than most. There are PLENTY of powders to use making major in 9mm safely.

[Carlos]

Anyone having pressure problems with the 9mm major?

Keep in mind that 9mm Major was successful at the OLD power factor of 175+ even when loaded to the short lengths required by the Springfield P-9 open guns. Sure- the brass was 2mm longer but the OAL was a max of 1.160 or so (same as current 9major) and that brass was no stronger than once fired 9mm brass used today for milder 9mm Major.

And, back in the day, they did not have the selection of safe modern powders that you have now.

9mm Major is as safe as any caliber loaded for open major.

[eric nielsen]

Same answer as others - you can load 115 grain bullets to Major and not have problems, reloaded some of my brass 5x with less brass fatigue than loading 40 Limited with Titegroup.

BUT - my gun did show some deformed Federal Small Pistol primers, this was with HS6 and with Vectan SP2. Those 2 powders [along with HS7] will flow thru the flash-hole of the case and accumulate right on top of the primer. Switching to CCI primers fixed that issue for me.

Powders like Viht 3n37 and 3n38 - that are too big to back thru the flashhole - there was no problem even with Federal primers. Just have to compress those loads & check your OAL frequently. You're basically crunching the round shorter than you want and then the bullet settles out a few thousandths before you crimp it & see the correct length.

Be careful switching back to a dense powder like HS6 because the OAL will be shorter if you left your seating die the same.

[lcs]

Plain and simple ? IF cost is NOT an issue go 38. IMHO you do have a greater number of smiths to work on it and more powder choices to work up the load for your gun.

Having said the above, I have two 9MM Major guns and they run 99.9%. (I do not think any OPEN gun runs 100% all the time). I chose (after a lot of research here) 9MM because I can shoot more for less. I can afford to let once fired 9MM brass lie at any match. I do wish there was a greater powder selection. HS6 is quite flexible, but dirty. Oh well, I have clean the gun more often . You have unlimited access to free brass--9 is the only way to go.

My primary gun was built by a GM who shoots 38 and this was his first 9 Major. The gun runs excellent, eats any once fired brass and he is local to me. Local smith is a BIG +.

I bought NEW SV mag tubes and they run awesome. (no tuning, just grams guts and dawson pads).

I was in your position 8 months ago. I highly suggest you go with a Smith that can build and tune a 9 Major gun. Your frustation level will be greatly reduced.

PM me if you have any specfic questions. I made a few mistakes along the way!

Hope this helps

[Will Abrahams]

+1 on what Fullrace said! i recently got a new open gun and decided to go with 38 SC over the 9mm Major. i prefer really slow burning powders, 38 SC allows many more options with the slow powders. however, as everyone has said the 38 SC is kinda pricey. which means i have to dry fire more and live fire less. so there is my trade off. if you like the "medium" to faster burning powders, i cant see any reason to go with 38 SC.

and definetly +++++++1 go with a custom builder that has lots of good feedback with 9mm. open guns can be very finicky, so definetly get a custom build ,a search on this topic will have plenty of results on which builders are good.

Edited May 10, 2007 by W.Abrahams

[ogiebb]

if 38 supercomp was as cheap as 9mm brass i would shoot that in a heatbeat...but it is not so 9mm would be the best if brass price is a concern...oh yeah +1 on the custom built gun