ExtremeShot Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 I have a buddy that shoots 9mm Major through his 38 Super Open gun. He says he only adjusts the extractor and things work fine for him. I was curious if anyone else is doing this? If so, how reliable has your gun been? Thanks, Darren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn jones Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 the breach face of the 9mm and 38 super are a little different, this can cause ejection problems. the chamber of the 38 super may get premature erosion from the shorter 9mm cases. lynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddy_fuentes Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 I agree with Lynn. I shoot some regular 9's through my 9x23 pistols from time to time. I was doing this basically for kicks. They worked fine, but recently I got to thinking that I may get some build-up in the chamber that could cause problems later. Fitting a new barrel would be better, giving you two guns in one. Buddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExtremeShot Posted November 20, 2007 Author Share Posted November 20, 2007 I'm guessing that shooting a 9mm on a 38 super breachface causes problems also? There appears to be a 0.012" difference in head size. Darren I agree with Lynn. I shoot some regular 9's through my 9x23 pistols from time to time. I was doing this basically for kicks. They worked fine, but recently I got to thinking that I may get some build-up in the chamber that could cause problems later. Fitting a new barrel would be better, giving you two guns in one.Buddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam B Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 no to mention that you accuracy shouldn't be that great since it headspaces on the case mouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chills1994 Posted December 1, 2007 Share Posted December 1, 2007 I shot WWB 9mm out of a single stack 1911 chambered in 9 X 23 without any problems. Me thinks with cartridges like those, they actually headspace off the extractor hook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMITH Posted December 1, 2007 Share Posted December 1, 2007 9 runs fine on a Super breechface if everything else is good. I wouldn't shoot a lot of it because of fouling and chamber erosion issues that can come up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSeevers Posted December 1, 2007 Share Posted December 1, 2007 Its a real bad idea. They do not headspace on the hook unless your pistolsmith doesn't know what they are doing. It 4 mm difference in length. What's that .15 difference? (Never converted to metric myself so that number could be off)Would you load your Super to 1.15? Sure it will work for a while. I can shoot 38Super in my .40 too. I won't even get into chamber dimensions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted December 1, 2007 Share Posted December 1, 2007 You will get some chamber erosion where the case mouth of the 9mm is. Eventually that can become a problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chills1994 Posted December 1, 2007 Share Posted December 1, 2007 Wasn't my gun or guns. I'm just saying it ran just fine for maybe the 50 rounds of WWB 9mm I fed that Colt single stack gun chambered in 9 X 23. What happens to the pistola or the chamber area after a 1,000 rounds, or 5,000, or 10,000, I wouldn't have a clue. Sounds like you guys are morse versed on it that I am. Me? I doubt that I will ever own an open gun, so the whole notion of .38 Super (Comp?) and 9mm Major doesn't appeal to me. Besides, I like the extra margin of safety that .40 gives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Keen Posted December 1, 2007 Share Posted December 1, 2007 Think about the OAL of any caliber bullet ....... if you load it too long the bullet will ram itself into the rifling of the barrel which causes over-pressures, problems unloading live rounds, and much more. If you load it too short the bullet has to jump further than designed, to meet up with the rifling. This is what happens (to an extreme) when you shoot the wrong caliber out of your guns. There is a reason why guns are built / designed to shoot a certain caliber, and why bullet manufacturers make different caliber bullets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Batt Posted December 2, 2007 Share Posted December 2, 2007 Extreme Shot, I'm glad you asked this. I was thinking about this the other day and wondered if it would work. I'll stay away from doing so now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Batt Posted December 2, 2007 Share Posted December 2, 2007 Extreme Shot, I'm glad you asked this. I was thinking about this the other day and wondered if it would work. I'll stay away from doing so now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the duck of death Posted December 3, 2007 Share Posted December 3, 2007 QUOTE* they actually headspace off the extractor hook. YEP, that's why case length is only critical if it is too long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radical Precision Designs Posted December 3, 2007 Share Posted December 3, 2007 I have a buddy that shoots 9mm Major through his 38 Super Open gun. He says he only adjusts the extractor and things work fine for him.I was curious if anyone else is doing this? If so, how reliable has your gun been? Thanks, Darren Yikes !!! I can understand wanting to save money on brass or on the cost of re-barreling to 9mm. But just shooting 9mm in a .38 Super/comp chamber in a regular basis "only" is definetely not wise. As mentioned you will have to deal with fouling and eventually erosion roughness, should you decide to go back to .38 Super/comp, and there might be some loss of accuracy and speed. But my biggest concern would be as to what would happen if the 9mm cartridge "skipped/jumped" its "un-natural" headspacing into the extractor and was pushed forward, away from the reach of the extractor or pliers, screwdrivers, etc. Time for a squib rod ?? Both 9mm and the .38 Super/comp, like most non-bottleneck cartridges will headspace at the cartridges mouth. The fact that they will slide into and be supported by the extractor claw is not supposed to replace common headspacing guidelines. If your cases are consistently able to move forward, past your extractor in its normal chambering size, then your chamber is wwwwaaay to off, and you would send it back for repairs. So why would you do it on purpose. On another note. I will build and tune all my competition guns in .38 Super/comp to reliably "extract (pseudo-headspace)" cartridges in either .38 Super or Super/comp ... and 9mm ... reliably. But I don't expect nor want my customers to feed these fine tuned "machines" a steady diet of 9 mm cartridges. Perish the thougth ... ugh !! phew!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokshwn Posted December 3, 2007 Share Posted December 3, 2007 Besides, I like the extra margin of safety that .40 gives. Better guess again. At major .40 doesn't buy you much if any extra safety over 9 or 38s. As a matter of fact if you will follow the KB threads that pop up every once in a while, you may notice that the majority isn't 9 or Super. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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