Jim Norman Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 I am thinking (and if you know me, you know how scary that is) that I might want to shoot steel with a revo. OK, I have a good group now, but all are 6 shot with the exception of an H&R tip-up in .22LR. Thinking about a 7-8 shot, which means .357/.38 or .38 Super. Why not 9MM? Short cartridge, nearly free brass, no need for power factor, all we got to do is make the steel ring when it is hit. I don't want to spend a gazillion dollars on having a custom one-off built only to find out I am FOS. Does anyone have such an animal and how do yo like it? Is this an available item? or am I so far out that I am in a different game?? All reasonable responses appreciated. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhgtyre Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 If you read this thread you might see the benefit of short colt. -ld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Sahlberg Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 Jim, You are on the right track but forget the 9MM. Read the post above on .38 Colt Shorts. My .38 Colt Short load is a 130gr RN MG with 4.6 gr Universal Clays, StarLine 38 Colt Short brass, a Fed 100 primer, 1.100" OAL and a tight crimp. This gives me 1125 fps easily making minor and shoots well at 50 yds. My brass has been loaded 15+ times and I have very few cases splitting. DO NOT bell these cases with your powder measure, this causes the cases to split much more than a tight crinmp :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 We have heard for years that S&W might be bringing out an 8-shot revolver in 9mm. I was really interested in this concept back when you could still buy cheap generic 9mm ammo....back when it was almost cheaper than reloading....back when most of us shot WWB and left our brass laying on the range. Now, not so much. There are a few 6-shot revolvers in 9mm, the S&W 547 and the Ruger -Six series come to mind. But again, these days there's really no advantage created. For steel matches, if you don't want to mess with .38 Short Colt (the advantage of using that cartridge is quicker reloads, which is usually not an issue at most steel matches), you can simply load up a bunch of light steel loads in .38 Spl. brass. That brass is readily available and plenty cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 (edited) double post Edited December 29, 2008 by Carmoney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Norman Posted December 29, 2008 Author Share Posted December 29, 2008 I appreciate all the quick and insightful responses. OK, I have a 686-6" 6 shot revo. Not set for moons, I do have speedloaders for it. Is it possible to convert to 7 or 8 shot? and also to moons? BTW, I just got the "MoonClip Tool" I cannot believe how simple it is and how well it works. Makes loading and unloading the clips for my 625 a breeze Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubber Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 I appreciate all the quick and insightful responses. OK, I have a 686-6" 6 shot revo. Not set for moons, I do have speedloaders for it. Is it possible to convert to 7 or 8 shot? and also to moons? BTW, I just got the "MoonClip Tool" I cannot believe how simple it is and how well it works. Makes loading and unloading the clips for my 625 a breeze Jim Jim You can swithch to a 7 shot fairly easy but not the 8 shot and any good machinist can cut the 7 for moons. I would not cut the 6 shot for moons as I am hard headed and a hold out for the Comp III's or Jets for speedloading. But that's just me... later rdd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwx40x40 Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 I know this is not the kind of revo we would be interested in , as mentioned in this forum. But, read somewhere that Charter Arms is coming out with revo's for auto rounds, using the extraction method similar to the old S&W 547. I don't really see anything coming of this. I also remember a post a year or so ago, that talked about Taurus coming out with an 8 shot 9mm geared towards competion. I believe the post went as far saying they were getting advice from R.Lee on development. Then it just seemed to slip away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PINMAN44 Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 Back in the day they had some revolver called a medusa and it shot all kinds of .355 cartridges. I don't know anything about their quality or if they are still around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cas Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 (edited) The Medusa was made by Phillips and Rodgers of Texas. IIRC at some point Colt bought the rights to the design and were going to produce it or a similar revolver called the Survivor or some such. That never went anywhere. Medusa's are out there, but not lots of them and not cheap. But then the price of S&W's have gone nuts the last few years, so the prices may not be bad by comparison. I doubt you'd want to beat on one as a match gun. Edited December 30, 2008 by cas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Norman Posted December 30, 2008 Author Share Posted December 30, 2008 Here is a link to a site with some interesting, but unverified information regarding the Medusa and Colt. http://www.ezapper.com/ Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe4d Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 9mm in a mass produced revolver has some issues. On the surface it seems like a great idea and manufacturers keep trying or announcing them and then abandoning the plans. The basic problem is factory ammo. Factory 9mm is tapered. when you shoot it out of a straight or tapered cylinder the brass is forced backwards the part no longer in the cylinder expands and wont let it back into the cylinder. This causes each DA shot to get a little harder as more and more friction is applied to the breech face. I imagine depending on die setup some reloaded 9mm is no longer tapered and if the cylinder was bored straight and reloaded straight it would probably work. But manufacturers probably arnt too keen on making a gun that doesnt work well with factory ammo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFlowers Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 Medusa for sale... http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=119403554 No, its not mine just found it while looking for something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cas Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 That seller's got some whacky info posted on that listing. Almost sounds like he doesn't really know anything about it. ".30 carbine"? FWIW... a friend had one of their cylinders for a Ruger Blackhawk, so you could shoot .45 Colt and .45 ACP in the same cylinder, it had their little "fingers" star to hold the ACP rims. You aren't going to do any moon clip type drop in reloads with that one, you have to push the cases in and the fingers cause a good bit of drag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snertley Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 I have a Taurus 905 (small frame revo) in 9mm that comes with factory moon clips. I use it as my primary carry gun. The down side of this firearm is the Taurus moon clips are pretty "floppy" with the rounds. Other than that it is a great carry gun, functions perfect and is very accurate. But it is only a 5 shooter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Sinko Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 My 940 generally functions fine with all standard pressure ammo. I find that I do need to sort my brass very carefully as even one piece of cheapo inferior soft imported brass loaded to moderate pressure will tie up the gun. Many +P and all +P+ factory loads will also be problematic. In a match gun, I know that nobody here will care about how the gun works with the hot stuff. My S&W moonclips (all 30 of them) are quite springy and can readily be bent back into proper shape if the brass needs to be pounded out of the cylinder. I usually have no tolerance for such fickle attitudes in any of my revolvers but the 940 is a neat little gun and definitely a keeper. But I would NOT be interested in any full size gun that has these same problems. Dave Sinko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougCarden Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 Dave, I had the same experience with my 940 when they first came out. I had a lot of problems with extraction with the +P rounds I wanted to carry, especially the 115gr Corbons.....I gave up on it when I held my very first Airweight Bodyguard, which is still in my pocket after about 13yrs or so......LOL DougC Now having said that, I know people that shoot 9x19 in their Super cylinder guns with no problems with extraction. If the factory gun is set up with the Super cylinder the worst problem would be resizing the brass back down to a taper, which with case lube shouldnt be an issue. I tried loading Short colts with a 9x19 sizing die and it wasnt much more work sizing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyT Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 The only advantage to a 9mm revolver would be the ability to shoot relatively inexpensive and readillly available factory ammo. The minus side of a 9mm revolver is the problem asociated with firing a 9mm case which is tapered and will have a tendency to inhibit free cylinder rotation. For a reloader I do not see any real advantage over a revolver in either 38 Super or 38/357. I shot a S&W 686 in 38 Super. The brass has lasted more than 12 reloads and there is no brass loss with moonclipped revolvers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chizzle Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 I am thinking (and if you know me, you know how scary that is) that I might want to shoot steel with a revo. OK, I have a good group now, but all are 6 shot with the exception of an H&R tip-up in .22LR. Thinking about a 7-8 shot, which means .357/.38 or .38 Super. Why not 9MM? Short cartridge, nearly free brass, no need for power factor, all we got to do is make the steel ring when it is hit.I don't want to spend a gazillion dollars on having a custom one-off built only to find out I am FOS. Does anyone have such an animal and how do yo like it? Is this an available item? or am I so far out that I am in a different game?? All reasonable responses appreciated. Jim Have you checked out: http://www.pinnacle-guns.com/revolver.asp Pinnacle talks about converting both 6 shooters and 8 shooters to 9mm luger for about $250. Sounds intriguing, but I'm curious how well they work with a tapered cartridge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffl Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 I know this is not the kind of revo we would be interested in , as mentioned in this forum. But, read somewhere that Charter Arms is coming out with revo's for auto rounds, using the extraction method similar to the old S&W 547. I don't really see anything coming of this.I also remember a post a year or so ago, that talked about Taurus coming out with an 8 shot 9mm geared towards competion. I believe the post went as far saying they were getting advice from R.Lee on development. Then it just seemed to slip away. I went by the Charter Arms booth at the SHOT SHOW and the guy said that the Marketing Dept. was way off base. It seems there is only one revolver made and it is at the Patent Attorneys. He was really bent out of shape as almost everyone that went to their booth asked about the revolver in the ads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
granderojo Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 It is possible to adapt a 7 shot cylinder to your 6 shot yoke and frame. Cylinder assemblies are available new and used. I went the other way (686+-6, 4") from 7 to 6 shot and it has worked fine. Any good machinest can cut the cylinder for moons. Hoefully, if you need any fitting of a cylinder, your smith/machinest can do both. Hope this info is of some use to you. Granderojo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 The problem with converting a revolver to 9mm is that the bore will not be sized correctly for the .355 bullets that are routinely used in generic factory ammo. Sure, you can always load 9mm brass with larger diameter bullets to make it shoot right, but then what have you accomplished? The whole point of the 9mm revo concept was to shoot cheap readily-available ammunition that you swing by and pick up at Wal-Mart on the morning of the match. Now that there is no more cheap readily-available 9mm ammo to be had anywhere, the whole 9mm revolver idea sorta fizzles out. Or so it seems to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chizzle Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 The problem with converting a revolver to 9mm is that the bore will not be sized correctly for the .355 bullets that are routinely used in generic factory ammo. Sure, you can always load 9mm brass with larger diameter bullets to make it shoot right, but then what have you accomplished? The whole point of the 9mm revo concept was to shoot cheap readily-available ammunition that you swing by and pick up at Wal-Mart on the morning of the match. Now that there is no more cheap readily-available 9mm ammo to be had anywhere, the whole 9mm revolver idea sorta fizzles out. Or so it seems to me. Thanks for your professional opinion. It's a bummer that the idea never grew legs. If you could shoot regular 9mm (same as my production gun) this would be a neat idea. As soon as I have to start loading something special, it gets less attractive. Alas, the 38 short colt shooters win again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Merriam Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 (edited) I have a Pinnacle conversion gun. It started out as a cheap 640-1 .357. After the cylinder made the trip to Pinnacle and back...nice guy by the way...it can now shoot 9x19, 9x21, 9x23, 38 super...all with moon clips. It has good accuracy even though the barrel is not getting a full grip on the bullet. I did the conversion so I did not need to retool for a different caliber to reload. I like it and the shells just drop right out, due to the taper that Mark cuts the cylinder with. So if you hate finding brass for a 357 or 38 then 9mm conversion is for you! Edited February 12, 2009 by Chuck Merriam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWBooth Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 I'm not sure that I would be that concerned with the difference in the bore diameter. The bore on 9mm is .355 to .356 The bore on a 38 special/357 mag. is .357. Now you have to devide that in two to get the slop on each side of the bullet. So, the slop is only .00075 at the most. Or tree quarters of a thousand of an inch. Unless you are using very,very light loads, when the powder goes off, the pressure will bump up the base of the bullet enough to take care of that. I think if you are having accuracy problems , that I would look at powder/ type of bullet before this. --JWB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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