I'm about to reload a batch of 9mm Luger, so I opened the SAAMI specs for the cartridge.  I noticed it specifies a smaller bullet ddiameter than that for .38/.357.  I was under the impression they used the same bullets, is that incorrect?

I have many thousands of bullets in .357 that I'd planned to use.  Should I save those for my 357 or can I use them in my 9mm?

Does anyone have a decent recipe that uses W231 powder they'd like to share?  I have 125 gr and 158 gr RNL bullets and the same weights in JHP.

9 mm jacketed bullets are .355", and 9 mm lead bullets are usually .356".

Bummer!

I am flush with bullets for my revolver and SOL for my pistol.  I have to fix that.  

Go to the Lee Reloading supply catalog. They have a resizing die that requires no special top punches. The bullets go through the die from the bottom. They have them in a whole range of diameters. If you can find the right size, it should solve your problem.
Order Lee Lube and size kit # 90046 = .356 diameter. Look around and you might find a better deal on it. Hope this helps.

That's a great idea.

Will it work for jacketed or only for lead?

Lee's swager is for lead bullets only. Shoot you .357" bullets in .38 Special/.357 Magnum and buy what you really need. It is possible to buy a .355" jacketed bullet swager from Corbin, but .357"  bullets are not designed to feed from a magazine. They belong in a revolver. You may end up with a bunch of .355" jam-o-matic projectiles which are now ruined for use in a .357.

I do agree the JHP should be left alone.  I'm not sure why I even bothered to ask, they are XTP's or some other premium bullet - too good to risk.

The lead bullets are RNL profile.  They should feed pretty easily from a magazine, no?  

Perhaps I should slug the barrel and see what bullet size is needed before I arbitrarily buy a sizer.

That would be an excellent idea. What the other guy said about jacketed bullets applies here. I have seen the Lee dies for around $15 in various web sites, just have to look around.  Lee stuff is simple but it works for its intended purposes. If you don't want to be bangin on your gun, you could order some Cerrosafe from Brownell's to measure your barrel with. Hope this helps

I reviewed my bullet inventory.  The jacketed XTP bullets are all .357" diameter.  In my ignorance about 9mm, I had lumped the 9mm bullets in with the 38/357 bullets.  
As it turns out, I have a healthy supply of 9mm RNL bullets that are .356 diameter.  It says so on the box and I measured a few, so I am good to go.


Now, about those recipes using W231, does anyone have one they'd be willing to share?  


ETA - I have 125 gr and 158 gr RNL bullets.

I use 4.5 gr W231 under a 115 gr RNL bullet.  Shoots nice.

I use 4.5 grs W231 under a precision delta 124 gr RN. Very accurate and comfortable shooting from a Sig P938.

I'm not so sure the bullet diameter really is a big deal.  Generally you can shoot a slightly larger diameter bullet without much trouble.  A common trick for old worn out rifles with pitted barrels is to use a .311 diameter bullet in a pitted .308 bullet, to grip that worn rifling better, and can turn such into a tack-shooter.  Ruger's mini-30 uses a .308 diameter barrel to shoot .311 soviet 7.62X39 ammo.  It has essentially no effective, when you are only talking a couple thousands difference.  

Then you have the added bonus of not shooting the right shape/construction bullets.  You CAN shoot lead in a 9mm.  But it'll usually lead up, due to the higher velocity.  Also, I'm assuming this isn't a Glock or other Polygonol barrel?  With the weird shape, you could get a lot of jams.  Jams that might push your bullet back into the casing.  I can tell you first hand, pushing a 9mm bullet back into the case can really jack up pressure.


Here's what *I* would do if dead set on using those bullets..  Find a published load for a heavy lead bullet.  Pick the slowest burning powder convenient from that load.  Back it off a bit, make a few test rounds, and do that.  I'd use a Lee factory crimp die, which squishes the round a bit, and then crimp with a heavy crimp on the collar.  I'd go slow powder, to give it more time to squish the bigger bullet in the forcing cone - a fast powder might give you some surprises.  But really - I'd just save those bullets for the Revolver - you shoot it anyway.

Here's what *you* should do.  You sound somewhat new.  I don't know your experience level, and you are doing 2 non-standard things at once (lead, and oversized).  If I were you, I'd wait, and try to find some  ball.  My personal favorite for super cheap: http://www.shop.rmrbullets.com/9mm-115-grain-Plated-round-nose-1000-count-1000-9mm-115-RNP.htm

I know you started a new question but:  I cast 124gr Lee 9mm TL bullets. They normally drop between .357" and .358" I use them as cast in my 9mm and they work just fantastic.

I had a run of about 100 or so that were cast with some foreign material between the mould faces. These were pushing .360" opposite of the parting line. I loaded a couple dummy rounds and they chambered fine so I loaded and shot them all. They too worked just fine.

The point is, lead, even at 15bhn is very forgiving.

Please note, my load is a very mild plinking load with a lot of room for increased pressure.

And yes, normally I would have just melted the oval ones down and recast them.

This is more-or-less what I was thinking (but probably exceeds the bounds of what I consider safe).  So, I wanted to ask around, get some input, because I am new to 9mm reloading.  It is such a popular cartridge, I expected to be able to get a lot of good empirical info,... and I have.

Early mini-30s had the .308 bore and mine would blow the trigger assembly out the bottom when shooting surplus or wolf from the high pressure. Mini-30s after 92-93 have .311 bore.

So I would use caution sticking big things in small holes

The point has been made and heard.  I am going to slug the barrel before I do anything else.  

Many of the lead bullets are 0.356" diameter (as labeled and measured by me).  

Using .357" diameter JHP's is off the table for further consideration.

Let's get this back on the 9mm track.

Anyone else care to offer recipes for 125 RNL bullets?

The bore measured 0.355" which is exactly as specified by SAAMI.  

The Federal Hydra-Shock JHP bullets I have measured 0.354" diameter at the case mouth.  This is loaded ammo, so I'm not sure I measured the largest part of the bullet.  OAL measured 1.105".

For the 124gr cast bullets in 9mm I have used 3 to 4 grains of Bullseye. I have settled on 3.5gr Bullseye as my standard load. I also have used 4.5gr of Unique but the end result velocity wise is about the same so I use the lesser amount of Bullseye.

I use the 3.5gr Bullseye load in a P89 Ruger which has a fairly heavy slide and is completely stock except for grips and this load functions fine.

On a side note. I agree you should avoid any jacketed bullets larger than .356" but lead is very much softer than a jacketed bullet and conforms easily.

When I started casting I got advice from a few old hands at it and I joined the "bigger is better club". Of course every thing has limits but going a couple thousandths over groove diameter rather than one will routinely yield better results. It has for me.

Examples: I use .311 in my .308, I use .313+ in all my Mosin Nagants including my M39 Finns which run between .3105 and .3115 and as mentioned before I normally do not size any of my cast bullets unless absolutely needed like taking those .313+ bullets down to .311 for use in .308 bores.

Same goes for my pistol moulds. I use everything as cast which is normally .001" to .002" over the advertised diameter of the mould. At least it is for me and my Lee moulds.

Thank you, the discussion is encouraging and the recipes are much appreciated.

FWIW

Hunter 125 gr RN lead with either 3.8gr Titegroup or 4.5gr Autocomp cycle fine in both my Beretta 92FS and KelTec PF-9 and are good plinking loads. I use mixed brass at 0.746" trim length with a col of 1.125" and WSP primers. For better accuracy consider a 125 gr lead conical nose projectile.

I just got done resizing with a lee .356 die and then loading in 9mm 500 berry's plated 125 truncated cone.  Load to 1.050 - 1.060.  Cycle fine in all three of my 9mm pistols.