Wondering what you guys use for brass/bullets for the 9x18 Makarov. Tempted to get a Makarov but no idea if they even make quality dies for them.

I use Hornady Dies.

If you can not find 9x18 brass, it is easy to trim down some 9x19 brass.

I use Berry's bullets for round nose lead or plated, and Hornady XTP for hollow points.

I also have a few .380 barrels in case 9x18 is ever unavailable.

I used to use Lee dies and XTPs.  I haven't been setup to reload for 9x18 for a long time.  Back when I got my first one, 9mm brass was pretty much the only way to do it, other than new Starline bass, because the only  ammo available was steel cased, berdan primed surplus ammo.  I just picked up a case of Fiocchi brass cased ammo and plan to start reloading it when I shoot through it.  Seems nice enough.

By the case, the ammo is very cheap.  If you use new brass, it costs almost as much to load as buying the ammo.  If you use trimmed 9mm, it will be a whole lot cheaper.

I use Lee dies and Berry's bullets and Starline and trimmed 9mm brass.

I'm using Berry's 95 gr plated RN, 3.6 gr of Titegroup, Win SP primers, and Geco and Win cases from my once fired ammo.  Seated at 0.98" OAL.  

Using Lee dies, I load mine on a DIllon 550 for a CZ 82.  They are accurate enough and function well.  Only problem, getting debris blow back in face, like maybe unburned powder, but not sure.  I increased the crimp, but seems still have the problem. Problem not terrible and I can still shoot, would like to solve it though.

I use Hornady dies, Starline 9x18 brass, and Speer 9x18 bullets on top of Titegroup powder.

But my P-64 really prefers Silver Bear steelcased ammo. And it's so cheap that I stopped reloading 9x18.

My Experience
CFE Pistol: too slow, poor velocity. Works ok at 4.2-4.3gr under a 95gr plated. No published Data so USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Universal: Poor velocities, unburnt powder even at max loads. Didnt really develop this very far.
Red dot: 2.9gr under a 93gr better bullets cast RN (975FPS) is my pet target load.
TiteGroup: 3.5-3.6gr under a 92-95gr bullet giving 950-1000FPS. Also one of my standard loads.

Below are some more in depth write ups I did. All using trimmed 9mm cases.


CFE Pistol in 9x18mm Makarov


One of my favorite calibers to shoot is the 9x18mm Makarov. I own a CZ82 and a P83 in this caliber. I recently stumbled across some Hodgdon CFE Pistol and was curious if it might make a good powder for reloading the Makarov cartridge. CFE Pistol is a medium burn rate powder listed as number 44 on the Hodgdon burn rate chart. The places it right after Hodgdon HS-6 (#42) and Win AutoComp (#43). Hodgdon doesn't offer data for this powder in 9x18 but they do have .380 data. Hodgdon shows a max load of 4.2gr CFE Pistol under a 95gr FMJ at 0.970. The old rule for loading 9x18mm has been .380 + 10% = a Max load of 4.6gr. I started loading and here is what happened. My first load session was a 95gr berry's plated 0.363 bullet over 3.8, 4.0 and 4.2gr CFE Pistol. I shot these with no issues and decided on a second series using 4.3, 4.4 and 4.5gr CFE Pistol. Below is the data I collected.

95gr Berry's plated 0.363 @ 0.980
Trimmed 9x19mm cases
Win SP primers
Tested in CZ-82
Barrel length: 97 mm (3.8 in)
Shooting Chrony F-1 at 10ft from muzzle.
Temp ~70F

Graph:


Red dot represent average velocity at each load level.
Data:
gr # Ave SD
3.8 5 771.9 59.3
4.0 5 871.5 31.4
4.2 10 924.5 32.1
4.3 9 927.7 42.3
4.4 10 963.1 36.5
4.5 10 988.4 34.3

Conclusion:

The lighter charges of 3.8 and 4.0gr left unburnt powder in the action. Charges of 4.2 and 4.3 seems to work well and give reasonable velocities and performance. When I stepped up to 4.4 and 4.5 gr, I noticed much more recoil. It wasn't the snappiness that 9x18 is know for either. This recoil was kinda a heavy push. The slide was recoiling hard and tossing cases FAR. I think that continued shooting at this load level would be rough on the gun. Even with the harsh recoil, velocities where not impressive. I decided that 4.5gr was far enough. Despite large spreads in velocity and unburnt powder, all loads seems to shoot accurately.
My opinion of CFE Pistol is it is not a very appropriate powder for use in 9x18mm. Its burn rate is too slow and doesn't produce the velocities that a faster powder can. I would put the max load at 4.3 gr with my suggested load of 4.2gr but I would look for a faster powder before I resorted to CFE Pistol in this application.

Improvement:
I would like to do my next work ups in one shooting session to reduce the chance of temperature changes influencing my results. I have since started to record actual temperatures each time I use the chrono.
My charges are accurate to +/- 0.05gr at best. My 4.2gr charge was running on the heavy side when I was loading, the increased velocity can be seen in the graph. I have been using a cheap digital scale to set my Hornady powder measure with pistol drum. I believe my digital scale is introducing some error.



Red Dot in 9x18mm.

Red Dot is a classic shotgun powder that everyone seems to have a bit off. It is also a very suitable powder for many pistol applications. I wanted to see how it worked in 9x18 Makarov. Alliant no longer publishes data for its use in 9x18. If we look back to the Alliant Powder Reloader's Guide from 2003, there is Red Dot data for 9x18. In this guide is listed a max of 2.7gr under a 100gr LRN @ 0.965 and 3.1gr under a 100gr FPJ @ 0.965. In my case, I am loading a 93gr LRN 0.365 from King Shooter Supply. These can be found at http://www.betterbullets.com.

93gr LRN 0.365 @ 0.980
Red Dot 2.5gr, 2.7gr, 2.9gr
Trimmed 9x19mm cases
Win SP primers
Tested in CZ-82
Barrel length: 97 mm (3.8 in)
Shooting Chrony F-1 at 10ft from muzzle.
Temp ~70F

Image:





Conclusion:

I am very satisfied with the performance of Red Dot in 9x18mm. The higher charges produced the most consistent (smallest Standard Deviation) loads. 2.9gr of Red dot gave a five shot average of 972fps. This is ~50fps less that the typical mil spec loads at 1025fps. This load is a good target load with mild recoil compared to the snappy full power imported russian loads. All loads cycled the gun with no issues. I also experienced zero lead fouling using hard cast lead bullets in my polygonal rifled CZ-82. 2.9gr Red Dot under a 93gr [email protected] is one of my pet loads.
One issue with using small charges of Red Dot is that large flakes do not meter well in some measures. I am using the Hornady Powder measures with small Pistol drum and my throws are +/-0.1gr. Other measures can be off by more. I would not recommend max charges if your powder meter can't throw accurate charges. There are other powders available that meter better and would be more suitable for max loads.

I did a little more reading and found the Speer 12th with data for universal showing way hotter charges that what is listed on Hodgdon's website. The data on their website produced really low velocities and unburnt powder. I will have to do a load workup over the chrono using universal.

Apologies for the hijack - I just picked up a set of RCBS dies for all the Mak brass I have been saving. I have some nice Wilson Cartridge gauges for other pistol reloading but cannot fond a case gauge for 9x18 anywhere.

Anyone have a line on this item or an alternative  (some kind of ring gauge?)

TIA, Jerry