9mm Revolvers

O

Onward Allusion

New member
Another crazy question...

Is it possible to load 38 Special wadcutters into chambers of a 9mm revolver? Considering the pressures of 38 Spl is only 18K and OAL of a full wadcutters is virtually identical to 9mm FMJ, I really can't think of a reason that it can't work. Yeah, maybe the 38 cases will not be reloadable w/o work, but . . .
 
Is the chamber long enough? .38 rounds are a LOT longer than 9mm.

I wouldn't do it, but it's not the dumbest thing I've seen.
 
If it's a 9mm barrel, then no as 9mm cartridge diameter is .355 where .38 special is .357-.358. You can shoot 9mm out of a .38/.357 barrel because it's smaller.
 
I doubt it is possible to fit a .38 case in a 9mm chamber. OAL means nothing since a 9mm seats on the case mouth which is quite a bit shorter than a .38 case. Plus I believe a .38 cases OD is going to be too big. But, why would you want to do this anyway? Just curious.
 
I'm sure you could make it work. I just looked up the case length of 38 special and it appears to be 1.15. This is pretty close to the OAL of most 9mm rounds. So that means your average wadcutter load and average 9mm load have close to the same length.

Most wadcutter bullets are very soft swaged bullets and will deform with finger nail pressure. They should slide down a .355 with less effort than your average .355 jacketed bullet.

I don't have any 9mm revolvers either so I am only speculating. I have no idea what kind of charge you would use but you'd have some wiggle room since any 9mm revolver should be able to handle 9mm pressure loads with ease. I'd guess that the case head on a 9mm is thicker and has less volume than .38 special and this would need to be determined and taken into consideration.
 
No. 9mm cases are tapered and so are the chambers, where .38spl cases are straight. Also, factory 9mm revolver chambers headspace on the case mouths so there is a ridge machined in them at the length of the 9mm case. Both of those reasons will keep you from chambering any .38spl round, including wadcutters.
 
My response above assumed you were reloading wadcutter bullets into 9mm brass… If you are talking about fitting a .38 special cartridge into a 9mm chamber, than there is no way that will work with out some major modifications.
 
.38 caliber wadcutter bullets, LOADED IN 9MM cases, could work. Stupid, but possible.

.38 caliber AMMO (.38 Special, etc.) WILL NOT FIT in a 9mm cylinder, so that it will turn, even if, by some freak chance your cylinder is cut so oversized that they will go all the way in (which is about impossible), there is still that pesky rim, which WILL NOT, and that will be enough to tie up your gun by keeping the cylinder from turning.
 
I do have a couple of 9mm revolvers, both smiths a 986, and a 929. Both of these are cut and meant for moonclips. Most revolvers that require moonclips to work, generally head space off of the moonclip and not the case mouth. That being said I regularly use 38 short colt brass and 150 grain .358 sized projectiles in both of these 9mm revolvers. The short colt brass is the same rim and case dimensions as 38 special EXCEPT the length.
 
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