9mm vs .38 bullets

Yes even the finest caliper is a guesswork as well. In my experience. Dealing with cast bullets a great deal is Trial and error.

Just observe well how your bore looks like before shooting. Then shoot them once and then see if the bore has changed from the inside. look for lead type stripes and anything which filled out the grooves of the bore. Then brush the bore out with an brass brush and see if anything lead like came out on an White paper Background. If nothing came out and accuracy is good it is not leading.
That is how I did it in my rudimentary way.

Good rule: If the bullet after seating slides easily with thumb pressure down the case or out then it is too small. That happens with FMJ .356" Diameter in 38 spl cases.
If the seated bullet bulges a bit the case were it is seated (in the case of an Wadcutter for example) that is considered normal (as Long as it does not crunch-wrinkle the case due to excess seating force). At least with lead cast bullets you almost allways will get bulged cases specially if you use the Lee molds and use the bullets "as cast". Bulging cases is normal according to Lymans Reloading Handbook 44th Edition (states it for the 380 acp but can be applied to all calibers I guess).

Advice: Even for 9mm Luger i would not go Lower for bullet weight than 124 grain and for 38 spl I would not go lower than 148 grain.
I was an enemy of heavy bullets as well but rapidly converted to heavy bullets once I shot them. They are so much nicer and better go the old way: heavy and slow bullet.
I assume you have an source of lead for casting.
 
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(as Long as it does not crunch-wrinkle the case due to excess seating force). At least with lead cast bullets you almost allways will get bulged cases specially if you use the Lee molds and use the bullets "as cast". Bulging cases is normal according to Lymans Reloading Handbook 44th Edition (states it for the 380 acp but can be applied to all calibers I guess).

That is true and have expierenced it with my 45 ACP. The cast bullets were .452 dia. and when loaded the slight buldge caused a issue with my 1911 springfield. on some occasions the bullet would not seat into the chamber and a slight pressure on the back of the slide with my thumb would let the slide go into battery.

I tried the bullet drop test into the chamber and found that 50% of the time they would not seat into the chamber.

Ran the loaded bullets back into the sizing die and all was good.

Noticed that the hollow point jacketed bullets were .451 dia and did not need to re-resize.

And before someone asks me if the chamber was clean, yes it was cleaned with a brass brush.
 
If you Need foreward assist for the lead bullet reloads that is to much. They have to chamber right and effortless.

If you Need foreward assists the gun because it does not chamber the bullet has to seat deeper (doing that you have to reduce powder).
If you seat them deeper they will pass the plop test and chamber as normal. Or you have to crimp a tad more till they chamber.

Maybe the 1911 Chambers are a Little finicky and thight. I got my experience on an SD9VE S&W Plastik gun.

Example: An Martini Henry rifle fires through brush and hits the target with it's 500'is grain bullet at slow velocities (about 1200 fps). The brush deflects calibers like 223 Remington and 308 Winchester or was it an 30-06? This is even more thru for handguns.
Source of this info: YouTube Iraqveteran8888 (look that up yourself).
 
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Advice: Even for 9mm Luger i would not go Lower for bullet weight than 124 grain and for 38 spl I would not go lower than 148 grain.
I was an enemy of heavy bullets as well but rapidly converted to heavy bullets once I shot them. They are so much nicer and better go the old way: heavy and slow bullet.
I assume you have an source of lead for casting.

No the last time I casted bullets was back in the 70's. :o

I buy off the shelf or at gun shows. :)
 
I bought .357 147 gr truncated plated bullets from Xtreme. They work well so far. After I slug my 9's, I'm betting they'll work for 9mm also.

Low recoil for the wife? Why not just load wad cutters?
 
It all depends on the finished diameter of the 9mm bullets, and the groove diameter of the barrel of the .38. I have a mold for a 125 gr. RNFP that I use for 6 guns; 3, 9mm and 2, .38s and one .357 Mag. Bullets drop at around .358" and in one cavity .359" (I "cleaned up" that hole). Depending on the gun I'm reloading for I size the bullet .356" (for my 9mm with a .355" bbl), .357" (for my 2, 38s and .375) and .358"+ (for my old 9mm w/.358" bbl.)...

So measure the bullets, slug and measure chamber throats of the revolver, and match them...

I loaded some 38 Specials for my daughter's early shooting (14 yrs.old) and I just used "classic"38 target loads; 2.7 gr. Bullseye under a 148 gr. wadcutter, either HB or DE. And my house gun gets a wadcutter load (hefty charges of W231 under a 159 gr DEWC)...
 
I use 3.5 grains VV N330 over the Lee 148 grain Wadcutter (shot out of my 357 mag SAA Pietta model 1873 revolver) seated deep similar to Nagant bullets.

Why is the OP Messing with undersized bullets if you are located in the Good ol' USA were you have all the possibilities to get reloading stuff (I myself am located in Southamerica where we not even can get gun powder).
Just buy yourself an Lee mold and start casting. Much better than buying stuff. I normally cast about 150 bullets in one season (about 1 to 2 times a month).
 
"Low recoil for the wife? Why not just load wad cutters?"

Best idea I've heard yet. Lyman bullet #358495, 148 gr. over 2,7 gr. of Bullseye. That's the classic target load. My preference is 3.1 gr. of W321.

Recoil in a standard size revolver is quite light. Very mild in an S&W M60 which is my normal carry pistol.

Loaded with a max load that bullet would also be a good close range defense load should that be necessary. Kind of hard to do a quick reload with speed loaders though. A bit tricky trying to get those flat nose bullets to line up with the chambers.

Seriously though, I have some Winchester .38 Spl. match ammo I got into cheap. Very light recoil but the fairly soft bullets do lead the barrel somewhat. Still, shooting a box of those will give a good idea of the recoil level.
Paul B.
 
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