old style sizing die

O

oldbear1950

New member
I have an old Bonanza 38 super/38 auto sizing die without the depriming pin.
Since 9mm and the two 38 rounds use the same shell holder, the same hornady shell plate, and the same bullets for reloading, can that sizing die be used on 9 mm cases as they are pretty much the same diameter?
I am just curious
 
"Pretty much" is not The Same.
.38 Super is a straight case, 9mm is tapered.

But then you have the die. Try it out and You tell Me.
 
The Lee universal decapping die is pretty cheap. But it will be additional step. Why not get newer sizing die / die set and move on?

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
By the specs in my Hornady book, the .38Super/.38ACP goes .384" at the case mouth and is straight.

The 9mm Luger goes .380" at the case mouth and tapers back to .391" at the case head.

Not a good idea to run 9mm brass into a .38Super sizer. You MAY be able to produce shootable ammo, but it won't be very good ammo, I wouldn't think.
 
Because .... I have always been told that ...
... " Two threads are always better than one ! "

Sorry about the bad pun ... they left me home alone ... again !
Gary
 
The main problem will be 9mm cases are thinner at the mouth than the other two, so your 380/38 Super die can't be counted on to size it down enough to get a reliable grip on the bullet. Otherwise, the common carbide sizing dies size the 9mm straight, and while that causes you to lose a little bit of powder capacity and to see a slight ridge or ring bulge on the case over the seated bullet base location, it will shoot fine. The extra expansion it puts the 9mm case through during firing shortens brass life a bit. The cases are so common to find for free I don't think people normally care about that.
 
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