Shooting 9mm in .357 revolver?

E

Erich

New member
I read an article this weekend in which the author claims it's okay to fire 9x19 (or .380 or 9mm Police) in a revolver chambered for .357 magnum (presumably with some sort of clips to allow headspacing of the rimless cartridge). I'd never really thought about it before (except when looking at those Medusa revolvers a few years back). Can anyone see problems with this?

Now, I just bought an SP-101 in .357 mag. Ruger used to make an SP-101 in 9mm. The chamber pressures for the 9mm and the .357 mag . are, I believe, the same. It's okay to fire shorter .38 spls in the .357 mag. revolver, so presumably the shorter 9mm case wouldn't be a problem. I wonder how the standard moon clips for the 9mm SP-101 would fit in the space alloted for the rim of the .38/.357 cases.

What do you guys think? I'm not dying to try it or anything, but I have read nice things about the ballistics and lack of recoil (compared to the magnum round) of the 9x19 out of small-framed revolvers - so it might be worth trying. And there's that cheap 9mm ammo I have lying around . . . .
 
The concept has been around for a while. From What I understand it is NOT a drop in type feature and although different cartridges share similar dimensions, certain combination would prove to be catastrophic. Phillips & Rogers is the manufacture of the Medusa Revolver and Colt was attempting to build the Millennium revolver (same concept) before they went bust. If you read about the gun, you will see that it is a special tapered chamber and the lands and grooves in the barrel are different.

In the case of the SP 101 there are a number of problems that WOULD NOT allow .38 Special/.357 Magnum to work in a 9mm gun and the opposite as well. First off neither case will head space in the others chamber. The 9mm case is larger than a .38 Special, so it should not even chamber in the 357 Magnum gun. A .357 Magnum is much larger than the 9mm, so the chamfer in the 9mm's cylinder will not allow the 357 (or 38) to chamber. And if there is no chamfer, they will probably just drop through the 9mm's cylinder. The Medusa revolver has a specially engineered extractor that solved this head space problem. And even if a .38/.357 fit a 9mm chamber and the cylinder will lock with the proper head space, there is the problem of a oversized cylinder. The .38/.357 cases will more than likely get stuck in the 9mm's cylinder or rupture.

Think that the bottom line is "DO NOT" attempt to fire 9mm in your 357 Magnum Ruger.

Robert
 
I have been using a P&R Medusa as well as a S&W 686 with a P&R cylinder. I understand that the Medusa has a reduced size bore. The S&W has the stock 4" barrel with whatever bore that it came with. Both guns shoot all 9mm, .357, 38 (special, super etc) without any problem. The P&R is slightly more accurate. Both guns shoot about 2" low when using .380 ammo and the S&W will usually not fire one or more .380 rounds. I hope that this info helps.
Bubba
 
Guys, am I crazy here? I think you need a different cylinder to use 9mm ammo, because a standard .357/.38 cylinder will not accept the moon clips you need to hold the 9mm's in place. The cylinder has to be specially formed to accept moon clips.

Right?

Maybe a smithy can fix the cylinder so it will accept both moon clips and rimmed cartridges, but I don't think the standard cylinders will do this.
 
Hmmm, found this on another thread on this very board. THe quote refers to 7/8 shot Tauri.
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Many people have the cylinder milled out to accept moon clips for the Taurus. This costs about $50. The gun will still fire cartridges without moon clips after the conversion. See:

http://www.sdmfabricating.com
 
EnochGale,
Both the Medusa and the converted S&W have been totally reliable with the exception of using .380 ammo. I have loaded the cylinders with six different calibers at the same time and it is interesting to see people at the range look at you like you don't know what you are doing. The effect is even better when the guns make different sounds from a pop to a major bang depending on which round goes off. The accuracy of both guns is on par with a standard 686 or other K or L frame S&W (very good). For those unfamiliar with the Medusa, it takes at least 25 different calibers between .380 and .357 mag and does so without using any moon clips or inserts of any kind. There are finger-like grips in each cylinder hole that center the round (rim or rimless) and all sizes of brass are extracted at the same time with the normal action of the ejector rod. The installation of the cylinder on the S&W requires some gun smithing and as a result, it cost me considerably more for the 686 package then it did for the $550 Medusa.
Bubba
 
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