Back story: A while back I decided I wanted to eventually get a .357 lever gun and have the barrel threaded and possibly cut down to 16', or maybe less and suppress it. Just seems like a really cool project to me. The more I kicked it around I started thinking about barrel length and the effect on capacity. Crossed my mind to just make shorter cartridges but I never gave it too much thought because I didn't have the gun. Now the Lever gun thread has me thinking about it again.
I looked at possibly using .38 S&W but the case diameter is larger. Besides, it wouldn't really save much in the way of length. If I could get the length down to 9mm OAL it would increase capacity by about 50%, that seems just about perfect.
Now I know how long my brass needs to be, and I should have a good estimate for starting loads since these will essentially be rimmed 9mm. Just need a way to resize the shortened brass. Luckily, I have already have 9mm dies.
WRONG. .38/.357 brass has a case diameter of .379", 9mm has a case diameter of .391". Back to the Lyman manual to look at case dimensions, and didn't have far to look. .380 ACP has a diameter of .374. Pretty close and I have a set of .380 dies collecting dust. Perfect.
So, what brass to use. I had figured .38 Spcl brass would be the obvious choice, but decided to check anyways. 9mm max pressure is ~35,000cup, .38Spcl is only showing listed pressures up to 19,000cup. Could be tough on the brass. .357 runs pressures over 40,000cup, .357 brass it is.
Only thing left is a way to trim the brass down to 9mm length. Went to midway and ordered case length guages and shell holders for 9mm and .357. I will have to probably have to modify the length guage to fit in the .35 case but no biggie. just some fine grit sand paper and a DeWalt should handle that. Should have them in about a week. In the mean time I will try to get some .357 brass trimmed to a rough length and ready for final prep work.
Really looking forward to this little project. Will test them in a Ruger Blackhawk and may bring some to Hicksville if anyone is willing to test feeding and reliability in a lever gun. Expecting velocities around 1000fps.
Will post updates as the project progresses.
I looked at possibly using .38 S&W but the case diameter is larger. Besides, it wouldn't really save much in the way of length. If I could get the length down to 9mm OAL it would increase capacity by about 50%, that seems just about perfect.
Now I know how long my brass needs to be, and I should have a good estimate for starting loads since these will essentially be rimmed 9mm. Just need a way to resize the shortened brass. Luckily, I have already have 9mm dies.
WRONG. .38/.357 brass has a case diameter of .379", 9mm has a case diameter of .391". Back to the Lyman manual to look at case dimensions, and didn't have far to look. .380 ACP has a diameter of .374. Pretty close and I have a set of .380 dies collecting dust. Perfect.
So, what brass to use. I had figured .38 Spcl brass would be the obvious choice, but decided to check anyways. 9mm max pressure is ~35,000cup, .38Spcl is only showing listed pressures up to 19,000cup. Could be tough on the brass. .357 runs pressures over 40,000cup, .357 brass it is.
Only thing left is a way to trim the brass down to 9mm length. Went to midway and ordered case length guages and shell holders for 9mm and .357. I will have to probably have to modify the length guage to fit in the .35 case but no biggie. just some fine grit sand paper and a DeWalt should handle that. Should have them in about a week. In the mean time I will try to get some .357 brass trimmed to a rough length and ready for final prep work.
Really looking forward to this little project. Will test them in a Ruger Blackhawk and may bring some to Hicksville if anyone is willing to test feeding and reliability in a lever gun. Expecting velocities around 1000fps.
Will post updates as the project progresses.