Hello all, I recently bought a new Bul cherokee 9mm, and im a reloader, but what i was wondering is that the book calls for .355 diam of bullet but i heard that you can use.356 diam lead cast bullets, is this true....(I know that the .356 is a makarov)...Any help will be appreciated....Thanks

According to my reading you can use up to .358 cast bullets in the 9 x 19mm. There was an article in "Handloader" some time back about cast bullets in the 9.

wildlumberjack1983 wrote:

Hello all, I recently bought a new Bul cherokee 9mm, and im a reloader, but what i was wondering is that the book calls for .355 diam of bullet but i heard that you can use.356 diam lead cast bullets, is this true....(I know that the .356 is a makarov)...Any help will be appreciated....Thanks

Before you buy anything, you should slug the bore to see what size it is.

If it's .355 then .356/7 is GTG for lead.

Your Bul should be a 9x19 that requires a .355 diameter jacketed bullet.
Typically when running lead bullets you go .001 over jacketed bullet diameter. (.356 for the 9x19)
Because of machining tolerances that are not always up to par guys running lead bullets will sometimes slug their barrels to find it's exact diameter. They will then have their lead bullets sized .001 over this dimension.
This is why we sometimes see diameters greater than .356.

So the answer to your question is yes.

The Makarov is .365 not .356 !!!
I don't know if that was a misprint of if you inadvertently reversed the numbers but Makarov bullets are not interchangeable with the 9x19's.

By the way....that's a pretty cool looking gun in tactical form !!!

I think there is also a 9 mm Makarov and I don't think you shoot very often when you use bullets of .365"...

All the same !!!

Makarov
9 mm Makarov
9x18mm
9x18mm PM
9 mm Mak

Aloysius wrote:

I don't think you shoot very often when you use bullets of .365"...

Actually, Hornady, Speer, and Sierra all make jacketed bullets for them !!!
Some lead bullet manufactures have them available too.

It's a product that your not going to find in your local gun shop unless they have some costumers that use them regularly.

The stupid thing is that in the past I've seen a box of 9 mm Makarov and they seemed only a little shorter than the 9 mm Para. Now I learned that their bullet is somewhat bigger. Not that I expect to need this knowledge in the near future, but who knows?
So thanks for being almost so persistent as a german Teckel

One article about cast bullets in the 9mm is in the October 2008 issue of "Handloader" and I think there has been another one in there since then. In the article he uses 0.358" bullets in some of the loads. I'm planning to try some 125 grain RN .358" bullets in mine when I get a chance.

when casting your own lead bullets for 9mm.
what is a good mixture to use?
I have made lead bullets for a colt 45 and works very well.
the 9mm is faster, so I would think it would need a little harder lead bullet.

Mike, Is it possible they were talking about the 38 Super when using the .358 bullets ???

Chambered, nope. 9x19mm Parabellum. Now this only applies to CAST bullets!! Apparently many are made on the "loose" side, bore wise. And naturally, like ALL handloads, you have to work up while checking for pressure signs.

I do understand we're talking about cast !!!
I have heard of guys slugging their barrels for this reason, I just never though a .358 bullet would be needed.

Slugging your barrel is the best way to go if you plan on using cast bullets.

Back when I was target shooting pistols, slugging the barrel was the first thing I did with each new revolver to determine the bore size...then I would size my cast bullets appropriately. As it turned out, I sized all of my cast bullets to .357"...including the 9mm RN Conical bullet I used to cast.

Cheers, Vince