ammunition
can i use 380 auto with my makarov 9mmx18 p-64
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I just bought a Taurus PT-140. What range/target ammunition should I stay away from? I've hear the Winchester white box ammo is not a good load. I bought a box of Remington UMC when I bought the gun. I'm be buying a box of hollow points to keep at the house. Any advice is appreciated. I want to keep this gun for a long time so I don't want to ruin it with cheap ammo. Thanks, Matt 0 -
No, it is a different cartridge, but you can find barrels for your Mak that are chambered in .380 ACP 0 -
I don't know why you would want a lower powered .380 and more expensive through a 9x18. If the pistol has been cared for and in good condition is a very good shooting, affordable, durable military weapon and the ammo for it is no very expensive.
Emmett0 -
The fact that you have asked this questions twice now with 2 different topic headings, is just plain ole' scary...
Jon0 -
Was at a range shooting my Mak with 9x18. When I was picking up my brass I saw a number of split 380 brass. Out in the store I asked the guy next to me what he was shooting. Turns out he was also shooting a Mak but with 380 ammo. His father was a Detroit cop & told his son to use 380. The guy had plans to take the Mak with him for a tour in Iraq.
The 380 can be fired in a 9x18. I assume the firing pin has to be long enough to do it. Still you end up with a pretty dirty gun, split brass and poor accuracy. The 380 is about .009 to .01 smaller diameter bullet. I wouldn't know if is dangerous or not but I wouldn't want a failure to fire in the time of need.0 -
You can DO whatever in the heck you WANT to do.
You came here for advice with your question, "can i use 380 auto with my makarov 9mmx18 p-64."
The intelligent answer (which was provided to you) to your question is, "NO....period!"
The intelligent course of action for you is to READ THAT ANSWER AND ACT ACCORDINGLY.
However, as I said, you can DO whatever you WANT to do.
EDIT--EDIT
My concern (not stated above) is that this person may be led to believe that the .380acp round and the Makarov 9x18mm round are interchangeable, which is definitely not the case. While one may be able to slide by by slopping .380acp's (9x17mm) into the slightly larger MAK 9x18mm chamber and barrel (or even the 9x19mm Luger(?)), which is foolish to do intentionally, that practice may, somewhere along the line, lead to the belief that one may substitute the Makarov 9x18mm round into a weapon chambered for .380acp. That situation could be exceptionally problematic.
By the way, as alluded to in BTS's reply, below, the magazines used in the 9x18mm-chambered Makarov and the Makarov chambered in .380acp are identical.0 -
"Can" you do it?
Yes... the Makarov gun design is such that it probably *IS* possible to physically fire the smaller .380 round in the larger 9mm makarov chamber, since the extractor will hold the base of the round in place for the firing pin to strike the primer.
Overall length of the two rounds are similar, and overall pressures are similar enough that you *probably* aren't going to blow up the gun this way. Magazine should feed either round fine.
Incidentally, I've heard of people firing .380 rounds (by mistake) in 9mm luger guns.
"Should" you do it?
I'd say not unless its a life and death emergency, and for multiple reasons:
First of all, right now 9mm Makarov ammo is cheaper than .380, so there is no economic savings here.
Firing .373" diameter .380ACP cases through a .390" Makarov chamber is likely to ruin the cases for reloading. Split cases can cause hot gas to leak out of the gun during firing and THAT can potentially hurt the gun and more important hurt the SHOOTER. I surely hope you are wearing eye protection when you try this stunt!
Next, 9mm Makarov ammo is (depending on which rounds you are comparing) either just as powerful as .380, or slightly MORE powerful. So there is no BALLISTIC advantage to running .380s through the wrong caliber gun.
In fact, firing undersized rounds through your gun is a good way to LOSE velocity. Your .380s probably aren't going to be going quite as fast out of a Makarov as they would be if they were fired in a regular .380 gun.
Next, you can expect lousy accuracy firing .356 caliber ".380 ACP" rounds through a barrel that is .365" in diameter.
Lastly, firing a smaller than caliber round through your gun is likely to cause backwash of hot gases and carbon around the cartridge into the chamber during firing because of poor case sealing. Your gun will probably get dirty quick, potentially compromising reliability.
You may also get gas blowaround the bullet during firing. It probably won't ruin your bore, but it certainly is likely to get it dirtier faster.
In short, there is literally no reason why you might even WANT to try firing .380 from a 9mm makarov, again, unless you're desperate and that's all you have.
If you can't find 9mm makarov locally, you can always have some mail-ordered directly to your house, or alternatively, have your favorite local gunshop get you a case.
Edit:
Yes, at one point in time, there were .380 conversion barrels available for 9mm makarov guns. I believe some of the guns were also converted to .380 by the importer, so some .380 Makarovs are floating around.
The problem here is that the fixed barrel design of the Makarov means that swapping barrels isn't trival, like with some guns. You have to know what you're doing and it requires special tooling. You can't just strip the gun, pull out the old barrel and drop in the new one. By the time you get the barrel and pay a gunsmith to swap it for you, you're likely talking a significant cost compared to the gun cost.
This type of conversion made more sense in the 80s when .380 ammo could be found in any gunstore, and 9mm Makarov ammo was unavailable. Today, 9mm Makarov ammo is readily available, and being both less expensive and (possibly) ballistically superior to .380, I can't think of a good reason to prefer .380s.0
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