9mm Luger in Colt 1903 .38 ACP ?
Does anyone have a opinion or experience with this? Diameter of the 9mm Luger seems to chamber OK. Feeds and ejects manually from magazine perfectly. I know it is headspacing on the extractor. Haven't decided to try to shoot it. What think?
edit Note 2003 origin date of this post.
edit Note 2003 origin date of this post.
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I sure wouldn't. 0 -
Somebody verify this please, but isn't the .38 super the same size as a .38 acp? I know the super is a hell of a lot hotter and wouldn't be safe in an 03, but looks like you could load some of your own using super brass.... I read somewhere you could shoot old .38 ACP through a super, so that would mean they are the same size, right? 0 -
Thanks, I'm convinced I won't shoot 9mms in it. I may download some .38 Super sometime. I pulled bullets from .38 Supers and used the primed cases to check out a firing pin I made for it. Thanks again. 0 -
I wouldn't do it even if the barrel were properly chambered for it.
Old loading tables show max handload pressure for the 38ACP at 35000psi. SAAMI spec commercial 9mm ammo can go as high as 41,300 psi.
Some military ammo can go higher.
A 20% overload doesn't necessarily mean a gun will blow up but you can expect it to loosen up much sooner and maybe break some parts.0 -
this shouldnt even be discussed! dont even dream of doing that in a 1903 frame. if you do, its a way of insulting the original inventors of the gun! geesh, with all the guns out here in this world, why would someone want to even think of that? unless you are a bonified gunsmith or a r&d scientist looking for some new way to make a name for himself with a 'new invention,' let the idea go. next, people will start shooting 45's in 410 shotguns just because, and 'hmmm, what if i...! (yes....a 45 will slip into a 410!) im not trying to flame anyone. i just dont want us to get caught up in the 'what if we did this' discussions. i wouldnt be able to live with myself if the next thing we saw on an nra headline was 'guy blows himself up by experimenting with different bullets sizes in an old colt after getting encouragement from gunbroker.com.' lets keep it within nra rules. shoot the correct bullet DESIGNED for the CORRECT barrel as marked on the barrel. ok. i vented. i feel better.
former air operations officer SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2. former navy skeet team, navy rifle/pistol team member. co-owner skeetmaster tubes inc.. owner/operator professional shooting instruction.0 -
Another good thing about this forum is that it can push some people's button that acts like a keyboard laxative. Expels some good stuff even from that source. Thanks to all for the good advice.
FAA A&P, FCC RT 1/cl, SAE, CCW, RTW4X, NRA, NMLRA (L), etc,etc.0 -
couldnt the colt 1908 also called "1903" thas a 380 be re chambered in to a 9mm because its the same bullet size just a diffrent caseing [?] 0 -
This posting is a resurrection I started in 2003 six years ago.
Several reasons against interchange .380/9mm in the Colt .380 auto. The case dimensions in diameter and length as well as overall length magazine-wise and action wise. The simple blowback design is not adequate to handle 9mm forces.
The .38Super and .38ACP are in DIMENSIONs ONLY interchangeable. A friend of mine reloads Super cases to .38ACP specs and shoots them.
To update with info today re chambering, I measured some case dimensions:
9MM Case dia .325", Case length .750"
.38ACP Case dia .382", Case length .900" Semi-rim head dia .402"
.380" Case dia .372", Case length .673"
I still toy with the idea of making a sleeve for the chamber in one of my .38ACPs to shoot 9MMs. I've figured out a simple reversible mod I can do to a magazine. Maybe --0 -
You should not convert a 1900-1902-1903 .38 Auto to shoot 9mm Para for the same reason you should not shoot .38 Super in a .38 Auto; the chamber pressure is much higher.
Modern SAAMI specifications are:
.38 Auto 23,000 CUP
.38 Super 33,000 CUP
9mm P 33,000 CUP0 -
I agree with Hawk Carse.
Putting 9mm luger rounds through a .38ACP is roughly equivalent to trying to fire .357 magnums from a .38 special gun (only worse, because the case dimensions aren't quite as similar).
Not a good idea. Even if you don't blow the gun up, you're going to be beating the heck out of an old classic pistol not designed for it.
If you want to shoot 9mm luger, just buy a 9mm luger gun. Its not like they are hard to find or particularly expensive.0 -
Even if you made a chamber sleeve I'd only use downloaded handloads in it.
38 ACP isn't that common but can still be had. There are also 2 european versions of the loading (9mm Largo and 9mm Bergmann-Baynard) that are dimensionally acceptable and fine as replacements pressure wise.
Though as said, using .38 super brass and loading to appropriate levels using 38 acp load data is the easiest answer. Standard 9mm dies can be used.0
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