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- Path: sparky!uunet!dtix!mimsy!convex.com
- From: cash@convex.com (Peter Cash)
- Newsgroups: rec.guns
- Subject: Re: .357 in a 9mm
- Message-ID: <1992Nov23.034819.14355@news.eng.convex.com>
- Date: 23 Nov 92 14:24:41 GMT
- Sender: news@mimsy.umd.edu
- Organization: The Instrumentality
- Lines: 32
- Approved: gun-control@cs.umd.edu
-
- In article <mac.722284369@depot.cis.ksu.edu.cis.ksu.edu> mac@cis.ksu.edu (Myron A. Calhoun) writes:
- ...
-
- #Now I'm curious why I can't shoot 9mm in the same revolver which already
- #shoots .357 Magnum and the 0.1" shorter .38 Special. Just how much
- #shorter is a 9mm cartridge?
-
- It's not just a matter of disparity in length--the 9mm headspaces on the
- mouth of the case, while the .38 and .357 are rimmed revolver rounds, and
- headspace on that rim.
-
- In other words, the chamber of a 9mm gun has to have a little raised ring
- in it to stop the cartridge from falling too far in. The mouth of the
- cartridge case comes to rest against the rim. That's why case length is
- much more important in a 9mm than in a revolver round--if the case is too
- long, the round will stick out too far; if the case is too short (maybe
- because you crimped it too much), the case goes in too far, and the firing
- pin can't reach it. (And that's why you shouldn't try to fire a .380 in a
- 9mm parabellum chamber--the case is too short, and you won't get reliable
- ignition.)
-
- In contrast,the .38 or .357 revolver cartridges just go into the chamber
- until they're stopped by the rim at the cartridge head. If you tried to
- shove a .357 into a 9mm chamber, it wouldn't go in nearly far enough
- because of the chamber rim. That's why you need separate cylinders for 9mm
- and .38/.357 rounds.
-
- --
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- | Die Welt ist alles, was Zerfall ist. |
- Peter Cash | (apologies to Ludwig Wittgenstein) |cash@convex.com
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-