Originally Posted By: Robenstein
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
A friend had a brand new Gold Cup .45 which wouldn't cycle at all on target cartridges. Military FMJ worked just fine.
Luger pistols were notorious for not cycling properly unless they were fed warm military spec loads. So many ammo companies underload a bit for economy or safety reasons sometimes (8mm mauser especially)
My shooting friend and I had both given up on reloading 9mm for a while because of the current cost and availability of cheap factory ammo(it's the only cartridge I shoot where my factory load consumption is greater than my reload consumption).
His Luger, though, pushed him back to handloading at least for that gun. Aside from some surplus I turned up, the only thing that has cycled reliably in it is 147gr Fiocchi. I think he's now using 147gr bullets and Power Pistol at near book max.
Also, someone mentioned how 10mm had been down loaded. I don't own/shoot 10mm, but 38 Super shooters have been dealing with that for a LONG time. Factory ammo-or at least what's out there-basically replicates 9mm ballistics. Winchester Silver Tips are the only S/D ammo I know of, and they are in the same boat. You really have to enjoy shooting the cartridge to mess with it-to me it's not a good self defense cartridge when effectively the same ballistics are available in guns that are smaller/lighter/hold more ammo. With that said, when loaded to its full potential, 38 Super has a definite advantage vs. 9mm. Both cartridges operate at near the same peak pressure and fire the same projectiles(.355 diameter and usually 115, 124, or 147gr). With those two factors being equal, the Super simply has more case capacity. When using common auto pistol powders like Power Pistol and HS-6, along with new powders like CFE Pistol and BE-86, and even old standbys like Unique you can shove more powder into the case. Super gives you the case capacity that you can branch out into even slower powders like the oft-forgotten red headed step child Herco and even Blue Dot if you're feeling adventurous.
