9mm and .380 dies question.

[ru44mag]

I have not done any reloading in over 20 years. Mostly just reloaded 44 specials and some mags back then. I used the same dies for both. Same dies for .357 and 38 special too. I don't want to sound stupid...but if I get 9mm dies, can I use them to reload .380s as well?

 

[nucone]

No

 

[Broom_jm]

Fair question, but no...these are two distinctly different cases and should not be reloaded with the same dies. As small as they are, they look remarkably similar and they do shoot bullets of the same diameter, but the 380 ACP is considerably smaller in diameter at both the case head and at the mouth. This is why you also should use different shell-holders for reloading these rounds. (Using the correct shell-holder is a way of catching an errant 9mm case when you're reloading 380...it won't fit in the 380 shell-holder.)

 

[Hoosier8]

9mm base diameter = 9.93 mm
380 base diameter = 9.5 mm

 

[Jimb]

I was wander the same thing when I purchased a .380 not long ago

 

[ru44mag]

Thanks for the info. I have been gathering all my brass, hope to start reloading again soon. The brass gathering thing was part of the reason I stuck with revolvers for so many years. It's good to know I can ask a question, and get straightened out right away.

 

[teknickle]

The base of the .380 cartridge is the same as .223 Remington. So if you have the shell holder for .223, you use it for .380 (Lee has this information in a number of places...like on my shell holder sheet for the autoprime tool).
You _could_ seat the bullet with a 9mm die. Your crimp won't be right, though (and maybe you don't care about that; I have purchased factory ammo before where no crimp was evident..good thing the bullets didn't free themselves on recoil).

 

[ru44mag]

Thanks teknickle. I just bought nice RCBS .380 dies from clayshooter99 today with no shell holder, but I have .223 dies, so I'm golden.

 

[IndyGlockMan]

9mm dies will usually be good for 38 Super but not .380

 

[Leo]

For the .380 if you already have a 9mm set and a .223 shellholder, you MAY be able to get buy with just a .380 sizer die. You will need to double check if the belling die and the seater / "crimp" die is at least 1/8 th inch above the shellholder when they are properly adjusted for loading 9mm. If they do not have that gap, you will not be able to sent a .380 case deep enough into the die to contact the proper areas.


The crimp is not what holds the bullet in on semi auto ammunition. The case get sized so that it holds the bullet with tension for the full body length. Prior to bullet seating, the case mouth is given a very slight bell to avoid scraping material off the bullet as it is inserted. At this point there is already enough neck tension to properly hold the bullet. The "crimp" on the semi auto rounds is really just closing this bell, it is not supposed to bite into the bullet like on a revolver round. If you are seeing the case mouth curled into the bullet, that is too much. In the SAMMI drawings, there is always a measurement given for the case mouth with a properly seated bullet.