9mm or 357 top of the table popularity ?

[Die Judicii]

Although not being a re loader (thus far leastways),,,, I do however keep an eye open on trends and various equipment.
For well over 18 mths, I note that the vast majority of re loading kits/outfits that are listed for sale, are all set up for either 9mm or 357 as opposed to for instance 22/250, 308, or 223.
As i'm obviously pretty ignorant in this realm,,, why is the trend this way ?
And,, if the 9mm and 357are pitted against each other,, what say the masses as to which of the two are the most popular, and for which purpose ??

[bladeracer]

Although not being a re loader (thus far leastways),,,, I do however keep an eye open on trends and various equipment.
For well over 18 mths, I note that the vast majority of re loading kits/outfits that are listed for sale, are all set up for either 9mm or 357 as opposed to for instance 22/250, 308, or 223.
As i'm obviously pretty ignorant in this realm,,, why is the trend this way ?
And,, if the 9mm and 357are pitted against each other,, what say the masses as to which of the two are the most popular, and for which purpose ??

If you're only looking at progressive setups then pistol chamberings would be the most common setup. If you were looking at single-stage press kits it'd be far more common to find those in rifle chamberings. I still prefer to load pistol on single-stage but if I were going through a couple hundred rounds every week I'd certainly have to consider going progressive.

Choices between the two chamberings would come down to purpose, if you're shooting IPSC matches then 9mm for sure, if you're shooting ICORE matches then .357 is the more likely, though 9mm revolvers using moon-clips are not uncommon. If you're using a rifle then 9mm would be very uncommon compared to .357mag options. Both cartridges are similar but the 9mm is more compact and the .357 offers much heavier bullets, up to well over 200gn.

[wrenchman]

over here in the states it would depend on what you are doing with each one.
I have both and I am a revolver guy but some times I do use the 9mm its is lighter and holds more rounds.
I also run 357 in a Henry lever action and I keep it handy for coyote and a 357 out of a rifle is much more then the 9mm with a good hand load you can push 357 close to 2000 fps.
On a side note most of the long guns in 9mm are semi auto and I don't know if you guys can get them

[bladeracer]

over here in the states it would depend on what you are doing with each one.
I have both and I am a revolver guy but some times I do use the 9mm its is lighter and holds more rounds.
I also run 357 in a Henry lever action and I keep it handy for coyote and a 357 out of a rifle is much more then the 9mm with a good hand load you can push 357 close to 2000 fps.
On a side note most of the long guns in 9mm are semi auto and I don't know if you guys can get them

Yes, the greater case capacity does make the .357 more useful in a rifle than the 9mm.

We have a handful of non-semi "rifles" here now in 9mm but it's very uncommon outside of handguns. I know Bergara offers one, and the Alfa revolver carbine thingy offers 9mm as an option I think.

[Die Judicii]

Thanks for the enlightenment fellas.

[mickb]

9mm versus 357 popularity, 9mm wins in handguns I would guess, but 357 also taps into the lever action market, which is pretty big in northern states, both hunting and western action.

Regards pistol reloading gear getting turned over fast,one reason would be without powder or pistol primers which almost dried up for a few years, blokes were leaving the sports(including western action, the highest volume shooters).

Not to mention with inflation going up I see a lot of people streamlining their lives in a variety of hobbies/sports period. I'd see it as making sense a bloke letting go his target 357 revolver first if he had to choose between that and the bolt action he can actially hunt with.

[Blr243]

Online their appears to be a fair bit of intrest in the new 9 mm eureka rifle. Perhaps it’s ipsc based Can’t see why anyone would want to hunt with one

[bladeracer]

Online their appears to be a fair bit of intrest in the new 9 mm eureka rifle. Perhaps it’s ipsc based Can’t see why anyone would want to hunt with one

A guy at the pistol club just got his PtA approved for one of these, he's ordering the 9mm barrel when it's available. Another guy was shooting 3-Gun with a button-release 9mm carbine a couple weeks ago.

Agreed, I don't think 9mm would be much use for hunting

[Wapiti]

I used to use both a 357 and a 44mag in the field on a primary producer cat H, both in Ruger stainless 5 1/2" Blackhawks. Eventually I had the opportunity to swap the 357 for a Sig P229 Legion 9mm, a pistol more compact than the 226 but still with 15-20 shot mags. Primary Producers can have these mags, at least in Qld.
I will say, using hollow point ammo (actually my favourite is the 115gn PPU) if the time is taken to align the sights properly, hitting something in the head at 15-20m isn't difficult. I could imagine that range shooters could shoot small enough groups with ammo their gun likes too at their range to believe that.
I will say too, that when having to chest shoot animals at bowhunting ranges, I often find mushroomed projectiles on the far sides of animals of about 30-50cm chest width. Thin skinned critters, not huge pigs. Edit: shoot big critters in the head.
I'm completely comfortable with the 9mm cartridge and what it's capable of. Don't underestimate it.

Also awesome, is that factory ammo is cheap in comparison to 357, half as much.
I did find quite a bit in the 357, that in handgun velocities, the projectiles used were too hard and pinholes, causing me grief. That doesn't happen with 9mm because it's designed to work in handguns only. Well that's my explanation anyway.

[bladeracer]

For finishing animals at close range I have no doubts about the 9mm, but it wouldn't be my choice for hunting in a carbine. .357/.44 magnums are much better choices for hunting, in my opinion.

I used to use both a 357 and a 44mag in the field on a primary producer cat H, both in Ruger stainless 5 1/2" Blackhawks. Eventually I had the opportunity to swap the 357 for a Sig P229 Legion 9mm, a pistol more compact than the 226 but still with 15-20 shot mags. Primary Producers can have these mags, at least in Qld.
I will say, using hollow point ammo (actually my favourite is the 115gn PPU) if the time is taken to align the sights properly, hitting something in the head at 15-20m isn't difficult. I could imagine that range shooters could shoot small enough groups with ammo their gun likes too at their range to believe that.
I will say too, that when having to chest shoot animals at bowhunting ranges, I often find mushroomed projectiles on the far sides of animals of about 30-50cm chest width. Thin skinned critters, not huge pigs. Edit: shoot big critters in the head.
I'm completely comfortable with the 9mm cartridge and what it's capable of. Don't underestimate it.

Also awesome, is that factory ammo is cheap in comparison to 357, half as much.
I did find quite a bit in the 357, that in handgun velocities, the projectiles used were too hard and pinholes, causing me grief. That doesn't happen with 9mm because it's designed to work in handguns only. Well that's my explanation anyway.

[mickb]

Wapiti what were the actual loads failing in 357? Also worth mentioning there are loads in 357 that will take bigger game with bodyshots. A 158grain SP at 1550fps or 180XTP at 1400fps is doubling 9mm power.

[Wapiti]

Hi MickB
They were PMC and Winchester brand factory, and handloads using Win 296 and 2205. I remember the PMC was a softpoint and the Winchester was a hollowpoint, with exposed lead tip that had a hole in it. A very conventional looking bullet, actually pretty plain, similar to the projectiles in the PPU 9mm in looks.

I do remember the distinct difference in performance on pigs between my 357 Win 94 Trapper with a 16" barrel, compared to the pistol. Actually the lever was very acceptable at the ranges it was ok for, in comparison to the pistol. Actually I remember a situation where I was in a gully drain in long grass and I stupidly chased a very big boar into there and got myself in some big trouble, because I thought the revolver would do better than it did and it was all I had, as I thought it was way adequate.

I do know though, that if I had used ammo optomised for the short barrel that the 357 would've whacked harder than the 9mm, but I still reckon most of the conventional stuff is made for the rifle's velocity. The only way to tell would be to use on the animals you needed to cull, and until I used it in such a short barrel I never knew.

[mickb]

mate the majority of 357 ammo are self defence loads, made for pistols. I dont doubt you could have run into some bullets that didnt do well in 357 though. 44 has the same problem with a couple of loadings.

[Wapiti]

mate the majority of 357 ammo are self defence loads, made for pistols. I dont doubt you could have run into some bullets that didnt do well in 357 though. 44 has the same problem with a couple of loadings.

Yeah you're dead right because this was 10 years ago and further back, and no way was there this huge flood of "self defence" essential stuff on the Aussie market like there is now. Back then, if I recovered a projectile, it might have a bit of a deformation in the tip but that was it. Usually they all exited out of a tiny hole without really shocking the animals nervous system.
And just out of interest, I've tried some of the fancy self-defence big-name stuff Cleavers gets in quite a bit in the field in 9mm over the last few years and it might be good for two legged prowlers, but not for 4 legged angry ones. The PPU stuff, that so many people brand-snob, works the best would you believe.

From my experience, the super easy shootability and the effectiveness of the 9mm quite surprised me, after reading all the stuff saying it was a poor choice for anything.

And, with it so cheap in comparison with pistol powders being so hard to get, I would've thought it was way more popular for making holes in paper for range shooters too.