9x23

[HMC710]

Any 9x23 fans out there?
Chambered a 9x23 brl yesterday and should be able to put a gas system on it today. Picked up some Winchester white box 124 JSP for chrono testing and have a box of Largo surplus to do a comparrison.
The 9x23 is a high pressure round, 44,000 psi. QL is predicting 1600 fps from a 10" brl with fast Bullseye. The Largo surplus runs half the pressure so getting both to run in the same system will be interesting if even possible with the low pressure impulse.

[HMC710]

Ran the 9x23 yesterday a bit. Using Pps-43 mags and the TMAR it would feed but needs some tweaking of the barrel extension or feed ramps for the larger dia rounds. Gas system was and old adjustable I had from another project that got us in the ball park. Did not have time to get the chrono out, but this round has some oomph to it
I think I remember seeing some 9x23 mags for a 1911 on gunbroker........hmmmm

[22boomer]

I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble but the PPSH-41 magazine might work but the outer shell near the top of the mag would need removing -- it's spot welded on. The mag kinda looks like a PPS-43 mag except it's a single feed. Only other problem is they seem to cost a few bucks more than the PPS-43 mags but if it will help in feeding a large diameter bullet that could be ignored. I've never tried a single feed mag in a gas operated setup so I don't know if it will work.

[HMC710]

Tweaked on system yesterday ;D
Have not chrono'd yet....

[HMC710]

Ran a half box of ammo through the pistol yesterday before the monsoon hit, nice little round. Pps-43 mags, 11.5" barrel, rifle length FFT.


Ran a few of the Largo rounds through but not enough oomph with the current gas system. Maybe on the other one........
Still need to chronograph and pull some rounds to see if we can duplicate the factory loading for more testing. The rounds on the box are: 9mm, 9x23, 7.62x25

[HMC710]

Ran a new 7.5" 9x23 pistol with the chrono yesterday and this is a nice round. Was consistently hitting the 1690's with it all afternoon. As a comparison, the 10" Tok pistol was doing 1660's. You could tell this round was developed to make power and gas for the IPSC compensated guns. Pulled one round and it has 9.4 gr of ball powder so we'll see if we can duplicate it with the data we have. QL could not duplicate the numbers within reason so Win might be using a hybrid load. AA#5 was too fast and #7 was too slow. Same with Power Pistol and Blue Dot. What kind of surprised (or reminded) me was 296..... man that is a slow powder. Fun, powerful round, but didn't do any mag dumps at $28 /box.

[greywuuf]

I would suggest trying some 296 or even some H110. Those have been my "go to" magnum pistol powders for years. Traditional wisdom (and a good many loading manuals) say to not use reduced loads with these powders. I have used 296 on top end 357 loads and the 9x23 has got to be similar. This is actually what I was trying to accomplish with the cut down .223 brass and 357 bullets. Very similar to Jeff Cooper's 9mm super Cooper. (I was trying to use the 358 diameter because I had a nice blank and because I shoot so much .357 but don't own a 9mm.

[HMC710]

H110 & 296 are both going to be 125% of case capacity and only burn about 70% according to QL. 357 Mag also shows a compressed charge, but at 111%. At 100% capacity they are both just over sub sonic velocity from an 8" brl. I'm going to start with Herco and Power Pistol. I'm out of AA#5 & #7
Don't own a 9mm ? I knew you were an ok guy ;D

[greywuuf]

Read one report of a guy using Hodgon LIL gun in his .357 mag rifle. Dunno what the case fill would be for the x23 but it is kinda similar.

[HMC710]

Played around with this again while working on a couple TOK barrels long overdue (sorry GW). Running the Largo rounds just fine and might be able to reload some heavy 357 bullets tonight using the Win 9x23 brass I have. The Tok mags have just a little more room than the factory round so maybe some heavies will work. Don't know if I still have some of my old 180gr Silhouette bullets left.....

[HMC710]

Got a chance to work with not only the 9x23Win (43ksi), but also some 9mm Largo (19ksi), and my new EAA Witness in 38 Super (34ksi). This is a fun and versatile little round. There is a difference between all of the rounds, however slight, but a difference. So, seeing as I have a 38Super pistol, a 9x23 AR upper, ammo, and some time on my hands.......
The 9x23 has a listed pressure of 43,000 psi, the case is tapered from .391" to .381" , and capacity of 19.0 gr of water. The old 38 Super is a straight wall at .384", operates at 34,000 psi, and capacity of 18.8 gr of water. Loading up new Starline 38 Super brass next to some once fired 9x23 Win cases, the Starline had more capacity just looking at the same charge of 10.5gr of Lil Gun. Didn't do any chrono work bur using 147gr JHP should put us in the low 1100 fps range in the Witness. Nice little pistol by the way
Lil'Gun in the 9x23? Yes, had it listed in the Lee die chart and I had it in the powcer measure. A bit slow, but cycled the AR and no sign of pressure in either. I would think something like AA #7 would be ideal for this family cartridges.
I fired the Largo (suplus), Super and 9x23 in the AR without issue. I also fired the Largo, Super reloads, and 9x23 reloads in the Witness. I did not try the factory 9x23 in the Witness. While they would fit, there is a 10,000 psi higher pressure range on the factory 9x23.
All in all, a fun evening of plinking and reloading ;D

[HMC710]

Another wild hair to try on the 9x23.........

[HMC710]

Put the 9x23 / 38 SuperComp together Sunday to join the fun. I put the Tok Piston system on it to see if it would cycle with my std 147gr loads. I also loaded up some Super Heavy 247gr hard cast loads


I loaded up two lengths, 1.55 for M1 Carbine mags with 4.5gr of Universal and 1.45", which put us almost to the crimp groove, with 3.3gr on Universal. Both loads were 100% capacity. QL predicted about 700 & 600 fps for each one.
Of course I forgot my M1 Carbine set up so I couldn't try the mags...... so I handloaded. The first round would not chamber, too long I thought, so I went to the short rounds. They chambered fine, fired, but would not fully eject. I fired off all five of the short rounds and tried a 1.55" again and this one went in! First one might have had a weak crimp. These rounds fired and ejected with the Tok set up. On the plus side, I have some 8" dia 1" thick plates mounted on top of an I beam. The 38 Super Heavy was the first pistol round to knock these plates back.

Next time I'll try some 231 to see if I can get enough power to get these to hit 1000 fps from a 10" barrel. I could bump the brass up to 9mm Mag and ensure more room so we'll play with this a bit more.