Danish/Swedish 9mm training ammo - experiences?

[honkeoki]

Plastic "bullet" with a metal bb in the tip, very low-powered so it won't cycle in a normal semi-auto.

This stuff's dirt cheap and I'd love to get a case and go plinking in the backyard. Here's my question: is it strong enough to partially cycle in a normal 9mm? My backyard plinking wouldn't be fun if I could only load and fire a single round at a time.

I don't mind racking the slide between shots but I don't want jams etc.

Anyone take the plunge with this weird but cheap ammo?

 

[jonnyc]

RRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do not buy that stuff!!! It was not meant to be used in standard barrels. The plastic breaks-up quickly and leaves a little steel ball to bounce around your barrel and fly off who-knows-where.
Do not use!!!

 

[Snowdog]

A search at The Firing Line will bring up the "range report" I drafted after testing these back in '02, with pictures I believe.

I wasn't overly impressed with them. They are nearly as loud as full-power 9mm ammunition. They are not particularly accurate (far less so than your standard FMJ beyond 15 yards) . They will not cycle automatic handguns with stock springs. Even with the plastic slug shattering upon impact with a 2x4, the embedded 5mm iron ball continues to penetrate up to two 2x4s.
In essence, these rounds are practically useless for anything outside novelty.

However, if you're hell bent on purchasing some for simply for the sake of novelty or whatnot, I've still got 500 or so rounds on hand. I'll be more than happy to send you a few boxes for the cost of shipping.


BTW, just as JonnyC, I've also heard reports that these rounds will trash a barrel, so you may not want to press your luck. I will point out that both of the recoverable slugs I fired into towels and playdough were still intact with iron ball still embedded and the 100 or so rounds didn't bugger up my PT99’s barrel in the least. Also, all the slugs (around 50) that I fired through paper made holes typical for 9mm... none of the rounds fired through my Taurus broke up or had the ball "bounce around the barrel ".
That said, there's always that possibility that I may have just been lucky due to my distant Irish lineage .

Bottom line, this makes a piss-poor load for target practice... or anything else for that matter.

 

[honkeoki]

And here I imagined myself plinking in the backyard, knocking over beer cans as if with a bb gun... and the neighbors not even knowing. Oh, well.

These loads don't sound like a good idea to me. Thanks for the warnings.

 

[DrDremel]

I damaged a Marlin Camp 9 with this ammo. The light bolt and long barrel combination allowed the gun to function. Accuracy was terrible. Upon cleaning I noticed it looked like someone had a small ball peen hammer that they had beat on the rifling. The barrel was a total loss. I bought the stuff for the stripper clips as my subgun uses them. If anyone has any strippers that they are going to throw away, let me know and I’ll pay shipping to send them to me. I have 2000 rounds that I don’t know what to do with right now.