.357 & Moon clips

[rebliss]

I've got an old Model 13-3 in .357. Standard speedloaders are a P.I.T.A to use, and I was checking dimensions on the cylinder; it appears that I'll have to have it mod'd to accept moon clips. What I'm wondering is, would it make sense to shoot 9mm in this pistol? I'm thinking for savings on powder for IDPA-style shooting. Does accuracy suffer with the shorter cartridge length? Anyone else shooting these?

[S.R.Custom]

Equipped as you describe, that gun would perform miserably shooting 9mm for so many reasons.

On the other hand, they do make moon clips for the .357 magnum, which would work quite well...

[pincherpartner]

Also, you mentioned savings on powder. Couldn't you just download the powder charges on the .357 cartridges to .38 special level? Or do you need full power loads to make a power factor?

[MT Gianni]

What brand and type of speedloaders are giving you grief?

[jameslovesjammie]

Mark at Pinnacle Custom can cut it for 9mm or standard .357 brass if you want. If you want to save on powder, get some .38 short colt brass (or trim .38 special brass down to 9mm length) and use 9mm load data. If you shoot 9mm in a .357 barrel, you may get leading and inaccuracy due the 9mm being a smaller bullet.

Most times this is the case, however, my uncle has a Blackhawk convertible that does better with the 9mm cylinder than it does with the .357 one.