9mm Makarov Bullets

9x18 Bullets for Reloading

This page is full of products that contain only the bullet. Reloaders use this to make their own ammunition. If you're looking for loaded rounds ready to fire, please head to our 9mm Makarov ammo page here.

The most important thing we have to tell new shooters about the 9x18mm Makarov is that it is absolutely, positively, unequivocally not the same thing as the 9mm Luger. Those clever Soviets actually made their pistol round’s bullet a tenth of an inch greater in diameter so our troops couldn’t appropriate their ammo caches.

9x18 bullets bullets are 0.365 in diameter and commonly weigh 90 or 95 grains. The CIP, which is sort of like Europe’s version of SAAMI, sets the 9x18 Makarov’s max pressure at 23,206 psi. Bullets are accordingly loaded to muzzle velocities between 1,000 and 1,050 fps.

Lead and copper washed bullets are often available for reloading the 9x18 Makarov. Because such soft bullets will deform to fit the barrel and accordingly permit less blow-by during ignition, they perform better with weaker powder charges than true FMJs or JHPs.

As a Russian cartridge, a factory loaded 9x18 Makarov often has a steel case and Berdan primer. Both of these features create extreme complications for reloading, so starting out with a new brass case with a single, central hole to accommodate a Boxer small pistol primer is highly advisable.

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