9mm
The 9 mm Luger or 9 mm Parabellum pistol cartridge is the child of the famous firearms designer Georg Luger. Based upon his earlier 7.65 mm Luger pistol cartridge, the 9 mm Luger cartridge was introduced in 1904 and has since become the most widespread pistol cartridge in the world.
Georg Luger designed the 9 mm Luger cartridge on demand of the German army to increase the power of his famous Luger pistol which had been introduced in the 7.65 mm Luger caliber.
Georg Luger simply removed the bottleneck of the 7.65 mm Luger cartridge and by doing this created a new 9 mm (0.355 inch) straight walled rimless cartridge.
The original design used a 7.5 g (115 Gr) full metal jacket bullet, but after World War 2, this was changed to 8.0 g (124 Gr) to increase the accuracy of the 9 mm Luger ammunition. Bullet weights up to 9.5 g (147 Gr) are available.
The 9 mm Luger cartridge combines a flat trajectory with moderate recoil, and fair stopping power (50–60% 1-hit incapacitation probability). Its main advantages lie in its small size and low use of resources for manufacturing. Its main disadvantages are its tendency to overpenetrate and poor energy transfer to the target.
Because it is inexpensive, easy to manufacture and effective enough for most uses, it has become the most used pistol cartridge in the world.
For police use, it is mainly used with higher speed overpressure (+P) expanding bullets to increase energy transfer and to reduce overpenetration.
The 9 mm Luger is also known as: 9×19 mm, 9 mm Parabellum (from the latin phrase "Si vis pacem, para bellum"—"If you want peace, prepare for war"), 9 Para, and 9 mm.
Muzzle Velocity:
- 7.5 g (115 Gr) Full Metal Jacket: 390 m/s (1280 ft/s)
- 8.0 g (124 Gr) Full Metal Jacket: 360 m/s (1180 ft/s)
See Also
