9mm Luger (9mm Parabellum)
Also called the 9mm Luger, the 9mm Parabellum
was introduced in 1902 in the Luger automatic pistol. In 1904 it became the
official military cartridge of the German navy, and two years later was adopted
by the German army. In 1985, United States military forces discontinued the
use of the long favored Model 1911 Colt in
.45 ACP and
adopted the Beretta Model 92-F in 9mm Parabellum. Whether this represents
a step forward or backward for the U.S. fighting man will long be debated.
Of all the cartridges designed for autoloading pistols and submachine guns
during this century, the 9mm Parabellum is by far the most popular. During
the past few years, a number of U.S. law enforcement agencies swapped revolvers
in .357 Magnum
and .38
Special for high capacity 9mm autoloaders, but the jury is still out
on just how good the cartridge is for the application. The FBI had adopted
the 9mm, but after its alleged failure to perform as expected, replaced it
with the more modern, more powerful
10mm cartridge.
If anything good can be said of the 9mm Parabellum, it is the fact that most
shooters should be able to shoot it more accurately then is possible with
more powerful cartridges.
The groove diameter of the 9mm Parabellum barrels vary considerably, a condition
that usually presents no particular problem to the handloader who sticks
with jacketed bullets. But when loading cast or swaged lead bullets, best
accuracy will be realized if they are extremely hard and their diameters
closely match the groove diameter of a particular barrel. Excellent propellants
for the 9mm include
HP38 and
HS6.
Source: Hodgdon Data Manual, 26th Edition
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