9mm Luger – 9×19 Luger / Parabellum

The 9 x 19 Parabellum Cartridge, generally considered to be “THE 9mm”, is usually referred to simply as “9mm Luger” (after Georg Luger, who designed the pistol originally associated with this round) or “9mm Parabellum” (after the trade mark of the German DWM company that originally produced this round). It was developed at the request of the German Navy in 1902, which liked the 7.65mm ‘Parabellum’ pistol developed by Luger and made by DWM, but wanted more stopping power.

Following this requirement, DWM shortened the case of the original 7.65×21 Luger/Parabellum round to 19mm and loaded it with a 9mm jacketed bullet of truncated cone shape. The ‘Parabellum’ pistol chambered for this cartridge was adopted by the German Navy in 1904. Then by the German Army in 1908 with a modified pistol – P-08. This round saw extensive use by German armed forces during World War 1, in various pistols and in the first submachine guns.

In around 1917 the original flat point bullet was replaced by an ogive shaped jacketed bullet that has remained the standard for military loadings of this caliber up until the present. Between the wars, this cartridge continued its service with the German armed forces in a variety of pistols and submachine guns. It was also accepted as a military load by several other countries, starting with Belgium, which brought out one of the most successful and historically important 9mm Luger pistols of all time, the FN Browning High Power.

After World War 2 the 9mm Parabellum was quickly adopted as a standard pistol and submachine gun chambering throughout NATO, with the notable exception of the USA, which tenaciously stuck to its .45 ACP cartridge for some forty more years. It was eventually adopted as a military load by many other countries worldwide, and since the 1970’s has also found its way into the police departments of many nations. Over a hundred years old, today this cartridge remains the most popular and long-lasting chambering for pistols and submachine guns in the world. It combines adequate combat effectiveness with a relatively compact size that allows for a larger magazine capacity than for instance, the .45ACP. All in all, this is probably the best and most popular compromise combat pistol cartridge in the world.

The 9×19 Parabellum cartridge uses a straight rimless case with a slight taper. The cases are usually made of brass, but aluminum and lacquered steel ones may also be encountered. The standard military loading is an ogive-shaped jacketed bullet with a lead core, while police and commercial loadings may exhibit a wide variety of bullet types – expanding, frangible etc. In recent years, several types of military armor-piercing loadings were manufactured in countries like Austria, China and Russia.

Warning Note:

One thing has to be understood about military ammunition in this caliber. In many countries the 9mm Luger cartridge was considered primarily as a submachine gun loading, and thus was loaded to higher velocities and pressure levels to provide the necessary effective range for infantry and other military personnel armed with SMG’s. In many cases, the same ammunition was also issued to troops with pistols, which would often result in a degraded lifespan of the weapon or even damage and injuries to the shooters.

Therefore great care must be taken when shooting military issue or surplus ammunition in commercial or older military pistols, which may not stand up to the stronger recoil and higher barrel pressures of certain military ‘sub-machine gun’ loadings.

Comment: for sub-machine gun loadings muzzle velocities are given as fired from FN Browning High Power (*) or Mle.1950 (**) pistols