However, ammunition manufacturers soon rolled out a new bullet technology, and powder charges were beefed up in order to drive expansion in these newer projectiles. 38 Special and others bombed the test as well). Finding itself among the poorer performers in these tests, 9x19mm Parabellum suffered a blow to its reputation, though it was not alone in this regard (. Post Miami-Dade Shootout, the FBI began comprehensive ballistics testing on many commonly-used handgun cartridges. When paired with a cartridge like 9mm Luger, the lightweight and affordable Glock was also surprisingly durable and accurate – these qualities were hardly to be expected of a plastic-framed gun from the 1980s. Although some shooters, especially diehard 1911 proponents, found it repulsive to behold and lacking in substance (and power), its arrival forever changed the public’s perception of polymer pistols. The Beretta M9, chambered in 9x19 Parabellum, became the official US service pistol in 1985. Unlike their response to previous NATO agreements about handgun cartridges, the US actually followed suit on this occasion. 1982’s NATO STANAG 4090 standardized the 9mm NATO round for many western militaries, even though most of them already fielded a similar 9mm load. In fact, it wasn’t until the mid 80s that the US military began to move away from. To be fair, it had won Two World Wars, as much as a small-arms cartridge was capable of such a boast, and American troops truly trusted it. 45 ACP still captivated the imaginations of ordnance officials in this country. This decision would have little impact on the US military however, as. In the decade or so after the war, 9x19 Parabellum was chosen as NATO’s standard sidearm cartridge. Various Lugers and the new Walther P38 pistols would also see plenty of use in the war by the Axis powers. British troops would pit their famous Sten guns against the Germans and their MP38s and MP40s, with each passing battle showing the devastating capability of the cartridge in close-quarters and urban combat. WWII would see 9x19mm Parabellum used on both sides. 45 ACP ) had materialized in the US by 1921, while designs incorporating 9x19 Parabellum continued to pour out of Europe, including much development in Germany (despite the Versailles Treaty restrictions on combat arms). It was also the beginning of a trend in small-arms development that would shape battle tactics for generations.įor as loved as the Luger pistols were, submachine guns would eclipse them in importance worldwide over the following decades. It was capable of cycling the 9x19mm Parabellum at 500/rpm yet was also carried with ease and controllable under fire. Bergmann Waffenfabrik of Germany would design and deliver the MP18, in all likelihood the first submachine gun, just before the war’s end. However, the firepower demands of close-in trench fighting soon prompted weapons makers to ask more of the cartridge – in this case to deliver truly automatic fire. The war would swiftly forge 9x19mm Parabellum’s combat reputation, with the Luger pistol alone manufactured by the millions for use by German troops. In 1904, this new ammunition, known as 9x19mm Parabellum, entered service along with a modified pistol into the Germany Navy, followed by the Army (and the P.08 Luger) just ahead of WWI. The pistol would see adoption by the Swiss military, followed by the German Imperial Navy just a few years later.Īt the insistence of the Germans, Luger enlarged the case mouth of his cartridge to accommodate a larger 9mm bullet. This cartridge, much like the Borchardt’s 7.65x25mm, had a bottle necked case and launched a 93-gr. Luger tinkered with the C-93’s ammunition, action, and grip, creating the Pistole Parabellum chambered in 7.65x21mm. Even so, it feels modern compared to a contemporary revolver of that time like the Nagant M1895, and is legitimately important to this story – not for the sum of its features – but because of the man that assisted Borchardt with its development: Georg Luger. It was powerful, semi-automatic, and ridiculous looking. Take Hugo Borchardt’s C-93, for instance, a pistol that perfectly captures the quirkiness of handgun tech in the 1890s. Indeed, these were heady times for pistol pioneers and novel, and quirky designs flowed freely from the workshops of industrial Europe and the United States. Meanwhile, the quest to create a truly reliable autoloader was quickly gaining steam. Following the introduction of smokeless powder a decade before, handgun cartridges in the final few years of the 19th century were becoming far more powerful relative to their shrinking size.
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