The Parabellum cartridge was developed in 1902 by the German designer Georg Luther, began to be manufactured in 1903, and a year later it was adopted by the German naval forces. The cartridge 9x19 Parabellum has the second name P.08, since in 1908 it was adopted by the German army. Having a huge variety of modifications, the development of 1902 is the most popular in the world at the moment.
History of creation
Prior to the advent of the Parabellum cartridge, the most popular in the armed forces was the 7.62 mm cartridge, but its stopping power was not enough in particular during the local wars in the African colonies and during the suppression of the uprising in China (1899-1901). The new cartridge adopted for service had a shell with a lead core, the head part was a truncated cone. But to increase reliability in 1917, the head of the cartridge was made lively.
Distribution, mass and their causes
Currently, cartridges are used by police, law enforcement agencies, special forces and ordinary people in many countries. The Parabellum cartridge is in service with most NATO member states; since 1985 it has been adopted by the M9 pistol in the United States of America. In 2003, variants of the Parabellum 9 19 cartridge were adopted for use by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The pistol under which the modification was invented was called PY (Yarygin Pistol), the second - GSh-18, created by Gyazev and Shipunov. The main feature of the modified Russian design was a hardened steel core that withstands high temperatures. Due to this, a large pressure in the barrel can be developed in the gun barrel, which increases the flight speed, punching effect and the stopping effect of the bullet.
The popularity of the cartridge, of course, is due to its fighting qualities and timeliness of creation. At that moment when the 7.62 mm cartridges began to show themselves not so well and showed many shortcomings in the battle, fundamentally new bullets appeared. On top of that, with its relatively small dimensions, the cartridge has excellent ballistics, energy and initial speed. Also, due to the reduced size, a weapon equipped with this cartridge has the ability to use rapid-fire shooting, a large capacity due to its small size and low recoil when shooting, which, in general, is a serious advantage.
Since the cartridge is widespread among the civilian population, it has a low cost. It can be used not only directly in real combat operations, but also in training somewhere in the shooting range or at the training ground.
Varieties
In military production, it is customary to distinguish the following types of 9 mm Parabellum cartridges:
- with lead core;
- with steel core;
- with a bullet of increased penetration;
- with a bullet of increased stopping power;
- with a bullet of low penetration;
- 9mm pistol for law enforcement;
- with a bullet of reduced rebound ability;
- with a bullet of increased armor penetration;
- training cartridge 9x18.
If the peculiarity of the samples with lead and steel core lies in the name itself, then on a cartridge with an increased penetration bullet it is worthwhile to dwell in more detail. Russia has succeeded most in its creation. Development began due to the fact that earlier models of weapons worked under the cartridge of 7.62 mm and are outdated. In the late 1970s, a high-pulse cartridge was created by order of the KGB. By improving the design of the core, it was possible to achieve high penetration, the bullet could even go through the bulletproof vest. The most popular Russian brands of this variety: PBM, RG 028 and 9 PP. The last was equipped with a modernized Makarov pistol (PMM) in the mid-1980s.
A 9 mm pistol cartridge for law enforcement agencies in Russia was developed in 2004 by order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The reason for this was the impossibility of using army-style ammunition with a steel core in urban conditions. The previous cartridge had a high ricochet, so a bimetallic shell with a truncated cone, a lead core and a rounded apex was created for the new sample. Serial production began in 2005 at the Tula Cartridge Plant.
9mm cartridge firms
The most common variations of the 9mm Parabellum cartridge: Speer Gold Dot, Federal Hydra Shock, Winchester + P + Ranger Talon JHP (USA). But often in some states of America they switch to less popular, but light bullets due to the low initial speed. For example, in the Chicago police department they use a modification weighing 8 g, instead of the 9.7 g once applied after a huge number of failures during the capture of criminals. A heavier cartridge has a low initial subsonic speed, which impairs the stopping effect. A similar situation occurred in the city of Orlando: this shows that it is not necessary to use 9x19 Parabellum cartridges of popular brands, because they are not inferior in effectiveness to less well-known ones.
Cartridge Weapons
The cartridge for Parabellum (a German pistol at the beginning of the 20th century) was one of the first to be fired and adopted by decree of William II. Most of the weapons at that time were made with a caliber of 7.62 mm, so the new pistol easily beat its competitors in the competition for the best military self-loading pistol of the Kaiser army.
Thanks to the new cartridge, the high reliability and combat qualities of the pistol quickly turned it into the best short-barreled weapon for both defensive actions and for attack.
The number of delays in use was minimal. The gun was fundamentally different from the others in its layout. However, the development of this sample was not without drawbacks: a considerable degree of contamination due to the open trigger mechanism and the difficulty in manufacturing, which led to a high cost. Later in 1942, a new development appeared - R.38, but the old model still remained relevant for a long time. R.38 became a truly legendary weapon, distinguished by a comfortable grip, aiming and fitting parts.
Nowadays, the following brands appear on the market for pistols with 9 mm bullets: CZ 75 SP-01 (Czech Republic), EAA Witness Elite Match (Italy), Walther PPQ (Germany), Springfield XD m 4.5 "(Croatia), Walther P99 AS ( Germany), Baby Eagle II BE9915R (Israel), Beretta 92FS (Italy) and other less well-known models of Western Europe.
Production Progress
Time does not stand still and quite recently a whole new generation of cartridges has appeared on the market, having both relatively heavy weight and demonstrating high efficiency. Leaders in this segment are created by brands such as Federal HST, CCI Speer Gold Dot and Winchester Ranger. Their bullets are capable of being opened even at low speeds.
Modern cartridges are much more powerful than the old ones and higher in the pressure parameter in the barrel due to the appearance of fundamentally new types of steel and gunpowder. However, there are standard limitations of SAAMI and CIP, which do not allow to improve the characteristics of the cartridge to certain values. That is why developers go to various tricks, for example, change the behavior of a bullet on terminal ballistics.
Damage
Although the latest developments outperform their predecessors in initial speed and good disclosure, they certainly do not have an advantage in the damage done to the enemy. Under the damage from the 9 mm cartridge of earlier designs, the doctors even came up with the name - “soaked flesh” - when the area where the bullet hit resembles minced meat.
Interesting facts for general reference
In 1950, an American intelligence officer Leslie Coffelt was shot from a Luger pistol under the Parabellum cartridge. The agent was in attendance and was the victim of an assassination attempt on US President Harry Truman. This case is unique in that it was the first time a secret service agent was killed on duty. The gun is still in the Truman Museum.
Another copy of Luger is in the collection of the weapons fund of the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of Russia, as donated by L.I. Brezhnev company "Mauser"
From the time-stamp of Parabellum, Lavrenty Beria was shot in the forehead.
In total, 2818000 R.08 pistols were produced in Germany, this is a little more than Nagans in tsarist Russia and in the USSR - 2600000 pieces.