Parabellum cartridge: description, characteristics

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:40

The Parabellum cartridge was developed in 1902 by the German designer Georg Luther, began production in 1903, and a year later was adopted by the German Navy. The 9x19 Parabellum cartridge has the second name P.08, since it was adopted by the German army in 1908. With a huge number of modifications, the development of 1902 is the most popular in the world at the moment.

History of Creation

Before the advent of the Parabellum cartridge, the 7.62 mm cartridge was the most popular in the armed forces, but its stopping power was not enough, in particular during local wars in the colonies of Africa 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 began to be made animated.

Distribution, mass character and their causes

At present, cartridges are used by police, law enforcement agencies, troopsspecial forces and ordinary people in many countries. The Parabellum cartridge is in service with most NATO member states, since 1985 it has been adopted in service in the United States of America under the M9 pistol. 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 PYa (Yarygin Pistol), the second - GSh-18, created by Gyazev and Shipunov. The main feature of the modified Russian development was a hardened steel core that could withstand high temperatures. Due to this, a lot of pressure in the barrel can be developed in the barrel of the pistol, which increases the flight speed, penetrating action and stopping effect of the bullet.

The popularity of the cartridge is undoubtedly due to its combat qualities and timeliness of creation. At that moment, when 7.62 mm cartridges began to show themselves not so well and showed many shortcomings in battle, fundamentally new bullets appeared. On top of that, with relatively small dimensions, the cartridge has excellent ballistics, energy and muzzle velocity. Also, due to the reduced size, weapons equipped with this cartridge have the ability to use rapid fire, large capacity due to their small size and weak recoil when firing, which, in general, is a serious advantage.

Because the cartridge is widely used among the civilian population, it has a low cost. It can be used notonly directly in real combat operations, but also in training somewhere in a shooting range or at a training ground.

Varieties

In military production, it is customary to distinguish between the following types of 9 mm Parabellum cartridges:

• lead core;
• steel core;
• with high penetration bullet;
• with high stopping power;
• with a low penetration bullet;
• pistol 9mm for law enforcement;
• with reduced ricochet bullet;
• with increased armor penetration bullet;
• training cartridge 9x18.

If the peculiarity of samples with a lead and steel core lies in the name itself, then it is worth dwelling on a cartridge with a bullet with increased penetration. Russia has succeeded the most in its creation. Development began due to the fact that earlier models of weapons worked under the 7.62 mm cartridge and were outdated. In the late 1970s, a high-impulse 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 pass through body armor. The most popular Russian brands of this variety are: PBM, RG 028 and 9 PP. The latest equipped with a modernized Makarov pistol (PMM) in the mid-1980s.

The 9 mm pistol cartridge for law enforcement agencies (PPO) in Russia was developed in 2004 by order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The reason for this was the impossibility of using army ammunitionsample with a steel core in urban environments. The previous cartridge had a high ricochet, so a bimetallic shell with a truncated cone, a lead core and a rounded tip was created for the new sample. Serial production began in 2005 at the Tula Cartridge Plant.

9 mm ammo 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 muzzle velocity. For example, the Chicago Police Department is using an 8g modification, instead of the 9.7g it once used, after a huge number of failures during the capture of criminals. The heavier cartridge has a low initial subsonic speed, which worsens the stopping effect. A similar situation occurred in the city of Orlando: this shows that it is not necessary to use popular brands of 9x19 Parabellum cartridges, because they are in no way inferior in efficiency to lesser known ones.

Weapon designed for cartridge

The cartridge for Parabellum (a German pistol of the early 20th century) was one of the first produced and adopted by decree of Wilhelm II. Most of the weapons at that time were made in 7.62 mm caliber, so the new pistol easily outperformed its competitors in the competition for the best military self-loading pistol of the Kaiser army.

High reliability and fighting qualities of the pistol thanks to the new cartridge quickly turned it into the bestshort-barreled weapons for both defensive and offensive actions.

The number of delays in use was minimal. The gun was fundamentally different from others in its layout. However, the development of this sample was not without its drawbacks: a considerable degree of contamination due to the open trigger mechanism and the complexity of manufacturing, which led to a high cost. Later, in 1942, a new development appeared - R.38, but the old model remained relevant for a long time. The P.38 has become a truly legendary weapon, distinguished by its comfortable grip, aiming and fitting details.

Today, the following brands appear on the market for pistols with 9 mm caliber bullets: CZ 75 SP-01 (Czech Republic), EAA Witness Elite Match (Italy), W alther PPQ (Germany), Springfield XD m 4.5 (Croatia), W alther P99 AS (Germany), Baby Eagle II BE9915R (Israel), Beretta 92FS (Italy) and other lesser-known models from Western Europe.

Progress in production

Time does not stand still, and quite recently a whole new generation of cartridges has appeared on the market, which at the same time has a relatively heavy weight and demonstrates high efficiency. Leading cartridges in this segment are made by brands such as Federal HST, CCI Speer Gold Dot and Winchester Ranger. Their bullets are able to expand even at low speeds.

Modern cartridges are much more powerful than old ones and higher in terms of pressure in the barrel due to the appearance of fundamentallynew types of steel and gunpowder. However, there are standard SAAMI and CIP restrictions that do not allow cartridge performance to be improved to certain values. That is why the developers go to various tricks, for example, change the behavior of the bullet on the terminal ballistics.

Damage

The latest developments may outperform their predecessors in initial speed and good opening, but they definitely do not have an advantage in damage to the enemy. Under the damage from the 9 mm cartridge of earlier developments, doctors even came up with a name - "soaked flesh" - when the area where the bullet hit resembles minced meat.

Interesting facts for general reference

In 1950, American intelligence officer Leslie Koffelt was shot dead from a Luger pistol chambered in Parabellum. The agent was on duty 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 member of the secret service had been killed in the line of duty. The gun is still in the Truman Museum.

Another copy of the Luger is in the collection of the weapons fund of the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of Russia, as a gift from L. I. Brezhnev by Mauser Company

Lavrenty Beria was shot in the forehead from the service Parabellum.

In total, 2,818,000 R.08 pistols were produced in Germany, which is a little more than revolvers in Tsarist Russia and the USSR - 2,600,000 pieces.