Origin of the 9mm Parabellum Cartridge
Georg Luger originally developed the 9mm Parabellum cartridge, at the German company Deutschen Waffen-und Munitionsfabriken (DWM). In early 1902, Georg Luger, through Vickers Limited offered a 9mm version of his pistol to the British Small Arms Committee. In mid-1903, three Luger prototype pistols in 9mm were delivered to the US Army for testing at Springfield Arsenal. These are the first pistols known to be chambered for the 9mm Parabellum cartridge. An additional 50 pistols in 9mm, along with 25,000 rounds of ammunition, were provided the US Army for testing in April 1904. The first evidence of German military interest in a 9mm version of the Luger was in March 1904. The caliber was used extensively, initially in pistols, and then in machine pistols (submachine guns) produced by Germany in World War I. A reduced power version of the cartridge was introduced in Italy in 1910 for the 9mm Glisenti pistol and later used in machine pistols. Figure 1 illustrates a sectioned 9mm Glisenti showing the wad on top of the powder to fill the case. During this timeframe, 9mm pistols were adopted by a number of other countries including Holland and Bulgaria. After World War I, the caliber spread rapidly with the widespread development of the machine pistol, most of which were chambered for this caliber. Pistols and machine pistols chambered for 9mm Parabellum were also introduced in a number of countries including Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland before World War II. Today, the 9mm Parabellum cartridge has been manufactured by, or for, more than 70 different countries, with very significant production by 27 countries. It has truly become the world’s standard pistol and machine pistol cartridge. It remains the standard pistol caliber for NATO and for the military in most other countries in the world.

Loads
During over 100 years of use, 9mm Parabellum cartridges have been manufactured with a wide variety of loads. The vast majority of these are full-metal jacket (FMJ) ball loads with lead core bullets. In addition to these standard ball loads a wide variety of loads have been produced to include tracers, blanks, dummies and proof loads, as well as exotic loads for special police usage, duplex & triplex loads, squeezebore loads, shot loads and tubular bullets to list just a few. Some bullets are marked on the base, particularly pre- World War I German bullets and some British bullets made before World War II. The markings illustrated in Figure 2 are all German. Note that “278F” is the DWM designation for the truncated cone bullet. Following is an overview of some of the loads encountered in 9mm Parabellum.

Ball: The earliest loads have FMJ truncated cone bullets weighing 124grains. These were replaced in Germany with 124grain FMJ bullets with a round ogive in 1915-1916 (Figure 3) though truncated cone bullets were used on commercial loads in the United States into the 1930s. Later, round nose FMJ 115 grain bullets, usually having concave bases were introduced by a number of countries including Britain (Figure 4). During the early stages of World War II, Germany developed two new bullets in an attempt to conserve lead. The first of these bullets was designated the 08mE (for mit Eisenkern) or “with iron core”. As shown in the illustration the normal lead core is replaced by an iron core with lead around the base of the iron core. This bullet was initially identified by the black bullet jacket, but in 1944, it became the standard German ball load and the blackened bullet jacket was dropped. The second of these bullets was made by compressing iron powder at high temperature into a solid material known as Sintered Iron or Sintereisen. This was designated as the 08SE bullet and is identified by its dark gray color. The SE bullet was introduced into general service in 1943.

Until recently, the Swiss ball load used a bullet with a deep groove to facilitate a case crimp to hold the bullet in place. Figure 6 illustrates this bullet and a World War II Swiss ball load with an aluminum case

During World War II the Germans also produced a special load with a 150gr FMJ bullet with a subsonic muzzle velocity for use with silencers. These loads are identified by either a green lacquered steel case or by an “X” on the headstamp (Figure 7). Similar heavy bullet loads for use with silencers were produced by the British after World War II with bullet weights up to 170gr and are often identified by various color dots on the case head. A number of other countries subsequently developed heavy bullet subsonic loads for use with silencers. In addition to the full metal jacket ball cartridges, 9mm Parabellum has been produced with a wide variety of hollow point and soft point loads. DWM produced hollow-point truncated bullet loads before World War I for use by its colonial troops in Africa. Commercial and police hollow point and soft point loads have been in regular production by many countries, but particularly by the United States. There is even a unique hollow point, soft point bullet with a saw tooth tip called a “Pin grabber” used in the north-eastern US for the sport of shootingbowling pins.

Tracer: The German Navy identified a requirement for a tracer/signal load in 9mm Parabellum prior to World War I, and there are illustrations of such a load in the DWM records, but there is no evidence of production and no specimens are known. Other than the DWM records, there is no evidence that tracers were produced until the 1930s. A Polte drawing dated October 1926 describes a tracer bullet and similar bullets have been discovered on DWM test ranges that were used prior to World War II. Geco produced a red tip tracer bullet in the mid-1930s for Gen. Franco’s forces during the Spanish Civil War. The only other tracer known to have been produced prior to the 1940s was an experimental by Kynoch for the 1939 British Army night-fighting trials with the Finnish Soumi machine pistol. During World War II various nations tested tracers, but high-rate production of tracers only began after the end of World War II and France led with their widespread production of white tip tracers.

Dummy: Inert dummy (or drill cartridges) have been produced from the earliest days of the 9mm Parabellum. The DWM listing of case types illustrates a dummy load as one of the earliest of the DWM products in 9mm Parabellum. World War I German dummy loads (or Exerzierpatronen) were generally nickel plated overall with a hollow bullet jacket making them very lightweight. Between the wars, Germany introduced another style of dummy with no primer pocket and only a small dimple in the base. This style dummy sometimes has four holes in the case. Beginning in 1940, Germany introduced plastic dummies with a steel head in both black and red plastic. Both varieties occur with and without headstamps. The Polte-headstamped black plastic dummy is quite scarce. The red plastic dummies with the “lpk” headstamp are seldom encountered and the “ay” and “nts” headstamped dummies are quite rare.

During World War II, Australia, Canada and Britain produced a variety of dummies, and Winchester produced dummy loads on contract for Britain during the war. Some of these dummy loads used a wooden spacer (sometimes painted red) inside the case to prevent the bullet from being forced into the case by repeated usage. The spacer can often be seen through the case holes.

Dummies for both military and commercial usage have been produced world wide, and an interesting collection can be put together which consists entirely of 9mm Parabellum dummies.

Blank: During the 1920s and 1930s, a number of German companies produced a wide variety of commercial blanks one by Geco with a red paper bullet filled with iron powder to give it the weight to operate the action. There is also an unheadstamped German load from this period with a mercury filled wood bullet (Figure 14).

Fig. 14: German commercial blanks: From left to right: RWS with pink paper bullet, RWS with mercury filled wooden bullet, Geco with paper bullet filled with iron powder, Geco, DWM with red wood bullet, probably prototype of RWS mercury filled wood bullet, three military blanks by Polte.

The German military, through the end of World War II, made little use of blank ammunition in 9mm Parabellum. In the 1920s and 1930s, Polte produced small lots of blanks with blue wood bullets and red paper bullets. DWM apparently experimented with blanks before and during WW I but no specimens are known. There is no record of the Germans even experimenting with blanks in 9mm Parabellum during World War II.

A wide variety of short-case and full-length blanks were produced in the United States, primarily by Stembridge Gun Rentals of Hollywood, California, for use in the movies. After World War II Britain and France produced a variety of blanks. The French blanks (Figure 15) are interesting in their use of a one piece molded plastic case and bullet with a cast aluminum head. The standard military French blank is white plastic, but over time the type of plastic obviously changed and specimens vary from opaque white to opaque cream to various degrees of translucent white. An interesting French blank was produced for the movie “The Longest Day,” where the normal French blank was produced with a bronze color plastic and the case head was painted a bronze color so the blanks would look like loaded ammunition in the movie. French plastic blanks were also produced in a variety of colors, though at least some of these appear to have been purely experimental. The French also produced a “Paulet” blank with a white plastic “bullet” shape that extended well into the case and was crimped in place (Figure 16). These blanks were loaded into both aluminum and brass cases, and are an interesting addition to any collection.

During or just after World War II, Sweden adopted a 9mm Parabellum blank with a red plastic bullet with a deep recess in the base (Figure 17). This blank was designed for use with a bore constrictor, which attached to the end of the barrel and reduced the opening to about 3mm. When the plastic bullet hit the constrictor, it was crushed to powder, but raised the chamber pressure to a level that allowed automatic operation of the weapon. The early blanks had no case mouth seal. In the 1950s a blue case mouth seal was introduced and in the late 1960s the case mouth seal color was changed to black. These blanks appear to have been loaded almost exclusively with fired cases and all three variations can be found with dates back to the early 1940s.

The Danes also produced blanks beginning in the 1950s. Originally their blanks used plain white wood or red wood bullets, and with red plastic bullets in the Swedish style. Later they introduced an extended, brass-case blank. In the early 1960s the Danes adopted a blank barrel for their Carl Gustav machine pistols with a reduced bore to allow automatic fire with blanks. To prevent a ball load from being fired in the blank barrel, the chamber was extended, and after the early 1960s all Danish blanks have a 21mm case length, the extra 2mm’s allow a normal 19mm case to drop too far into the chamber to be fired.

Fabrique National (FN) in Belgium has produced a wide variety of full-length blanks since the end of World War II. Many of these blanks were for special purposes or for particular contracts. A selection of their blanks is illustrated in Figure 19.

Proof: Most countries that produce weapons chambered for 9mm Parabellum and also produce the ammunition, produce special high-pressure ammunition for proof testing the weapons. The Markings on proof ammunition vary from country to country and over time within a single country. German World War I proof ammunition was frequently only identified on the box label, though some had a special headstamp. Figure 20 illustrates a German World War I proof load with a headstamp identifying it as a proof load. During World War II German proof loads were identified by a green painted base, and after the war the German’s generally knurled the rim of proof loads.

A number of countries use a red painted base, or red markings on the base, to identify a proof load. The US usually uses a tinned case, with or without a red case head and red bullet. Canada identifies the proof loads with nickel-plated cases, copper-plated cases or blackened cases. Both Britain and Belgium use copper-washed cases to identify proof loads. The Czech Republic uses red case heads on nickeled cases, and also uses green case heads to identify proof loads. Given the variations in marking proof loads, loads with unusual markings should NEVER be shot. Failure to follow this simple rule can destroy a valuable firearm, and could result in serious injury to the shooter.

Special Loads: Beyond the loads described above, there are a large number of special loads, designed for special purposes. The most common of the special loads are short-range training loads, metal penetrating loads, and quite a few special police loads.

The short-range training loads are of particular interest. The Swedish army adopted a version of the blank described earlier, but, instead of the red plastic bullet, the short range load has a black plastic bullet with a 3mm steel ball in the tip (Figure 21) which will pass through the blank adapter described earlier. Norway experimented with an all-plastic version of this round (Figure 22).

The Canadians also produce quite a variety of training cartridges, including rounds with plastic bullets (Figure 23) intended to fire in a special barrel and paint ball cartridges which can be used with the same special reduced-caliber barrel. Note the paint-ball cartridge with the steel collar. This is an experimental load with a 9mm bullet. This approach was dropped in favor of a reduced-caliber barrel for training, which would not accept a normal 9mm Parabellum cartridge.

Belgium has also done quite a bit of experimentation with short-range cartridges. Figure 24 illustrates a set of experimental projectiles, which were tested by Belgium in the early 1980s. Note that all of these projectiles have a skirt or other technique to increase drag and reduce the range of the projectile.

Besides the training ammunition there are such odd and exotic cartridges as the set of flare signal cartridges illustrated in Figure 25. These cartridges were developed by DELA Industries in California in the late 1960s for use in survival kits and similar applications. They were made with yellow, green and red flares. Similar smoke single cartridges were also produced. The amount of smoke available in a 9mm projectile must be extremely limited and the utility of these loads is questionable. Germany also experimented with signal cartridges in 9mm Parabellum.

Another interesting load is the squeeze-bore multiball load developed by Colt for Israel in the 1960s. The concept was a taper-bore barrel on an Uzi machine pistol firing loads that had three projectiles in a plastic jacket. Initially, the cartridges were 9mm, but were squeezed as they transited the barrel to a smaller caliber. The process created three separate small caliber, high velocity projectiles from each round fired. The load appears to have been intended for short-range work (Figure 26). Israel developed another load for similar applications. This load has steel shot in an amber plastic matrix so that each cartridge sent a spray of steel balls out the barrel (Figure 26-cartridge at far right).

The Swedish army also tested a squeeze bore machine pistol in the same time frame. In this case a single bullet was used. The barrel tapered from 9mm to 6.5mm and test loads were produced with both steel and copper projectiles (Figure 30). These loads are seldom encountered today. Since the introduction of the 9mm Parabellum cartridge, and particularly since the end of World War II, there has been quite a bit of development work designing projectiles that have enhanced penetration over the standard ball cartridge in 9mm Parabellum. One of the early attempts was a load for an experimental Hi-Standard pistol tested by the USAF. The experimental ammunition can still be found on occasion, and the majority of the loads used a turned steel bullet or a sintered iron bullet for enhanced penetration (Figure 31).
The Swedish army adopted an enhanced penetration ball load in the 1960s. The bullet was of normal construction with a steel jacket, which was thickened in the front to provide for improved penetration. This load was produced into the 1990s and was sold commercially in the US by Norma in the late 1970s (Figure 32)

.

In the 1970s, France began the development of enhanced penetration projectiles in 9mm Parabellum and other calibers. They adopted a very different approach using a very lightweight copper-alloy projectile with a unique spire point. These projectiles were known as Tres Haute Vitesse (Very High Velocity) or THV loads. The detail design of the projectile varied considerably and many variations of the bullet can be found (Figure 33).

This design found favor in South Africa where it was produced. Over time the design has been modified by the South Africans and a plastic cap has been added to the bullet tip to improving feeding in an automatic weapon (Figure 34).

Another interesting load is the Ballistic Action Trauma (BAT) loads developed in Germany and currently in production for use in both Germany and Holland and perhaps other countries. These are solid copper alloy projectiles with a large hollow point filled with a plastic cap to aid feeding in an automatic pistol. (Figure 35). When fired, the hole through the bullet allows the barrel pressure to eject the plastic tip and the solid bullet body is designed for the ideal combination of penetration and stopping power.

Finally, Figure 36 illustrates a few of the unusual bullets that have been produced in the US since World War II. Most of the loads illustrated were produced for the commercial market, and many of them are still relatively available.

Fig. 36

Fig. 36

Case Material

Brass: The vast majority of 9mm cartridges produced since 1902 have had cases made of brass. The brass cases have sometimes been plated with copper or nickel for identification, or appearance or to make them more durable. Illustrated at right are three brass case loads produce by Speer with plain brass, copper-plated brass and nickel-plated brass cases (Fig 37) and sold commercially as a marketing test to see if customers had a preference for a particular case finish.

Aluminum: Cases made from aluminum have offered another alternative to brass. The earliest production of aluminum case 9mm Parabellum occurred in Switzerland in 1941 (see Fig. 6), again in an attempt to conserve brass. Although generally acceptable, and produced in significant quantities, the Swiss production of aluminum cases in 9mm Parabellum ceased in 1945 and was never renewed. Canada, France, Belgium and Britain all experimented with the use of aluminum cases in 9mm during the post war years, with British development continuing into the mid-1950s. Illustrated in Figure 40 are various case finishes used by the British during these trials. Aluminum cases were never fully successful until the Sporting Equipment Division of Omark Industries (CCI) perfected an aluminum case design in their non-reloadable Blazer line of ammunition. Illustrated below is the standard natural aluminum case that is standard on the Blazer cartridges, and a series of experimental color finishes tested by CCI.

Other Case Materials: Plastic has been widely used in the production of short range and blank ammunition, and occasionally in full power ball loads. Plastic cases have been produced in a variety of colors and from a number of countries. Some cases have metal heads and are illustrated below along with the blank cartridges previously illustrated. Plastic has also been used experimentally to produce cases for ball ammunition.

Fig. 42: From left: Argentine tan and yellow cases, Israeli experimental case, two Swiss clear cases, four US plastic case loads

Headstamps

The headstamp is the key to understanding a 9mm Parabellum cartridge. It will usually tell you which country and manufacturer produced the case and frequently the round. The headstamp may tell you whether it is a commercial, military or police load, when it was manufactured, how it was manufactured, who provided the metal used in the case, the load or the case design. The code on the headstamp is important and the IAA website (cartridgecollectors.org) contains a listing of headstamp codes which include all of the codes illustrated in this paper. The listing identifies the manufacturer and country of origin. The codes are not unique and must be considered within the context of the entire cartridge. A “13” at the top of a headstamp may mean it was manufactured in Castro’s Cuba, or it could identify the type of load on ammunition manufactured in the Republic of South Africa. Illustrated below are some of the headstamps that have been encountered on 9mm Parabellum cartridges. The code associated with each headstamp is the identification code used in the IAA 9mm Para Headstamp Checklist (see Classifieds or Book List on this website).

Germany:

1.-C01A	2.-DW03H	3.-MW01B	4.-RM01D	5.-DW01A	6.-P02B
7.-P103D	8.-RW01I	9.-AU01E	10.-EM01D	11.-FB01A	12.-RF01B
13.-DW03C	14.-GE02C	15.-DA03G	16.-ME02R	17.-GE03H	18.-SI01A

• 1-4: World War One military headstamps showing the date and month of manufacture
• 5-8: Military and Police headstamps from the period between the wars and early World War Two
• 9-12: World War Two military headstamps showing date and lot number as well as the case metal code
• 13-14: Pre-World War Two commercial headstamps
• 15-16: Post-World War Two military headstamps
• 17-18: Post-World War Two commercial headstamps
  
  

Belgium:

1.-AE02B	2.-CB01B	3.-FN01G	4.-FN01M	5.-AE02A	6.-FN01B

• 1-4: Military headstamps
• 5-6: Commercial headstamps

Britain:

1.-BE02A	2.-CP01A	3.-HN01C	4.-RG01H	5.-EL01A	6.-HO01A

• 1-4: Military Headstamps
• 5-6: Commercial Headstamps

Czechoslovakia (Now the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic):

1.-OM01A	2.-PS02B	3.-Sy05A	4.-SB02F	5.-LIO1B	6.-CT01A

• 1-4: Military Headstamps
• 5-6: Commercial Headstamps

France:

1.-AT01A	2.-LM01B	3.-RY01C	4.-IS01B	5.-GE05A	6.-SF03B

• 1-3: Military headstamps
• 4: Police headstamp
• 5-6: Commercial headstamps

United States:

1.-AB01A	2.-CS01A	3.-MA03A	4.-RA02A	5.-SE01A	6.-GE04A
7.-AM04A	8.-NA01A	9.-DF01A	10.-EL01C	11.-NE01A	12.-LR01A

• 1-5: Military headstamps
• 6: Police headstamp
• 7-12: Commercial headstamps

Military Headstamps from Other Countries:

1.-FM04C	2.-FM07B	3.-H02B	4.-HP01F	5.-MF01A	6.-BA01B
7.-DA01B	8.-IV01B	9.-Sy10A	10.-FM02B	11.-HA01A	12.-Ar01A
13.-S03A	14.-KF01B	15.-Hb02A	16.-Hb04A	17.-AI01C	18.-NW01B
19.-RA01C	20.-Sy04B	21.-N02A	22.-FN03B	23.-PM02G	24.-Ar05B

Collecting 9mm Parabellum (Luger) Cartridges:

The cartridges and headstamps illustrated in this article represent a tiny fraction of the specimens available. In fact the variety seems endless and many collectors limit themselves to a particular era or country or some other subset of the 9mm Parabellum universe. The cartridges and headstamps illustrated vary from relatively common to extremely rare. You can expect quite a few of the items illustrated to show up at gun shows, and more to show up at regional cartridge shows. On the other hand, some of the items illustrated are extremely rare and will only be found in the most advanced collections, and a few appear to the sole surviving specimen.

Regardless of your level of available resources, collecting 9mm cartridges and the associated boxes (a subject area not even covered in this guide) can be an interesting and absorbing subject area with fascinating areas for research, and great rarities still waiting to be discovered. If you are interested in collecting 9mm Parabellum cartridges, feel free to contact me at lcurtis@msn.com

Copyright 2003, Lew Curtis and International Ammunition Association, Inc. All rights reserved.

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