9mm Luger vs 9mm Parabellum - Difference

richc5

Can someone explain the difference between the above?

TIA

bama55

Same thing, different name.

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22WRF

Both 9x19, Luger is a pistol cartridge that may be fired in a Parabellum Sub-Machine gun, But not the Parabellum in a Pistol.

I Refuse to be a VictimGrumpy old man

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offeror

I believe Saxon has it. The Luger designation signifies the first guns for which the round was designed, the second was the name given the cartridge because of its first application. But a rose by any other name is still a rose.

- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Iconoclast

SP is, as usual, right on the money. This cartridge has several names, but they are all the same cartridge. 22WRF is correct that there are 'hot' loads in this cartridge designed for use strictly in a SMG, but the term "Parabellum" doesn't designate those loadings, for that one must check the boxes, which are typically military. Any factory commercial ammo from reputable US producers will not exceed SAAMI specs for handgun use. For that matter, the hot SMG loads are actually pretty scarce, with most 9mmP SMGs designed to use the standard load.

Boomerang

22 - I think you are thinking of the 9mm carbine load. That was the problem they were having with the Beretta.

Boomer

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as it is by the obstacles which one has overcome while trying to succeed."

Iconoclast

SP, I've seen boxes of European ammo (Czech if I remember correctly) marked "Not for pistol." Well, not in English, but that's how it translates.

askani88

Hirtzenberger is the only 9mm parabellum I'm aware of that is too hot for most pistols and is for submachine gun only.

pickenup

I once bought a case of 9mm foreign military ammo. In the ad it stated that you will have some misfires. In all the pistols I used it in, it DID misfire, but when I used my Uzi, it never misfired and I shot up the rest of the case with the Uzi. I was told it was because of the difference in the firing pin. The Uzi really smashes the primer, where the pistols have a little lighter touch.

If I knew then, what I know now.

offeror

Sounds to me like the collective intelligence on this exceeds the individual input. Apparently, there has been ammo made to function better in SMGs, which was sometimes marked as such, perhaps with the designation "not for pistole."

But as I, and Saxon and others, said before, neither Luger nor Parabellum is an identifier of SMG ammo. Both describe the same cartridge, the 9x19. Since Luger is largely an American term, it is more likely that one might get into a batch of SMG 9mm that had the European designation Parabellum than from a box marked "Luger," if there is such a thing. But not BECAUSE it was merely Parabellum. It is clear that the original pistol cartridge was Parabellum from the start.

So beware of foreign mil surplus of unclear origins, unless you own an Uzi.

It's funny, the P-38 seems like a more primitive gun, but the Luger is 30 years older.

- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

leeblackman

I'll back saxon

If I'm wrong please correct me, I won't be offended.

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