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We've got (in GURPS puissance order):
.380 ACP/9x17mm Kurz (1908)
.38 Special (1898)9x19mm Luger/Parabellum/NATO (1902)
.38 Super (1929)
.357 SIG (1994)
.357 Magnum (1934)
Wow this caliber is common in handgun cartridges and those are really just the most common running around today, plus .357 SIG and .38 Super.
Looking at my cartridges book, there's scads and scads of "also rans" in 9mm as well. Some of the common rounds today were developed from rounds that are no longer common today.
.38 Special is a lengthened .38 Long Colt and .357 Magnum is a lengthened .38 Special.
.38 Super is .38 ACP loaded a lot hotter.
While I trend towards the "use a round that starts with 4" philosophy; you have to admit that this caliber has been around enough years that if it really sucked, it'd be far less common (paging .32 caliber). If you're honest with yourself, you'll have to admit that there's just not much difference between the full power nines and the 4x rounds. Even going magnum doesn't improve the wound ballistics enough to compensate for the extra blast and recoil most of the time.
9x19mm itself has been around for quite a few turns, and has remained largely unchanged. Could be that it's doing SOMETHING right, or just that quantity sometimes has a quality all its own.
ReplyDeleteI think I will (have) edited the post to add dates of introduction to emphasize that.
DeleteI have all of those around my place, too, except for 357 Sig. I particularly like the name they used for .380 ACP in the latest Bond flick, "9mm short".
ReplyDeleteWhile I have .40 S&W and .45 ACP, I don't feel under prepared walking around with any one of those. To borrow a quote I read somewhere, "I've worked in Emergency Rooms for years and I've never seen anyone stop the mad rush to save a gunshot victim saying 'Don't worry. It's only 9mm'".
When I post pics of the Browning, "Don't worry. It's only 9mm" is going to be the title!
Delete