Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

kronckew · 10th July 2006, 06:41 AM

you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink. some dead horses like beating also. the thread has been hijacked already by picking up and disagreeing with what was meant to be a marginal aside on my original discussion of the 'terminal ballistics' of moro edged weapons against US troops. i offer the following to try to terminate this discussion as i do not want anyone left with incomplete facts.

those who have been a gun nut or been involved in hand loading & Terminal Ballistics (linky) will see my point. if i'd a said 9mm parabellum cartridge and/or .38 long colt, .38 special, etc. you might have a leg to stand on, but talking about bullet diameter there is no practical difference and they are in the same family, and the effect on a target especially will be very closely the same given the same construction, velocity and bullet weight. the 9mm is classed as a .38 caliber weapon, 9mm is just the european measurement for what is called a .38 in the US (actually .36, but called .38 for reasons not germain) the .002 inch difference in diameter only matters to handloaders, again, some 9mm weapons actually have .357 bores & may be more accurate with .357 hand loads in their 9mm parabellum cases. i won't get into mfg. tolerances, wear, rifling differences and their effects on bore dia. either. the above linky on terminal ballistics has more info than can be adequately covered here for anyone who wants to continue..

so, anyone who is chambering a 9mm parabellum cartridge IS effectively chambering a .38 caliber bullet.

10th July 2006, 06:41 AM	#27
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,152	you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink. some dead horses like beating also. the thread has been hijacked already by picking up and disagreeing with what was meant to be a marginal aside on my original discussion of the 'terminal ballistics' of moro edged weapons against US troops. i offer the following to try to terminate this discussion as i do not want anyone left with incomplete facts. those who have been a gun nut or been involved in hand loading & Terminal Ballistics (linky) will see my point. if i'd a said 9mm parabellum cartridge and/or .38 long colt, .38 special, etc. you might have a leg to stand on, but talking about bullet diameter there is no practical difference and they are in the same family, and the effect on a target especially will be very closely the same given the same construction, velocity and bullet weight. the 9mm is classed as a .38 caliber weapon, 9mm is just the european measurement for what is called a .38 in the US (actually .36, but called .38 for reasons not germain) the .002 inch difference in diameter only matters to handloaders, again, some 9mm weapons actually have .357 bores & may be more accurate with .357 hand loads in their 9mm parabellum cases. i won't get into mfg. tolerances, wear, rifling differences and their effects on bore dia. either. the above linky on terminal ballistics has more info than can be adequately covered here for anyone who wants to continue.. so, anyone who is chambering a 9mm parabellum cartridge IS effectively chambering a .38 caliber bullet. Last edited by kronckew; 10th July 2006 at 07:50 AM.