Ammunition
There is a wide use of different cartridges in the world. I am only explaining the history and facts about the cartridge used in the P.38. And why the German Army chose this type.
Different types of ammunition who are used worldwide.
The 9mm Parabellum Cartridge
Georg Luger originally developed the 9mm Parabellum cartridge, at the German
company Deutschen Waffen-und Munitionsfabriken (DWM). The name 9 millimeter
Parabellum is derived from the Latin saying "Si vis pacem, para bellum"
It means If you want peace, prepare for war. 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. 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.
Georg Luger born 6 march 1849 and died 22 december 1923
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.
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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. |
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.
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.
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Steel: The Germans experimented with copper-washed steel cases during World War I, but did not put this case design into production. The steel cases were washed (coated) with copper to prevent corrosion and to ease extraction of the fired case. The most significant production of 9mm Parabellum steel cases occurred in Germany and the occupied countries during World War II. In the late 1930s Germany began production of steel cases in an effort to save brass for higher priority applications. In 1939 they began production of copper-washed steel-case ammunition in 9mm Parabellum, and in 1940 began converting to lacquered steel cases. These cases are normally a dark gray, but as illustrated in Figure 38, the shade varies considerably between manufacturers and over time in for a single manufacturer. These lacquered steel cases continued in massive production by German factories to the end of the war, practically to the exclusion of brass case 9mm Parabellum ammunition. The Czech factories which were occupied during the war continued to produce lacquered steel cases into the early 1950s. The French also produced 9mm Parabellum ammunition with lacquered steel cases from the end of the war through mid-1960. The US tested steel cases in 9mm Parabellum during World War II but did not adopt them. Czechoslovakia and Germany has also experimented with steel cases during the post-World War II period, employing a variety of finishes, through the 1990s. Copper-washed steel case and lacquered steel case ammunition in 9mm Parabellum continues to be produced in Russia and is available on the commercial market. A number of other countries have tested steel case ammunition in 9mm Parabellum caliber. Figure 39 illustrates steel case loads produced by Belgium, Sweden and Finland. |
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Germany
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| 1.-C01A | 2.-DW03H | 3.-MW01B | 4.-RM01D | 5.-DW01A | 6.-P02B |
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| 7.-P103D | 8.-RW01I | 9.-AU01E | 10.-EM01D | 11.-FB01A | 12.-RF01B |
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| 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
Tekst above and some photo's are from the collection of Lew Curtis
It was clearly written on the cartridgeboxes if the 9mm parabellum was for use in a pistol or in a machinegun.
The ammunition at the beginnning of WWII which was used for both the P.38 and the P.08, was the copper cartridge with a brass head and iron core "mit eisen"(m.E.). These cartridges where soon used exclusively for the Mauser P08. The P.38 had to make due with the iron cartridges with the lacquered steel case. This was because the steel cartridges malfunctioned in the Mauser P.08. That's why you often see written on the cartridgebox the weapon of use for that particular cartridge. In the last production of the P08 in 1942, they made the chamber wider and the gas seal ring was gone. This was to be able to use the lacquered steel cartridges without too many malfunctions
Also there was the "Sintern Eisen" (SE) these very rare
cartridges where especially for the Machinepistole MP40. This metalpowder with
lacquer pressed bullit without mantle was bad for the barrel. But because
of a shortage of cartridges it would'nt be a strange story they used it into the
P.38 on the eastfront.
Below: Different types of cartridges with the boxes.
Collection of N.J. van Gijn
