They are two of the most famous and popular cartridges for personal defense and law enforcement, one in the wheelgun world and one in the semi-auto world. They are often compared because they both became popular for the same reasons, which is why the .38 Special vs 9mm argument will be valid as long as both are carried for defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While law enforcement in the U.S. has almost entirely switched over to 9mm, for many decades, the go-to cartridge for those who also carried a badge was the versatile and controllable low-velocity .38 Special in a sturdy six-gun. But times change.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Today, the 9mm and .38 Special exist in tandem, pulling different duties. While some consider the .38 to be antiquated, both are still valued by many shooters for their capabilities as self-defense rounds. In some ways, with modern bullet technology, both are better than ever. Here\u2019s how they stack up.<\/p>\n
.38 Special vs. 9mm Specs<\/h2>\n.38 Special<\/h3>\n\n- Introduced: 1898<\/li>\n
- Designer: Smith & Wesson<\/li>\n
- Parent Case: .38 Long Colt<\/li>\n
- Case Type: rimmed, straight<\/li>\n
- Bullet Diameter: 9.1mm \/ .357 inches<\/li>\n
- Case Length: 29.3mm \/ 1.155 inches<\/li>\n
- Overall Length: 39.4mm \/ 1.55 inches<\/li>\n
- Max Pressure (SAAMI): 17,500 psi<\/li>\n
- Bullet Mass: 8.1 grams (125 grain) \u2013 10.24 grams (158 grain)\u00a0<\/li>\n
- Velocity: 755 fps \u2013 1,150 fps<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
9x19mm Parabellum<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n- Introduced: 1902<\/li>\n
- Designer: Georg Luger<\/li>\n
- Parent Case: 7.65x21mm Parabellum<\/li>\n
- Case Type: rimless, straight<\/li>\n
- Bullet Diameter: 9.01mm \/ 0.355 inches\u00a0<\/li>\n
- Case Length: 19.15mm \/ 0.754 inches<\/li>\n
- Overall Length: 29.69mm \/ 1.169 inches<\/li>\n
- Max Pressure (SAAMI): 35,000 psi<\/li>\n
- Bullet Mass: 7.45 grams (115 grain) \u2013 8.04 grams (124 grain)<\/li>\n
- Velocity: 1,180 fps \u2013 1,345 fps\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
.38 Special vs 9mm History<\/h2>\n.38 Special History<\/h3>\n
People tend to think of the .38 Special as the older of the two cartridges, and that\u2019s true, but only by four years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Black Powder Cartridge<\/h4>\n
The .38 Special hit the gun world in 1898, on the cusp of a new century and a new modern age of firearms. The rimmed, centerfire, straight-walled cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson went on to become the standard service cartridge for the majority of American police departments from the 1920s through the 1990s. It also saw duty on the frontlines of World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and in the jungles of Vietnam.<\/p>\n
The .38 Special was created as an improvement to the underwhelming .38 Long Colt, which famously displayed a lack of adequate stopping power in the Philippine-American War<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\nIt was designed from the start by S&W to be a high-velocity revolver round (for the time) that would solve the penetration problems of the .38 LC by increasing speed instead of bullet mass. Essentially, it was the opposite approach taken by John Browning with the .45 ACP<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\nBelieve it or not, the original .38 Special was introduced as a black powder cartridge and it was designed for the lower pressures of that propellant. But within a year, its popularity pushed S&W to switch it to a modern smokeless powder load. The round went on to be revered for its accuracy at defensive distances and its manageable recoil, even in small revolvers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The \u201c.38\u201d in the name refers to the rough diameter of the brass case when loaded, not the bullet diameter, which is 0.357 inches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The original .38 Special held a greater charge than its predecessor and pushed a 158-grain bullet about 150 fps faster than the .38 LC. In the 1920s, as police began to battle bootleggers and the organized crime that was spawned by Prohibition, a law-enforcement version of the cartridge was made by Western Cartridge dubbed the .38 Super Police, though its heavy bullets tended to tumble and it wasn\u2019t popular. Still, law enforcement had been turned on to the .38 Special.<\/p>\n
Prohibition Era and Adoption by Law Enforcement<\/h4>\nA handful of .38 special cartridges. <\/p>\nPhoto by woodsnorth \/ Adobe Stock<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
In 1930, S&W released its first large-frame revolver chambered in .38 Special with a 5-inch barrel and fixed sights. It was clearly intended to be a duty gun and the Smith & Wesson 38\/44 Heavy Duty<\/a> was used as such. About a year later, the .38\/44 Outdoorsman was released with a 6.5-inch barrel and adjustable sights.\u00a0<\/p>\nTo go with the beefy new wheel gun, a juiced up round topped with 158-grain metal-tipped bullet was soon introduced, and law enforcement who were looking for a round that could penetrate automobiles and body armor of the day, well, they dug it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gun makers started designing their .38 revolvers, like the classic Colt Official Police revolver, to be tougher in order to handle higher pressures and thus began the quest to load the .38 Special hotter and hotter. This eventually led S&W to develop the legendary .357 Magnum, which hit store shelves in 1935.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was around then that the length measurements of this family of cartridges presented some safety concerns, which shooters should still be aware of. While the diameters of the .38 Short Colt, .38 Special, and .357 Magnum are identical, they differ in length, but only slightly \u2014 just enough to not be backward compatible.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
You can shoot .38 SC in a .38 Special Revolver, for example, and you can shoot both in a .357, but the .357 Magnum is too high pressure for guns chambered for the shorter cartridges. Usually they won\u2019t fit, but don\u2019t try it, and if you have anything that even remotely resembles a vintage firearm, double check the chambering and never use +P loads or magnum loads in guns that weren\u2019t made for them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
WWII and Beyond<\/h4>\n
After the U.S. joined World War II, some aircrews were issued S&W Victory revolvers, which were simply Model 10 M&P revolvers<\/a> repurposed for the war effort. During WWII, nearly 600,000 of these revolvers were sent to the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa under the Lend-Lease program, mostly chambered in the similar British .38\/200.<\/p>\nFor their .38s, the Americans used a new steel-jacketed, copper flash-coated bullet developed by Springfield Armory that met the conditions of the Hague Convention. It pushed a 158-grain bullet about 850 fps from a 4-inch barrel.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the 1950s, the Air Force adopted the M41 ball cartridge \u2014 a .38 Special with a 130-grain full metal jacket bullet moving at 725 fps. It was a light load meant to prolong the life of the Air Force\u2019s S&W M12 revolvers<\/a> that had aluminum cylinders and frames. By the 1960s, a hotter version of the M41 was issued with the same 130-grain bullet moving at 950 fps from a 6-inch Army revolver.\u00a0<\/p>\nThese revolvers usually served as sidearms for personnel in support roles who weren\u2019t carrying an M1911<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nIn the 1970s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was still carrying .38 Specials, and in 1971 the agency introduced a new .38 Special +P round that they called the \u201cFBI Load.\u201d It was topped with a 158-grain non-jacketed soft lead semi-wadcutter hollow point bullet designed to expand at regular .38 Special velocities. The load proved effective, and was subsequently adopted by several major police departments.<\/p>\n
But the workhorse .38 wasn\u2019t done. Eventually, Federal and Winchester introduced the first .38 Special +P+ loads intended for specially designed .38 revolvers and for .357 Magnum revolvers with a velocity of about 1,100 fps. Some loads have pushed the cartridge even faster.<\/p>\n
However, the hurdle the .38 Special couldn\u2019t overcome, in the end, was the limited capacity of a wheelgun.\u00a0<\/p>\n
9x19mm<\/strong> History<\/h3>\nThe 9mm cartridge was released four years after the .38 with very different origins and a very different path to becoming the preferred U.S. law enforcement round.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From Austria With Love<\/h4>\n
The rimless, tapered 9x19mm Parabellum was created by Austrian firearm designer Georg Luger in 1901 as a more powerful overall handgun cartridge for a specific, early semi-auto pistol: the Luger. That\u2019s why the cartridge has the alternate name of \u201c9mm Luger.\u201d The German military wanted a handgun round with more juice, and Luger answered the call.<\/p>\n
The original Luger pistol, patented in 1908, was a refined version of the Borchardt C-93 pistol, chambered for the 7.65x21mm Parabellum \u2014 the 9mm\u2019s parent cartridge. The \u201cparabellum\u201d is derived from the latin motto used by the long defunct German arms company Deutsche Waffen-und Munitionsfabriken (DWM)<\/a>: \u201cSi vis pacem, para bellum\u201d (if you want peace, prepare for war.).<\/p>\nThe Luger pistol chambered in 9mm became the German P08, a legend of WWI and WWII battlefields. The gun and cartridge were presented to the British Small Arms Committee and three prototypes were sent to the U.S. Army for testing at the Springfield Arsenal in 1903.<\/p>\n
It was readily adopted by the German army and navy and the 9mm became the standard German pistol cartridge through both world wars. The round was lightweight, fast, and was more effective on target than revolver rounds of the day thanks to that high velocity. And the high pressures the 9mm generated promoted reliable cycling in semi-autos.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 9mm in World War II<\/h4>\n![\"9mm](\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20\/9mm-ball-ammo-scaled.jpeg?strip=all&quality=85&w=2560\")
The 124-grain FMJ 9mm ammo was used in many WWII-era 9mm pistols like this VIS P35. Tyler Freel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe Luger P08 was produced until 1943 and issued through 1945 . It had a great reputation for accuracy and reliability (though the action could be a bit finicky in battlefield conditions), but its complex design was slow and expensive to manufacture.<\/p>\n
The P08 was replaced by the cheaper and simpler Walther P38 before the end of the war, also chambered in 9mm, which was the first locked-breech DA\/SA pistol. If you ever have the chance to handle one, you\u2019ll notice a number of similarities to the later Beretta 92<\/a> series of 9mm handguns.<\/p>\nBut let\u2019s take a step back. In 1935, a design for a high-capacity semi-auto 9mm handgun begun by the legendary John Moses Browning was completed by gun designers at FN Herstal in Belgium who produced the first Browning \u201cHigh Power\u201d pistol. The name referred to the impressive capacity of the pistol\u2019s double-stack magazine: 13 rounds; more than double the capacity of revolvers of the day and the 9mm Walther P38.<\/p>\n
During the war, when Belgium was occupied by Nazi Germany, the FN factory was used by the Wehrmacht to build the Hi-Power as the \u201c9mm Pistole 640(b),\u201d since the Germans already had ammo for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, FN Herstal continued to build the pistol for Allied forces on the other side of the Atlantic in Canada at the John Inglis and Company plant. And so, the 9mm became one of the very few cartridges used by both the Allied and Axis forces during the war.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the war, the 9mm cartridge was later adopted as the standard pistol and submachine gun cartridge of NATO and many independent nations. Thanks to the high magazine capacity offered by 9mm handguns, as the decades passed and the ammo got better, more and more law enforcement agencies took note, and so did the U.S. military.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Army ditched the aging M1911 in .45 ACP for the 9mm Beretta M9 in 1985. This 9mm pistol went on to replace the 1911 in every branch of the military. A number of large and small police departments switched from their .38 Special revolvers to 9mm semi-autos in the 1980s and 1990s until the 9mm became the dominant cartridge for law enforcement in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The FBI Adopts the 9mm<\/h4>\n
After the infamous \u201cFBI Miami shootout\u201d<\/a> in 1986, the Bureau began to reevaluate the wisdom of carrying revolvers as primary service weapons in the modern age. Eventually, the agency switched semi-autos. Though it took a good number of years (more on that in a bit), the Bureau finally settled on the 9mm.\u00a0<\/p>\nWhen the FBI began to ask questions, so did other agencies. In the late 1980s, the LAPD began the switch to 9mm Beretta 92 series pistols in 1986, while the NYPD soon switched to 9mm SIG Sauer pistols and then Glocks. Nearly all law enforcement agencies followed suit in the following years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These modern 9mm semi-autos were more powerful than a .38 Special, far easier to control for the average shooter than a .357 Magnum, and offered, even in the smallest service pistols, at least double a revolver\u2019s capacity. Plus, they came with the faster reload speed and higher overall carry capacity of magazines.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Something else happened in the 1980s that was pretty important for the 9mm: the introduction of the first Glocks<\/a>. The Glock 17<\/a> came out of Austria \u2014 the birthplace of the 9mm \u2014 in 1982, followed by the Glock 19<\/a> in 1988.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe handguns set a new standard for pistols for decades to come, especially duty pistols for law enforcement,\u00a0 and they were both chambered in 9mm only. This helped cement the cartridge as the<\/em> new self-defense and law enforcement round heading into the 21st century.\u00a0<\/p>\nPerformance<\/h2>\n\n
- \n
- Introduced: 1898<\/li>\n
- Designer: Smith & Wesson<\/li>\n
- Parent Case: .38 Long Colt<\/li>\n
- Case Type: rimmed, straight<\/li>\n
- Bullet Diameter: 9.1mm \/ .357 inches<\/li>\n
- Case Length: 29.3mm \/ 1.155 inches<\/li>\n
- Overall Length: 39.4mm \/ 1.55 inches<\/li>\n
- Max Pressure (SAAMI): 17,500 psi<\/li>\n
- Bullet Mass: 8.1 grams (125 grain) \u2013 10.24 grams (158 grain)\u00a0<\/li>\n
- Velocity: 755 fps \u2013 1,150 fps<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
9x19mm Parabellum<\/strong><\/h3>\n
- \n
- Introduced: 1902<\/li>\n
- Designer: Georg Luger<\/li>\n
- Parent Case: 7.65x21mm Parabellum<\/li>\n
- Case Type: rimless, straight<\/li>\n
- Bullet Diameter: 9.01mm \/ 0.355 inches\u00a0<\/li>\n
- Case Length: 19.15mm \/ 0.754 inches<\/li>\n
- Overall Length: 29.69mm \/ 1.169 inches<\/li>\n
- Max Pressure (SAAMI): 35,000 psi<\/li>\n
- Bullet Mass: 7.45 grams (115 grain) \u2013 8.04 grams (124 grain)<\/li>\n
- Velocity: 1,180 fps \u2013 1,345 fps\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
.38 Special vs 9mm History<\/h2>\n
.38 Special History<\/h3>\n
People tend to think of the .38 Special as the older of the two cartridges, and that\u2019s true, but only by four years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Black Powder Cartridge<\/h4>\n
The .38 Special hit the gun world in 1898, on the cusp of a new century and a new modern age of firearms. The rimmed, centerfire, straight-walled cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson went on to become the standard service cartridge for the majority of American police departments from the 1920s through the 1990s. It also saw duty on the frontlines of World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and in the jungles of Vietnam.<\/p>\n
The .38 Special was created as an improvement to the underwhelming .38 Long Colt, which famously displayed a lack of adequate stopping power in the Philippine-American War<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was designed from the start by S&W to be a high-velocity revolver round (for the time) that would solve the penetration problems of the .38 LC by increasing speed instead of bullet mass. Essentially, it was the opposite approach taken by John Browning with the .45 ACP<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Believe it or not, the original .38 Special was introduced as a black powder cartridge and it was designed for the lower pressures of that propellant. But within a year, its popularity pushed S&W to switch it to a modern smokeless powder load. The round went on to be revered for its accuracy at defensive distances and its manageable recoil, even in small revolvers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The \u201c.38\u201d in the name refers to the rough diameter of the brass case when loaded, not the bullet diameter, which is 0.357 inches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The original .38 Special held a greater charge than its predecessor and pushed a 158-grain bullet about 150 fps faster than the .38 LC. In the 1920s, as police began to battle bootleggers and the organized crime that was spawned by Prohibition, a law-enforcement version of the cartridge was made by Western Cartridge dubbed the .38 Super Police, though its heavy bullets tended to tumble and it wasn\u2019t popular. Still, law enforcement had been turned on to the .38 Special.<\/p>\n
Prohibition Era and Adoption by Law Enforcement<\/h4>\n
A handful of .38 special cartridges. <\/p>\n Photo by woodsnorth \/ Adobe Stock<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
In 1930, S&W released its first large-frame revolver chambered in .38 Special with a 5-inch barrel and fixed sights. It was clearly intended to be a duty gun and the Smith & Wesson 38\/44 Heavy Duty<\/a> was used as such. About a year later, the .38\/44 Outdoorsman was released with a 6.5-inch barrel and adjustable sights.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To go with the beefy new wheel gun, a juiced up round topped with 158-grain metal-tipped bullet was soon introduced, and law enforcement who were looking for a round that could penetrate automobiles and body armor of the day, well, they dug it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gun makers started designing their .38 revolvers, like the classic Colt Official Police revolver, to be tougher in order to handle higher pressures and thus began the quest to load the .38 Special hotter and hotter. This eventually led S&W to develop the legendary .357 Magnum, which hit store shelves in 1935.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was around then that the length measurements of this family of cartridges presented some safety concerns, which shooters should still be aware of. While the diameters of the .38 Short Colt, .38 Special, and .357 Magnum are identical, they differ in length, but only slightly \u2014 just enough to not be backward compatible.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
You can shoot .38 SC in a .38 Special Revolver, for example, and you can shoot both in a .357, but the .357 Magnum is too high pressure for guns chambered for the shorter cartridges. Usually they won\u2019t fit, but don\u2019t try it, and if you have anything that even remotely resembles a vintage firearm, double check the chambering and never use +P loads or magnum loads in guns that weren\u2019t made for them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
WWII and Beyond<\/h4>\n
After the U.S. joined World War II, some aircrews were issued S&W Victory revolvers, which were simply Model 10 M&P revolvers<\/a> repurposed for the war effort. During WWII, nearly 600,000 of these revolvers were sent to the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa under the Lend-Lease program, mostly chambered in the similar British .38\/200.<\/p>\n
For their .38s, the Americans used a new steel-jacketed, copper flash-coated bullet developed by Springfield Armory that met the conditions of the Hague Convention. It pushed a 158-grain bullet about 850 fps from a 4-inch barrel.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the 1950s, the Air Force adopted the M41 ball cartridge \u2014 a .38 Special with a 130-grain full metal jacket bullet moving at 725 fps. It was a light load meant to prolong the life of the Air Force\u2019s S&W M12 revolvers<\/a> that had aluminum cylinders and frames. By the 1960s, a hotter version of the M41 was issued with the same 130-grain bullet moving at 950 fps from a 6-inch Army revolver.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These revolvers usually served as sidearms for personnel in support roles who weren\u2019t carrying an M1911<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the 1970s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was still carrying .38 Specials, and in 1971 the agency introduced a new .38 Special +P round that they called the \u201cFBI Load.\u201d It was topped with a 158-grain non-jacketed soft lead semi-wadcutter hollow point bullet designed to expand at regular .38 Special velocities. The load proved effective, and was subsequently adopted by several major police departments.<\/p>\n
But the workhorse .38 wasn\u2019t done. Eventually, Federal and Winchester introduced the first .38 Special +P+ loads intended for specially designed .38 revolvers and for .357 Magnum revolvers with a velocity of about 1,100 fps. Some loads have pushed the cartridge even faster.<\/p>\n
However, the hurdle the .38 Special couldn\u2019t overcome, in the end, was the limited capacity of a wheelgun.\u00a0<\/p>\n
9x19mm<\/strong> History<\/h3>\n
The 9mm cartridge was released four years after the .38 with very different origins and a very different path to becoming the preferred U.S. law enforcement round.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From Austria With Love<\/h4>\n
The rimless, tapered 9x19mm Parabellum was created by Austrian firearm designer Georg Luger in 1901 as a more powerful overall handgun cartridge for a specific, early semi-auto pistol: the Luger. That\u2019s why the cartridge has the alternate name of \u201c9mm Luger.\u201d The German military wanted a handgun round with more juice, and Luger answered the call.<\/p>\n
The original Luger pistol, patented in 1908, was a refined version of the Borchardt C-93 pistol, chambered for the 7.65x21mm Parabellum \u2014 the 9mm\u2019s parent cartridge. The \u201cparabellum\u201d is derived from the latin motto used by the long defunct German arms company Deutsche Waffen-und Munitionsfabriken (DWM)<\/a>: \u201cSi vis pacem, para bellum\u201d (if you want peace, prepare for war.).<\/p>\n
The Luger pistol chambered in 9mm became the German P08, a legend of WWI and WWII battlefields. The gun and cartridge were presented to the British Small Arms Committee and three prototypes were sent to the U.S. Army for testing at the Springfield Arsenal in 1903.<\/p>\n
It was readily adopted by the German army and navy and the 9mm became the standard German pistol cartridge through both world wars. The round was lightweight, fast, and was more effective on target than revolver rounds of the day thanks to that high velocity. And the high pressures the 9mm generated promoted reliable cycling in semi-autos.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 9mm in World War II<\/h4>\n
The 124-grain FMJ 9mm ammo was used in many WWII-era 9mm pistols like this VIS P35. Tyler Freel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The Luger P08 was produced until 1943 and issued through 1945 . It had a great reputation for accuracy and reliability (though the action could be a bit finicky in battlefield conditions), but its complex design was slow and expensive to manufacture.<\/p>\n
The P08 was replaced by the cheaper and simpler Walther P38 before the end of the war, also chambered in 9mm, which was the first locked-breech DA\/SA pistol. If you ever have the chance to handle one, you\u2019ll notice a number of similarities to the later Beretta 92<\/a> series of 9mm handguns.<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s take a step back. In 1935, a design for a high-capacity semi-auto 9mm handgun begun by the legendary John Moses Browning was completed by gun designers at FN Herstal in Belgium who produced the first Browning \u201cHigh Power\u201d pistol. The name referred to the impressive capacity of the pistol\u2019s double-stack magazine: 13 rounds; more than double the capacity of revolvers of the day and the 9mm Walther P38.<\/p>\n
During the war, when Belgium was occupied by Nazi Germany, the FN factory was used by the Wehrmacht to build the Hi-Power as the \u201c9mm Pistole 640(b),\u201d since the Germans already had ammo for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, FN Herstal continued to build the pistol for Allied forces on the other side of the Atlantic in Canada at the John Inglis and Company plant. And so, the 9mm became one of the very few cartridges used by both the Allied and Axis forces during the war.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the war, the 9mm cartridge was later adopted as the standard pistol and submachine gun cartridge of NATO and many independent nations. Thanks to the high magazine capacity offered by 9mm handguns, as the decades passed and the ammo got better, more and more law enforcement agencies took note, and so did the U.S. military.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Army ditched the aging M1911 in .45 ACP for the 9mm Beretta M9 in 1985. This 9mm pistol went on to replace the 1911 in every branch of the military. A number of large and small police departments switched from their .38 Special revolvers to 9mm semi-autos in the 1980s and 1990s until the 9mm became the dominant cartridge for law enforcement in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The FBI Adopts the 9mm<\/h4>\n
After the infamous \u201cFBI Miami shootout\u201d<\/a> in 1986, the Bureau began to reevaluate the wisdom of carrying revolvers as primary service weapons in the modern age. Eventually, the agency switched semi-autos. Though it took a good number of years (more on that in a bit), the Bureau finally settled on the 9mm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the FBI began to ask questions, so did other agencies. In the late 1980s, the LAPD began the switch to 9mm Beretta 92 series pistols in 1986, while the NYPD soon switched to 9mm SIG Sauer pistols and then Glocks. Nearly all law enforcement agencies followed suit in the following years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These modern 9mm semi-autos were more powerful than a .38 Special, far easier to control for the average shooter than a .357 Magnum, and offered, even in the smallest service pistols, at least double a revolver\u2019s capacity. Plus, they came with the faster reload speed and higher overall carry capacity of magazines.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Something else happened in the 1980s that was pretty important for the 9mm: the introduction of the first Glocks<\/a>. The Glock 17<\/a> came out of Austria \u2014 the birthplace of the 9mm \u2014 in 1982, followed by the Glock 19<\/a> in 1988.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The handguns set a new standard for pistols for decades to come, especially duty pistols for law enforcement,\u00a0 and they were both chambered in 9mm only. This helped cement the cartridge as the<\/em> new self-defense and law enforcement round heading into the 21st century.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Performance<\/h2>\n
\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/15\/DSC02993.jpeg?strip=all&quality=85&w=1200\")
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/20\/TJD00827-scaled.jpg?strip=all&quality=85&w=2560\")