9mm NATO damages 9mm Luger pistol
About a month ago I mentioned a post by Caleb warning people not to use 9mm NATO rounds in 9mm Luger / Parabellum pistols.
A reader, who shall remain anonymous, emailed me this account of what happened to him.
Your message about the 9 mm Nato versus 9 mm Luger (9×19 mm, 9 mm Para) is correct and should be a warning to all users of 9 mm pistols. I found out the the higher pressure of the Nato round can be punishing. The same day as I received my first and brand new police service pistol, the Walther P5, I took it to my shooting club to show it to the lads and to shoot it.
Because I ran out of ammo, I borrowed a box from a military friend, who used 9 mm Nato rounds. After two shots my new pistol jammed, because the extractor broke off. I had some explanation to do the next day in order to get my service gun back in working order and got the message: Never use military ammo in non-military firearms. So, any surplus army ammo: use it in the Browning High-Power or the Glock, but not in “civilian” pistols.
I’m pretty sure that the Browning High-Power is not rated for 9mm NATO (or +P). It may be something you can get away with in the FM (Argentine) models, but ISTR reading that you’ll eventually batter the frame running that stuff through one of the FN/Browning guns.
Isn’t the Walther P5 a NATO service pistol? I believe at one time it was used by the SAS
Hugh, nope German police contract pistol.
http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg86-e.htm
From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_P5):
P5C:
Approx 3,000 examples of this pistol were adopted in the 1980s by the British Army as Pistol L102A1 (NATO Stock Number 1005-99-978-4952) for issue to the Royal Irish Regiment (Home Service) as a Personal Protection Weapon.
From page 13 of the owner’s manual for my Ruger SR9:
“No 9mm Parabellum ammunition manufactured in accordance with NATO, U.S., SAAMI, or CIP standards is known to be beyond the design limits or known not to function in these pistols.”
Kinda makes me glad I bought it instead of other well known 9mm’s.
NATO is +P. Make sure your gun is rated before firing.
What about the Ruger P85? I’ve heard it’s robust.
Would a Sig P250 be considered a Service Pistol?
The Walther P5 is a piece of **** anyway: horrible trigger, may discharge if dropped. Massad Ayoob talks about seeing baskets full of broken HPs as a result of firing 9 mm NATO ammo in one of his books.
What about the Walther P1?? i guess it can handle +P ammo, i know for sure it can t handle hollow poit but FMJ in 115 gr seems OK. i bougth a box of 124Gr. FMJ last month but i haven t tried yet, i t ll be usure??
Glocks arnt supposed to use 9mm NATO ammo either. The only pistol made to shoot US NATO ammo is the Beretta 92F and M-92FS models.
Hirtenberger used a Glock 17 to test fire hot 9mm loads. This one was retired after 348,210 rounds. I would feel safe shooting any 9mm out of a Glock.
http://www.cybershooters.org/IWA2000/Glock17.JPG