The 9mm Parabellum at 50 Yards
The fact is, that the 9mm Parabellum cartridge (aka 9mm Luger, 9x19mm) is every bit as accurate as the 45 ACP cartridge. The issue is, that there aren’t very many mass produced 9mm handguns that are capable of utilizing the intrinsic accuracy of the 9mm Parabellum cartridge.
As an example, using factory-loaded Federal 124 grain (+P) HST ammunition, my free-floated, Noveske barreled Colt 6450 produced a 10-shot group at 25 yards that had an extreme spread of 0.98”. On the other hand, the ubiquitous Glock 19 turned in a 10-shot group at 25 yards (fired from the bench) that had an extreme spread of 2.29”; more than double the extreme spread of the group fired from the Colt 6450.
To demonstrate just how accurate the 9mm Parabellum cartridge can be, I conducted an accuracy (technically precision) evaluation of one of my most accurate hand-loads at a distance of 50 yards. This hand-load is topped with the Hornady 125 grain HAP bullet and the groups were fired from the Colt 6450.
Three 10-shot groups were fired in a row with the following extreme spreads:
1.00”
0.85”
1.17”
for a 10-shot group average extreme spread of 1.01”.
The smallest 10-shot group . . .
……