Quote:
Originally Posted by scoobysnacker
There are a bewildering amount of specs listed out there, and the manufacturers don't help by placing numbers on boxes without clarifiying what length barrel their measurements for muzzle velocity were based on.
Here's what I think is going on- I think the various European rounds are all NATO spec. The max NATO load is lower than the top end of the US SAAMI spec, but NATO requires a minimum load too, so the rounds are all pretty uniform, and towards the higher end of the SAAMI scale. It would make sense, as I imagine the primary intent of this ammo is military, and a few companies have decided to tap into the US market as well for profits, since we love to shoot over here. They probably don't make a "range/plinking" load, so while the cases aren't sealed per spec, they are loaded to it.
Here in the States, we don't adhere to that, and so there are a lot of softer loads, like Blazer for example, primarily intended for range usage.
It's made me hesitant, but I guess it should still be plenty good enough to plink with, and that's what I'm doing.
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In the absence of hard data you are doing lots of speculating
and for the most part you are mistaken. I confess to a great
fondness for the 9mm round and I have several 9mm autos
and a good bit of ammo on hand. As you mention the 9mm
is and has been made all over the world for many years and
there seems to be an endless variety of cartridges around
for it. Quite fascinating really. I have chronographed many
different 9mm rounds over the last 30+ years and have
learned a few things. Way too much to go into here but in
general the common belief that European ammo is all hotter
than US ammo probably started after WW2 when lots of
foreign military ammo was imported. Most import ammo
today is made for the US market and is underloaded. You
cannot go by factory specs or subjective reaction to firing
different brands to evaluate ammo. DO THIS. Buy a $99
CE Pro Digital Chronograph and prepare for a lesson. I
buy and shoot mostly 115 gr 9mm but realize that your
Blazer Brass ammo is probably hotter than a lot of import
brands. Buy a chronograph. Believe this, by no means are
all the European rounds NATO spec.