Why did NATO choose to adopt the 9mm?

[Thermactor]

If they adopted the 5.7x28mm round for handguns and for rifles then that would simplify things even more!

 

[strangelittleman]

During WW2 and Post WW2, most of the service type handgun and SMG R&D was centered around 9x19. This likely was a key factor in the adoption by NATO and eventually the US.

 

[akodo]

This topic has been discussed at length many many many times on this forum, .
If you want to look over the past forum posts, you'll find page after page on the topic of why a Beretta 9mmNATO was selected.

Here's the simple Reader's Digest(if you remember that ) version;
The 1911s were wearing out, breaking, the DoD wanted to update the military sidearms. The US Army wanted to maintain the old 1911a1 format but gave in.
T&Es were done, the XM9, Beretta and SIG's P226 9mm made the final cut but the Beretta 92F cost less per unit & Beretta already had a working factory in Maryland. A fully stocked, functioning plant in CONUS was a M9 contract detail.
Some law makers and defense industry insiders squawked & cried which led to a 2nd full scale XM9 review. Several major gun makers entered but fell short. Beretta USA won again.
The M9 9mmNATO entered service in 1985 or so. SIG Sauer later got a few special ops contracts & the compact M11 9mmNATO military contract.

Who will win the new MHS gun contract? Many insiders & industry members say the SIG P320, Glock and M&P have the best shot.

you misread his question. He doesn't want to know why the USA switched to 9mm, he wants to know why 9mm became NATO standard.


For that question, look at what the non-US 'allied forces' were using. The brits had a lot of revolves still in hosters, often chambered in 38-200, which is less powerful than a 38 special. But there were also a lot of british troops that were using the Browning Hi Power, as were Canadians, some in France and Belgium but they were overran so quickly not sure they count.

ALSO, during WW2, we (the allies in general) were on the receiving end of SMGs using 9mm, were impressed with captured P38s, and aside from the USA, even if many officers were still being issued revolvers, came to respect the 9mm luger for how effective the various Sten and similar SMGs were.


After the war, just as the FN-FAL sold like hotcakes, FN Herstal was also able to sell the 9mm Browning Hi Power like crazy. Wikipedia says that post WW2 50 different armies and 93 different countries adopted the Browning Hi Power. With that many armies using it, it was clearly the logical choice to choose it's ammo as standard.

 

[akodo]

> NATO was formed in March of 1948. The majority of
> member nations used the 9mm already.

That would be... Germany and Austria.

The British Commonwealth used a mix of .45 ACP, .455, and .38s. The French commonwealth used their own 9mm, and quite a lot of old 8mm stuff was still in service. Italy had its own 9mm. Norway used the .45 ACP. Denmark, Iceland, Holland, Portugalm and Luxembourg were the other members then, using a mix of whatever they could buy cheap, mostly. And there were probably more US-surplus .45s in service than all the native-made pistols put together.

Unlike rifles, sidearms were of little interest to most countries, who were happy enough with a mix of mostly-wimpy 7.62 and 9mm popguns.

As far as I've been able to discover the selection of 9mm was purely politics... same as the 7.62x51 rifle cartridge.

When looking at what cartridges nations were using in the early days of NATO, you can't look just at the handguns, you have to look at the SMGs as well.

Yes, many nations both pre, WW 2 and post WW2 were using all sorts of revolvers, as well as pocket pistols in 32acp, 380 acp, and various other cartridges now considered oddities. Part of the reason NATO started talking about a unified ammo system was that many early members were wanting to upgrade and re-arm their military forces and waiting until common calibers were chosen was smart...which is why the fact that many of them had handguns in something other than 9mm isn't terribly relevant.


Besides, many militaries that officially had other guns as standard sidearms had been exposed to 9x19 handguns through the British SAS and equivalent teams, and they liked what they saw.

 

[akodo]

After NATO adopted the 9x19mm round, and the USA first started talking about getting on-board with that pistol round, there was talk about simply modifying existing 1911s with new barrels, mags, and whatnots to handle 9mm, or to simply purchase brand new 1911s chambered in 9x19

 

[JWH321]

delete

 

[Sav .250]

A standard was set............

All entries were tested.

Ratings were given

Beretta won out.

Plus, some time back the story was in the NRA Rifleman.

 

[orionengnr]

Studies have shown that the more ammo you throw at the enemy, the more likely you are to hit him....

You know, I have read a few "studies" that compare the number of rounds fired with hits made from the Civil War through Vietnam. The number of rounds fired per hit increased fairly exponentially from one "improvement" to the next.

Having a lot more rounds available makes it easier for one to put a lot of lead in the air.

The air is not the enemy, and only hits count.

FWIW, a similar condition exists with police forces in recent times. Many examples of 40 or 50 rounds fired, one or two hits...