Need a rundown on the super 9's folks...

Ardent

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OK, so I'm intimately familiar with 9mm Parabellum, .357 SIG, and .38 Super.

Now where I lose touch is the various extended 9's, like the 9X21, 9mm supercomp, 9X23, etc. I know some are a rimless version of the 'Super (supercomp?), and some are different birds entirely. I read an article comparing the 'big nines' a little while back, and have since lost the article and fortgot the info.

I'm looking to build a 'mega 9' on my NP29, bull barreled etc. I'd like to decide on one, and I like the look of 9X23 Winchester, but know little of it or its history.

Any insight and advice is appreciated, along with opinions. :)
 
Ardent said:
Now where I lose touch is the various extended 9's, like the 9X21, 9mm supercomp, 9X23, etc. I know some are a rimless version of the 'Super (supercomp?), and some are different birds entirely. I read an article comparing the 'big nines' a little while back, and hav since lost the article and fortgot the info.

A lot of them are rimless .38 Supers, although not necessarily designed to be, such as the 9mm Largo, which is 9x23, but purely by coincidence. 9x23 Winchester I think bit the dust awhile back, I remember CP bullets saying they were going to sue Winchester for patent infringement. 9x23 CP is a rimless .38 Super, but with a thicker web in the base of the case, the same as the CP "improved" .38 Super brass used to make major in IPSC.

A lot of these 9mms are necked down from other cartridges, such as 9x25 Dillon, which is LOUD to put it mildly, necked down from 10mm Auto.

There are all sorts of oddballs out there like the defunct 9mm Winchester Magnum, and 9mm Mauser (9x25, but simply a long case).

9x21 IMI is simply a lengthened 9mm Para, the CIP proof specs for it give the same pressure limits as 9x19 Para, but IPSC shooters have used it to make major by cramming a bit more powder in and seating the bullets out a little further. 9x21 IMI was originally designed so that IMI could sell the Uzi Carbine in France without a permit being needed to buy it, the French Govt. cracked down on that a few months after it came out, but as 9mm Para is banned in Italy it's still popular there.

Another one that will make major is .356 TS&W, which is 9x21.5mm but has a strengthened web, supposedly. This was S&W's idea for a gun for USPSA Limited Division, but it never became popular because USPSA introduced a .40 calibre minimum calibre rule for Limited almost as soon as it was announced. I've always thought the guns chambered for it made by the S&W Performance Center are the best semi-auto pistols S&W has ever turned out though, and they're usually quite cheap because the ammo is so hard to get now.

Anyway, the 9x23 CP is probably the most popular for competition use and probably the best choice if you want a longer 9mm. Depending on what you want to do with it.
 
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