Just a silly millimeter—that's all that spells the difference in these three successively longer auto pistol cartridges. The 9x17 mm is just one of several names for the .380 Auto, which was a John Browning creation in the first decade of the 20th Century. Used in scores of different blowback pocket autos, the .380 (aka 9 mm Corto, 9 mm Kurz, etc.) is experiencing a resurgence of popularity, some of which are actually recoil-operated. At the other end of the spectrum, the 9x19 mm is a European designation for what we call the 9 mm Luger, but the Europeans know as the 9 mm Parabellum. It is the most popular and widely used pistol cartridge in the world. In the middle, there is a seldom-seen round called the 9x18 mm. Developed by the Germans for Luftwaffe pistols before World War II, the 9x18 mm was also known as the 9 mm police or 9 mm Ultra. The design was intended to split the performance gap between the other two 9 mm cartridges. The 9x18 was resurrected for German police service in the 1970s, but fizzled once again. However, two out of three isn't bad for the little 9 mm rounds. Of course, there were some others. I know of no 9x20 mm, but there was a 9x21 mm, a 9x22 mm and the really zippy 9x23 mm made a lot of sense, but not the popularity chart.
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