What exactly is a parabellum gun?

**Dr. Sleepless** · Posted On: 10/01/2006 3:56am

I've been looking up stuff about "parabellum" guns. And from what I can tell it's really just a brand of guns, right? German, if my research is right and it's latin for, "For War". But what is so special about them? That's what I'm stuck on, the googling I do brings up the same wikipedia and dictionary.com entry for it and I really can't find anything else. So what it do?

**Cullion** · Posted On: 10/01/2006 4:36am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parabellum

Seems to say it all really.

**hapkido_keith** · Posted On: 10/01/2006 6:24am

I think it was originally to designate the Luger as a military pistol. The name just stuck over the years.

**Don Gwinn** · Posted On: 10/01/2006 11:37am

I've never heard of a "Parabellum Gun" or any brand of firearm named Parabellum.

The only Parabellum I've heard of in firearms is 9mm Parabellum. Parabellum simply means "for war" as far as I know.

9mm Parabellum is the same thing as 9mm Luger or 9x19mm.
9mm Largo is a different round, still 9mm caliber but a much longer cartridge case and more power than 9mm.
9mm Kurz, also called .380 acp, is a shorter version ("Kurz" is German for short) usually using the same bullets as 9mm Parabellum.
9x23mm is yet another round, popular with IPSC shooters in the U.S. because it qualifies for better scoring (it makes "major" power factor) but you can fit more of it in the gun.

9mm Parabellum has been by far the most-used military sidearm and submachine gun caliber for nearly a hundred years now, so the name is apt.

All of this has nothing to do with the gun, really, and everything to do with the ammunition. Guns as diverse as the Luger, the GLOCK series, the Browning Hi-Power, the CZ-75, the MP-5, the Beretta 92 and dozens of others have been chambered in this round. Most of them have very little in common other than the caliber. You can get Smith and Wesson revolvers chambered in 9mm Parabellum!

**Dr. Sleepless** · Posted On: 10/02/2006 3:00am

Originally Posted by Don Gwinn

I've never heard of a "Parabellum Gun" or any brand of firearm named Parabellum.

The only Parabellum I've heard of in firearms is 9mm Parabellum. Parabellum simply means "for war" as far as I know.

9mm Parabellum is the same thing as 9mm Luger or 9x19mm.
9mm Largo is a different round, still 9mm caliber but a much longer cartridge case and more power than 9mm.
9mm Kurz, also called .380 acp, is a shorter version ("Kurz" is German for short) usually using the same bullets as 9mm Parabellum.
9x23mm is yet another round, popular with IPSC shooters in the U.S. because it qualifies for better scoring (it makes "major" power factor) but you can fit more of it in the gun.

9mm Parabellum has been by far the most-used military sidearm and submachine gun caliber for nearly a hundred years now, so the name is apt.

All of this has nothing to do with the gun, really, and everything to do with the ammunition. Guns as diverse as the Luger, the GLOCK series, the Browning Hi-Power, the CZ-75, the MP-5, the Beretta 92 and dozens of others have been chambered in this round. Most of them have very little in common other than the caliber. You can get Smith and Wesson revolvers chambered in 9mm Parabellum!

THANK YOU. This should replace the wikipedia entry. :p