9mm (9X19) vs 9mm (9X18) Comparison

 
      I went to the range today to make a comparison of the Red Army ammunition against the ammunition of Wolf brand. Both being the communist caliber of 9X18 nine millimeter. The Red Army brand is manufactured in Poland, while the Wolf ammo comes from Russia. The boss of the range threw a wrench in my plans when he noticed the Wolf ammo is steel jacketed and not allowed. He has an automatic sweeper and I think it fouls up the machine so he can't sell the brass to some re-loader..
     Since 'Plan A' went down the tubes I immediately thought of different comparison...I brought my Polish P64 to do the original test,...BUT I also had my trustee CZ75B in my range bag. Why not compare the two 9 millimeter handguns?

    I recently purchased the P64 from Classic Firearms to be my daily carry pistol. The decision was made because the CZ is too heavy and too large to not be noticed by innocent bystanders. The P64 (on left) is almost perfect for this purpose. I have an inside the waistband holster and it is barely visible above my beltline. I have owned it for about a month and I already love it. My only criticism of the pistol is the European style magazine release button on the bottom of the grip handle. It takes a little longer to change magazines than when I am shooting the CZ (on right).

       I had the target set at thirty feet and began firing. The P64 does have a little bit more recoil than the CZ, and this was despite the Red Army ammo being 93 grains versus 115 grains in the 9mm Lawman ammunition in the CZ. Both boxes of ammo was full metal jacket rounds.
    At this point let me inject something about the ammunition I am shooting. When I got home to clean the pistols I was surprised to find the Red Army ammo left very little residue in the P64, but the Lawman left the CZ very dirty. Both pistols have chrome plated barrels and the difference was very obvious when held up to a light source. I used some gun scrubber by Birchwood and both cleaned up nice and bright.

Back to the comparison of the ammo at the firing range. It was not until I had also shot the 9mm parabellum in the CZ that I noticed a difference in the targets.

  Note the holes in the targets. The 9X18 ammo does not make as clean a hole in the target as does the 9X19. As I said, this was at thirty feet and I think the 9X18 bullet is beginning to wobble at this point and that is causing the ragged hole in the target as compared to the clean punch of the Luger 9mm. If so this could be a benefit similar to the model 1911 .45 ACP round. The forty-five travels a slow 800 feet per second and begins a tumbling motion upon impact, causing extreme damage. The P64 is an excellent firearm and I highly recommend it to anyone in the market for a concealable weapon. It features a single stack magazine with a capacity of 6 with one in the chamber. The fixed barrel gives it amazing accuracy. Any errors in the above shooting can only be attributed to the senior age of the shooter.