9mm Ammo OAL...

[Sieger]

Hi All:

OALs of German Military & Commercial; and Pre WWII American Commercial 9MM Ammo as manufactured through 1945 (By Head Stamp):

Note: For MM to Inches Multiply By .03937

German Military and Commercial:

DWM/K/11/11 TC 29.2MM or 1.1496 inch.
DWM/K/12/17 RN 29.6MM or 1.1653 inch.
St*/12/42/VB RN 29.6MM
Ge/17/D/S RN 29.6MM
S/1/18 RN 29.7MM or 1.1692 inch.
DWM/K/11/11 TCHP 29.13MM
St*/1/42/dou RN 29.6MM

Pre WWII American Commercial:

UMC/9mm Luger TC 29.06-29.55MM
WRA/9mm TC 28.88-28.91MM
WRA Co/9mm Luger Auto TCHP 29.13-29.2MM
WRA/9mm LugeR TC 29.04MM
Peters/9mm Luger TC 28.62MM
Western 9mm Luger TC 29.00-29.22MM
Rem-UMC/9MM Luger TCHP 29.19MM

About 30 years ago, I developed OALs that would shoot, without jaming, through my 9MM Lugers with their original magazines:

TC 29.2MM or 1.15 inch. (rounded)
RN 29.8MM or 1.175 inch. (rounded)

Strangely, in later years when I picked up one of the DWM Owners Manuals (Repo) it gave the following OALs:

9MM TC 29.0MM or 1.1417 inch.
7.65 RN 29.8MM or 1.1732 inch.

The German 1906 Navy Manual lists the following OAL for the 9MM:

9MM TC 29.2MM or 1.1496 inch.

Over the years, I have found the OAL measurement to be absolutely critical to the proper functioning of a Luger, and have spent quite a bit of time developing proper OALs for each bullet type I handload.

Of special note is the fact that all Luger Magazines are not created equally!!

Though the original Luger Magazines had an interior length of 27MM, the new Mec-Gar Magazines seem to be set up to properly handle shorter ammo. I'll do some detailed testing of these magazines on my next trip to Florida.

Gentlemen, your comments.

Sieger