Just curious, how was it this cartridge achieved and maintained the popularity it had before, during, and after WWII? Like most everyone here I have a couple of guns in this caliber, shoot them frequently, and just for aggravation I reload for them. Mine are a 1974 Walther PP and a 1940ish Browning 1922. These models were used for many years in several European countries as a primary police gun and military sidearm. They shoot great, are accurate, easy to carry, I load a 90g fmj on top of 2.2 g reddot. What got me thinking about it was last week I was cruising through the backwaters (aka swamps) in a kayak and slid up on a 3' alligator gar.
These are nasty critters that are not something you want to play with so what the hell,I took aim with my PP and shot him in the head.
C
He flipped, flopped, went round in circles, torpedoed up on the bank, flopped a few more times then was still. Then I'll be damned if he didn't flip around and swim off. I guess European criminals aren't as tough as Alabama alligator gar.
rk