Does anyone know which manufacturer first introduced a 9x19mm revolver? I know Ruger offered their 9mm Speed-Six as far back as the mid 1980's though I'm uncertain whether or not S&W predates Ruger. While the pairing of a rimless pistol cartridge with a revolver may seem somewhat unorthodox, the 9mm actually shines as a revolver cartridge - especially in shorter barrels where some .38 Special loads may suffer from a ballistic disadvantage. I recently acquired a Ruger SP101 in 9mm from my cousin's boy. The revolver was NIB but with a horribly heavy factory DA trigger. Attached is a photo after all of the internals were carefully polished with Flitz and a Dremel felt tip. Reassembly was completed with an M*Carbo spring and shim kit resulting in a much improved trigger.

I was working at the S&W ammunition plant in 1978-80 time frame and I remember the company making a special offer to employees on their 9mm revolver.

Apparently it was developed and a number were manufactured for a European police force (France?) and then the country changed its mind, so S&W has a lot of 9mm revolvers to get rid of. 9mm was not a very popular (compared to 38. special, .45 ACP and .357 magnum) round in America in those days, so the 9mm revolver was kind of a white elephant.

The Smith & Wesson Model 547 was introduced in 1980 and manufacturing continued on to 1985



Phillips & Rodgers produced the Medusa Model 47 in the 1990s

Janz and Korth both produced 9MM revolvers, but I do not think they were introduced that far back

However I have no knowledge about the rest of the manufacturers across the Globe. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of makes of firearm that never make it to Amerrica

I think Ruger beat S&W to market with their 9mm Service-Six (M-109)

The Ruger originally could also be used without moonclips. There was a ring of spring steel in the extractor start which would catch the rims of the cases...it headspaced on the case mouth.

Obviously each seceding round became harder to insert and Ruger converted over to using moon clips

In 1944, S&W produced at least 1 M-1917 in 9mm for testing by the Brits.

Given the age of the 9mm Luger cartridge, and the fact that revolvers used to be vastly more dominant than they are now, I'm sure there had to be some pre WWII 9mm revolvers.

Anyone remember the 9mm Federal cartridge? A rimmed 9x19 for these revolvers, and a couple others I think, so you wouldn't need moon clips. Great idea, until somebody figured out that a rimmed 9x19 is exactly the same case size as a 38 S&W, and would fit fine in all those old top break black powder 38s from the 1880s onward. 9 Fed was very quietly dropped before it killed somebody. Used to be a local ammo dealer at gunshows that had some, wish I had bought a box or two. Rare bird.

W.H.B. Smith showed an Israeli copy of the S&W M&P in 9mm with half moon clips. He didn't date it but my book is the 1969 edition, so it can't have been later.

When did Ruger first offer the Blackhawk Convertible?

I think this is a huge downside for .38spl. .38 Federal made the point that there's no reason a modern .38 revolver couldn't shoot 9mm pressure rounds. But the fact that .38 is one of the last ancient round in wide use, means that someone could stick a modern high pressure round in a very old gun designed for the old black powder pressures. .38 snubs would be more effective at 9mm pressures.

quote:

Originally posted by Watergoat:
Anyone remember the 9mm Federal cartridge? A rimmed 9x19 for these revolvers, and a couple others I think, so you wouldn't need moon clips. Great idea, until somebody figured out that a rimmed 9x19 is exactly the same case size as a 38 S&W, and would fit fine in all those old top break black powder 38s from the 1880s onward. 9 Fed was very quietly dropped before it killed somebody. Used to be a local ammo dealer at gunshows that had some, wish I had bought a box or two. Rare bird.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Watson:
W.H.B. Smith showed an Israeli copy of the S&W M&P in 9mm with half moon clips. He didn't date it but my book is the 1969 edition, so it can't have been later.

Small Arms of the World. I've got the 1969 edition on my book shelf.

Page 464:



I'd estimate that these revolvers were developed by Israel in the early 1950s, not long after the formation of the Israeli state. Just a guess.

It's funny- as soon as I read your comment, I could picture this revolver in my mind. When I was young, my local library had the 1969 edition of this book. I checked it out of the library so many times, I damn near memorized the thing. When I ran across a used copy many years ago, I had to have it. There are some intriguing photographs in that book.

quote:

Originally posted by Watergoat:
Anyone remember the 9mm Federal cartridge? A rimmed 9x19 for these revolvers, and a couple others I think, so you wouldn't need moon clips.

9MM Federal was not introduced as a replacement for moon clipped ammunition in a revolver. it may or may not fit into a moon clip enabled 9mm pistol.

This cartridge was released for the 9MM Rimed Charter PitBull chambered for the 9MM Rimmed cartridge

Not as old as a the 1969ish M&P but older than the 547 and the Ruger would be the FN Barracuda, 1974.

The Manhurin M73 was 1980s sometime.