![]() A 9mm handgun can sit on the nightstand and be grabbed in a flash. Home DefenseĪ handgun or pistol caliber carbine chambered in 9mm is the gun-caliber combo of choice for countless people. They often overlap one another for a variety of reasons and purposes and are used by countless individuals in similar situations who have determined for themselves that these calibers are the best choice for the given job. Uses for 9mm & 5.56Īs you might have guessed, the popularity of the 9mm and 5.56 cartridges is due in no small part to the wide variety of uses to which they are suited. In the hands of a competent shooter who knows what they are doing, there’s no reason to expect anything other than accurate shots from a firearm chambered for 9mm or 5.56 ammo. Accuracyīoth 9mm and 5.56 cartridges are very accurate. The simple fact of the matter is that these two calibers would not have survived and thrived for this long if they were not effective in their given weapons systems. In that same vein, the 5.56 cartridge is also popular all around the world where rifle-caliber weapons are applicable. There’s a reason that the 9mm cartridge has been adopted the world over for police and military purposes when pistol-caliber weapons are applicable. Weapons chambered in 5.56 or 9mm are incredibly effective. Make sure to test out your combinations before trusting your life to them. Just be aware that subsonic ammo operates differently in semi-automatic weapons, which depend on the gases to cycle the action of the gun. If you’re using subsonic ammo with a suppressor, you’ll definitely be bringing the decibel levels down to a hearing-safe level. Subsonic ammo is available for both calibers, which eliminates the typical crack of a gunshot as it breaks the sound barrier. Do your own research based on the specific firearm and specific purpose before deciding on which kind of ammunition will work best for your application. Ammunition for 9mm & 5.56īecause of the popularity of both 9mm and 5.56 calibers, there are a plethora of ammunition choices for each on the market. Either way, that’s still very loud and well above the threshold of 140 decibels for hearing damage.īoth calibers benefit greatly from the use of a suppressor, and the sound levels can be brought down to a hearing-safe level when used in conjunction with the right load of ammo. The 9mm cartridge averages about 166 decibels while the 5.56 cartridge averages about 169 decibels. They’re actually pretty close to one another. The 5.56 rifle cartridge is inherently more powerful than the 9mm pistol cartridge, so you might expect the 5.56 to be a lot louder than the 9mm, but that’s not the case. The average length of a 9mm cartridge is 1.16″ overall while the average length of a 5.56 cartridge is 2.26″ overall. Since the 5.56 is designed for a rifle action and the 9mm is designed for a pistol action, they are vastly different in terms of size. The biggest visual difference between 5.56 and 9mm cartridges is their overall length. Both can be made with steel or brass cartridge cases and both can be outfitted with bullets made from a variety of steel, copper, and lead alloys to fit certain purposes. There’s a finite number of materials to use in the creation of cartridges, and so there’s a fair amount of overlap between the two calibers. This means that the heavier 9mm bullets will leave the barrel with more energy than a 5.56 bullet, but the lighter 5.56 bullets will leave the barrel with more speed. For the 5.56, the two most popular bullet weights are 55 grains and 62 grains. The two most popular bullet weights for 9mm are 115 grains and 124 grains. Weightīullets in 9mm cartridges weigh more than bullets in 5.56 cartridges. Here’s how the 5.56 and 9mm compare and contrast with one another in a series of crucial aspects. Material makeup, however, is where their paths cross. The weight of the bullets for each cartridge is also significantly different. The overall lengths between the two – both the bullets and the cartridges – are completely different. The 5.56 cartridge and the 9mm cartridge are visual and technical polar opposites. Let’s take a look at how 5.56 and 9mm stack up against one another while recognizing that it is indeed an apples to oranges comparison in many instances. They are used successfully in a wide variety of the same situations and settings despite being radically different in every way. The popularity of these two calibers is driven by their diversity. They’ve both been around for decades – the 9mm has been around for more than a century – and they’ve both cemented their place in the firearms world. ![]() Two of the most common calibers on the market are the 5.56 rifle caliber cartridge and the 9mm pistol caliber cartridge.
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