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About Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Ammunition

Common Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Calibers

• 9mm:The 9mm Luger cartridge is easily the most common handgun round in common use. The caliber goes by many names, often being referred to as 9mm NATO, 9mm Parabellum, 9x19mm, or just generically “9mm”. The cartridge’s origins can be traced back to the early 20th century and is the brainchild of Georg Luger. Originally found in firearms such as the Borchardt C-93 and the P-08 Luger pistol, the round has become a common chambering for handguns in civilian and military use from the 20th century onward. Firearms such as pistols and submachine guns in 9mm Luger have commonly been used by military and law enforcement personnel across the globe, leading to the round establishing a reputation for being a reliable service cartridge.
• .40 S&W:The .40 Smith & Wesson cartridge was introduced in 1990 as part of a collaboration between Smith and Wesson and Winchester. The round is typically denoted by its full name, as .40 S&W, or simply as .40 cal. While effectively a shorter and milder version of the 10mm Auto, the .40 Smith & Wesson is often compared to the 9mm Luger and .45 ACP. The round boasts a greater overall length and projectile size over the 9mm Luger. The .40 Smith & Wesson is capable of higher velocities than the .45 ACP and is ultimately slower than most 9mm Luger loadings. Due to its velocity to projectile size ratio, the .40 Smith & Wesson cartridge is capable of imparting a greater amount of energy on impact. As far as recoil goes, the .40 Smith & Wesson is noticeably snappier than the 9mm Luger and .45 ACP while recoiling less than 10mm Auto.
• .45 ACP:The .45 ACP, or .45 Automatic Colt Pistol, cartridge is the brainchild of prolific firearm designer John Moses Browning. Originally developed in 1904, the cartridge is closely associated with the 1911 pistol, an iconic service pistol chambered in .45 ACP. Beyond its use in handguns, the cartridge is well-known for being used in submachine guns such as the Thompson and M3 “Grease Gun.” The .45 ACP notably served the United States and allied nations throughout both World Wars and in many of the conflicts throughout the 20th century.
• 5.56x45mm:The 5.56x45mm NATO’s roots can be traced to the .223 Remington cartridge, a popular smallbore sporting cartridge. Initially, development for the cartridge began in the United States in 1957 alongside efforts to develop a smallbore, high-velocity firearm. This would eventually lead to the introduction of the AR-15 and subsequent M16 series of rifles. The cartridge would go on to see use by American forces in the Vietnam War and subsequent conflicts. During the 1970s and 1980s, NATO expressed interest in a standardized, smallbore cartridge to replace the 7.62x51mm NATO round. This led to the cartridge’s adoption by NATO in the form of the SS109 cartridge. After its adoption, the round has seen use with NATO members and allies such as the United Kingdom, Austria, France, and even Japan.
• 7.62x39:The 7.62×39 cartridge was introduced in 1944 and represents an early intermediate cartridge. While the intermediate 7.92×33 Kurz precedes the 7.62×39, the latter is still in common use today while the other has been completely phased out of conventional usage. The cartridge officially entered service in 1945 and served as the standard issue military cartridge for the Soviets for most of the Cold War, still seeing some limited usage today. Beyond the Soviet Union, countless other countries on nearly every continent have utilized the cartridge in one form or another. This is mainly due to the fact that many surplus firearms worked their way around the globe as newer equipment became available and countries sold off or exported surplus arms.

Firearms that Use Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) Ammo

• Pistols
• Rifles

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