9mm GLISENTI

Research notes

The Glisenti Model 1910 was adopted by the Italian Government in 1911 as the “Cartuccia a Pallotolla Cal. 9 M.910.”. The locking system of the Glisenti was weaker than that of the standard 9mm Parabellum cartridge adopted by Germany earlier, and therefore the 9mm Glisenti, although using the same case as the standard Parabellum cartridge, is loaded to lower pressure and velocity. 9mm Glisenti cartridges were always loaded with a truncated, flat tip bullet. It is important to note that standard 9mm Parabellum loadings are frequently encountered with the same shaped bullet. This does not automatically make it a Glisenti load. There are a number of headstamps that were definitively identified as Glisenti loadings, all others are standard 9mm Parabellum loads. There was a comprehensive article by friend and fellow collector John Moss in the IAA Journal 454 on the full history and variations of the 9mm Glisenti. (March/April 2007). (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 125).