9mm BROWNING SHORT – 380 AUTO

HISTORY

 (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 115).

The first specimen is Egyptian from Shoubra Arsenal. It was designated as the M34 from the Italian designation. The numbers at the 4 o’clock position is 27, from Factory 27. The numbers at the 7 o’clock position is for the year 1964. The second specimen was by DWM. The headstamp is in Farsi and the date of manufacture was for the year 1317 on the Persian (modern day Iran) calendar, which would be 1938 on the western calendar. The Arabic 9 on the 3 o’clock position is the lot number, with the star on the 9 o’clock position denoting a brass case. The crown at the 10 o’clock position is a stylised Sassanid Crown. The third specimen is by the state-owned Military Industries Corporation of Saudi Arabia. The symbol at the 9 o’clock position is for the designation 9mm with the date on the 3 o’clock position (1405 in the Arabic calendar) translating to 1984.

11 was the code for Prvi Partizan Zavod – Uzice, Yugoslavia, what today is Serbia.

The fist specimen with D 1931 headstamp was made at Dordrecht, Holland. See also ECRA newsletter 359/29 (April 1995). DCE was for Direzione Centrale Esercito and production was at Capua. dou was by Waffenwerk Brunn A-G, Povaszka Bystrica, Czechoslovakia, with St denoting steel case.

F 1944 was by Fiocchi. The two specimens with green end red base were armor piercing loadings by American Ballistics. The FLB specimen with green tip is a PROOF loading.

The 6th and 7th specimens are Yugoslavian – Краљевина Југославија-Kraljevina Jugoslavija. Only the 1923 date has been reported. The K44 headstamp by Kynoch were for general officers and aircrew armed with Colt Hammerless pistols during WW2. A number of these were sent to England during the War

LY is by China North Industries Corp., (NORINCO), China

PECA was by Pirotechnica de  Esercito, Capua, Italy. The C I M  PS headstamp was by Consorcio de Industrias Militares, Pirotecnia de Sevilla and was produced between 1932 – 1934.

The letters “A F” at the 9 and 3 o’clock on the Turkish loading are for “Askeri Fabrikalar”, or Military Factory. The two Russian cartridges are by Tula. CAPH on the US Cartridge Company headstamp was for Colt Automatic Pistol Hammerless. The VALMET headstamp is by Valtion Patruunatehdas, Lapua, Finland. The specimen with W 39 was by WRACO for the Shanghai Police.

The W-W 380 AUTO specimen with red primer annulus is a “Beehive” – described as a frangible core, close range defence load from Power Plus Products. The W-W loading with purple base is a subsonic load.