Georg Luger drew it up in 1901, the German army took it in 1908, and the thing never looked back. For how long ago it was designed it was a fairly savage round for a pistol. A century and a quarter later the 9mm Luger is the most-produced centerfire pistol cartridge on earth. NATO runs it, American police run it, and every striker-fired pistol out of every factory comes begging for it like happy Labradors.
All that volume does one beautiful thing for the shooter: it usually makes 9mm the cheapest serious pistol round you can buy. The practice market lives on 124 grain FMJ these days even though 115 used to be the standard. 147 grain loads used to be the experts' heavy-hitter but not so much anymore. 124 grain is the usual go-to now along with some exotics in other weights.
Brass is the one to get. Steel and aluminum run cheaper but you won't reload them and they're ugly.
And know this about the math: a 50-round box and a 1,000-round case are two different worlds per round. Buy deep or pay retail for 20 and 50 round boxes like the suffering masses do.
