Along time ago in a galaxy (and war zone) far, far away, a contact smiled and pressed a handful of rounds into my hand. “Here, take these. The guy I took them from doesn’t need them anymore,” he explained. Looking them over, it was a typical 9mm copper-washed steel case, but instead of a plain-vanilla 115-grain jacketed FMJ bullet, these were loaded with something altogether different.
For years, the Russians have been upgrading the performance of their 9mm handguns and subguns by feeding them armor-piercing ammunition. In 9x19 Luger, these have the designation of 7N21 and 7N31, the main distinction between the two being the weight of their projectiles. According to published reference material, the former has a bullet weight of 5.4 grams, or 82 grains, while 7N31 is a…