The intent was to create a more stealthy cartridge for suppressed firearms used by Spetsnaz and other special troops that had more power, range, and penetration than 7.62 US subsonic rounds tested at the time.

The subsonic round is originally designed to have an optimistic effective lethal range of 400 to 530 meters and a maximum penetration of up to 10 mm of steel.

[citation needed] Commercial Wolf and Tula brand Ammunition that was being imported into the United States was subsequently banned on September 7, 2021 by then president Joseph Biden as part of sanctions against Russia for poisoning of Aleksey Navalny.

However, there are multiple companies worldwide who make 9.3mm (.366") Mauser bullets which are suitable for reloading in the 9×39, including Hornady, Barnes, Nosler, Prvi Partizan, Lapua, and others.

Lehigh Defense briefly made prototypes that had limited distribution of their maximum expansion and xtreme penetration copper bullets designs for subsonic rounds.

Powder coated cast bullets generally work exceptionally well at subsonic velocities and have decent expansion in gel targets too.

At 100 meters it can penetrate 8 mm (0.31 in) of steel or GOST 3 rated body armor, while retaining enough power to inflict damage to a soft target behind it.