35 GRENAILLE
The .35 Grenaille was made in the early 90’s by Fiocchi for the French market.The first specimen without headstamp is a “Top” brand manufactured by Eurocomm in Brescia, Italy. The “BX” marking is the C.I.P. proof house code assigned exclusively to this...
35 SMITH & WESSON AUTO
During the early years of the 1900’s every major gunmaker in America, except for Smith & Wesson were manufacturing and selling quantities of pocket pistols in .25, .32 and.380 caliber. S&W was at the forefront of pocket revolvers but did not have anything to...
350 JAWS
Jordanian designed cartridge and available in 225, .250, .300, .350 and .400 JAWS. Cases were made for them by Quality Cartridge. JAWS = Jordanian Armaments and Weapons Systems
355 SUPER
This was another development to qualify for major power factor in IPSC competitions.
356 GNR
The 356 GNR was developed by Gary Reeder Custom Guns from Flagstaff, AZ. It is based on the 41 Magnum case necked down to 357. It duplicates the power and speed of the old 357/44 Bains & Davis from the early 70's, except in a revolver it works perfectly, whereas...
356 TEAM SMITH & WESSON
This was a development by Smith & Wesson and Federal during the early 1990’s as the Team Smith & Wesson for their IPSC shooting team. During the late 80’s, shooters began migrating away from the 45 ACP to the 38 Super, as the loads were loaded hot enough to...
357 – 44 BAIN & DAVIS
The 357/44 B&D was probably one of the earliest exercises in necking the 44 Magnum case down to .357 cal and was featured in the January 1964 issue of Gun World magazine. Although enjoying some brief success as a silhouette cartridge it did not last very long.
357 – 45 GRIZZLY WIN MAG
The Grizzly Win Mag pistols were modified and scaled-up M1911 type handguns that were designed by Perry Arnett in the mid-80’s. His designs were patented to L.A.R Manufacturing for an interchangeable pistol for large, heavy duty handgun rounds. The 357/45 GWM are made...
357 AUTO MAG
The 357 Auto Mag is based on the 44 Auto Mag necked down to .357. The basis for this was the 308 Winchester case shortened to 1.298 inch. The 357 Auto Mag was announced in 1973, about three years after the launch of the original 44 Auto Mag but, as opposed to the 44...
357 GRILLMAYER – TRIEBEL
Supposedly a wildcat design by the late Horst Grillmayer. This cartridge is basically the same as the 9mm COLT MARS XPL.
357 HERRETT
The 357 Herrett was a collaboration between Bob Milek and Steve Herrett and was one of a series of cartridges they developed. The 30 Herrett was launched in 1972 and the 357 followed not long after that in 1975 in the Thompson/Center Contender pistol. It is based on...
357 MAGNUM
The early 1930’s was a time of trouble and turmoil in the US. America was in the middle of the Great Depression and Prohibition was still in effect and with it came the inevitable gangster. Police at that stage were still armed with the 38 Special and it was a common...
357 PETERBILT
The 357 Peterbilt is based on a shortened and necked 284 Winchester case.
357 REM MAXIMUM
The 357 Maximum was developed in 1983 by Elgin Gates and originally called the .357 Super Mag. It was during the period where metallic silhouette shooting was in its heyday and shooters needed a revolvers that could take care of those steel rams at 200 meters. The 357...
357 SATURN MAGNUM
This was another 44 Magnum necked down to 357 and was designed by the late Vern Juenke.
357/44 BOBCAT
This was a 44 Magnum case necked down to .357, and one of several different variations of the same idea. From various discussion forums, the Bobcat was developed sometime during the mid-80’s by gunsmith Bob Booth. One of the main problems with bottle-necked cartridges...
357 SIG
The 357 SIG was developed in 1994 in a collaboration between SIG-SAUER and Federal. As was the case with the development of the 40 S&W, references were still made to the 1986 Miami shootout and under gunned Federal agents and 9mmP loads being under powered. The...
36 ALLEN LIPFIRE
This is the smaller .36cal Lipfire made for the Navy Model Revolver. Much of the history of Ethan Allen was discussed under the 44 LIPFIRE.
36 COLT THUER
At the end of the American Civil War, one thing became clear in the world of handguns. The era of the percussion revolver was over, and the era of the self-contained metallic cartridge had arrived. Except for the folks at Smith & Wesson, that posed a problem for...
36/38 SMITH & WESSON
This was an early design, probably dating from around 1881. During 1874, Smith & Wesson started to discontinue manufacture of the No.1 and 1½ rimfire revolver in preparation for the new center-fire versions. Page 314 of Charles Suydam’s work on U.S. Cartridges and...
360 DAN WESSON
The idea of the 360 Wesson dates from around 1999 during the IHMSA International Tournament at Ft. Stockton, TX. According to the Los Angeles Silhouette Club website, (that currently seems down), the discussion was between Bob Serva, then president of Wesson Arms and...
360 LONG CF
This is the longer cased version of the Short Centerfire revolver and was also a British design dating from the early 1890’s, being listed in the 1894 Kynoch catalogue. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 348)
360 MARS
This is the same as the 9mm MARS and th full history is described under that topic. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 349)
360 No. 5 REVOLVER
The .360 No.5 Revolver dates to around 1878 and was a British design, originally for a rook/rabbit type rifle. The 1894 Kynoch and 1898 Eley catalogues list this also as a revolver cartridge with a lighter loading. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 350)
360 SHORT CF
This is the shortened version of the .360 Long Centerfire revolver, a British design in all probability for cheap pocket revolvers. Listed in the 1882 Kynoch catalogue but did not survive long after. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 351)
375 FORSBERG
The 375 Forsberg was developed during the latter part of 1983 by Pacific International Service Company gunsmith Lee Forsberg, out of Janesville CA. It was based on the .308 Win case cut down to 1.563 inches and was part of several necked up or down variations on the...
375 JURRAS
One of a series of cartridges designed by the Late Lee Jurras, one of the greats in handgun hunting. He was very interested in the exploits of the old hunters with their Howdah pistols and in the early 1970’s brought out his own versions chambered in 6 different...
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...
375 SUPER MAG
The 375 Super Magnum was developed by Elgin Gates, one of the pioneers and promoters of contemporary handgun metallic silhouette shooting. It was based on the 375 Winchester case cut down to 1.610”.
18mm MILBANK-AMSLER
The Swiss also followed events in America during their Civil War with great interest and together with all the other European Nations, realised that the muzzle loading rifle fitted in the same category as the dinosaur and the breech loading rifle was the way of the...
18mm FRENCH TABATIèRE
As discussed before, the US Civil War was considered the turning point in history that ushered in a new era in “modern” warfare. Most importantly, it rendered the muzzle loading rifle obsolete and heralded in the era of the self-contained breechloading cartridge....
375 SWISS P
The 375 Swiss P was developed by RUAG-Ammotec in March 2021 as an alternative or upgraded option to the standard 338 Lapua Magnum and fills the gap between the 338 Lapua and the .50 Cal Rifle. It is 40% more powerful than the Lapua and remains supersonic up to 1,600 m...
9.8mm COLT AUTOMATIC
The experimental Colt Model 1910 pistol was developed by Colt as a possible replacement for the Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammer Pistol and the project dates from around 1908 and continued to around 1913. The metric designation in all probability is an indication that it...
9.65mm BROWNING
The 9.65 x 23 Browning is dimensionally the same as the 9,8mm Colt cartridge and was chambered in the M1910 “Grand Browning” and, as can be seen from the photo below, it is similar to the Colt M1911. The first Grand Brownings were indeed chambered in 45...
9.4mm DUTCH REVOLVER
The 9.4mm Dutch was adopted in 1873 for the M1873 Chamelot-Delvigne system revolver and with its adoption, the cartridge was named the Scherpe Patroon nr.11 (Ball Cartridge No. 11) and was packaged in boxes containing twelve rounds. It is interesting to note that the...
8 X 87 SPANISH ANTI TANK XPL
There is very little known about the 8x87 (or 7,92x88) Spanish Anti-tank rifle. Spain also followed trends from Poland and Germany to produce a more economical means of defeating tank armour as well as light artillery pieces on infantry level. Developments in tank...
9.1mm ABADIE
By the late 1850’s Portugal had ceased to be a global power and by the early to mid-1860’s its influence consisted of mostly areas in Africa. It was during this period that most European Nations were modernising their armies, while Portugal had most of...
9 X 25 DILLON
The 9x25 Dillon was designed in the 1980’s by Randy Shelly, an employee from Dillon Precision. It is a 10mm auto case necked down to 9mm so that he could get a 9mm cartridge to make major power factor for IPSC, which at that stage was set at 175. The large cases...
9 X 23 WINCHESTER
The 9 x 23 was launched at the 1996 NRA Annual Convention. It was just one of a number of 9mm variants that were launched during this period for IPSC shooters to make major power factor for competitions. The outward dimensions are the same as the 9mm Bergmann-Bayard...
CP 9 X 23 S
This was another effort by shooters during the early 90’s in the quest for a 9mm handgun that could be used to compete in major caliber power factor for IPSC matches. It was made by Law Enforcement Specialties of Warminster, PA., with cases in all probability by...
9 X 21 IMI
Owning military caliber handguns is prohibited in many countries, like Italy. In the early 80’s, the 9mm Ultra gained a limited following there for competitive shooters, but the cartridge was far from ideal for IPSC matches, being underpowered even for minor power...
9 X 21 RUSSIAN GYURZA
The Gyurza (venomous snake) was a Russian development by designer Petr Serdyukov during the early-90’s, with the idea to find a replacement for the 9mm Makarov. The Gyurza however lost out to the PY or Pistolet Yarygina which was designed by Vladimir Yarygin at the...
9mm WINCHESTER MAGNUM
This was a Winchester design dating from the late 1970’s to try and duplicate 357 Magnum ballistics in a semi-auto handgun. It was originally made for the Wildeypistol and later the AMT (Arcadia Machine and Tool) Automag 3. The guns were much too bulky for self...
10.93 X 57R SWEDISH
The 10,93x57R was listed as case #155 in the 1886 Lorenz export catalogue as a Swedish case. It was also listed in the Egestorff catalogue up to 1901. (Dixon Ref SC12)
9mm WALKING STICK (CANNE)
The earliest reference to the walking stick design capable of firing a projectile dates from 1580 and is currently in the Wallace Collection in London and incorporates a wheel lock pistol and a sword blade. The design is actually very simple and was manufactured by a...
9mm ULTRA/POLICE
The 9mm Ultra was developed by the German firms of Lothar Walther and Gustaf Genshow (GECO) in 1936 in order to interest the Luftwaffe in a pistol that was more powerful than the 9mm Kurtz but more compact than the P38 but the idea never went any further. Shown below...
15mm LE MAT REVOLVER
The Le Mat was designed by Dr. Jean Alexandre François Le Mat (1824 – 1895), who received a patent in 1856 for a revolver with a 9-shot cylinder that revolves around a separate central short-barrelled shotgun and was also known as the "Grape Shot Revolver." Le Mat was...
9.8 X 36R WERNDL XPL
There were tentative and short-lived Austrian caliber reduction experiments done during the 1870’s but without great success. These appear similar to Roth case #44/3 but are tombak (Brass type alloy with high Cu content and between 5% - 20% Zn) instead of brass and...
9mm TEMPO
Cattle killing cartridge developed in the Czech Republic
17.5 X 29R DUTCH SNIDER
In 1867 the Dutch military authorities, by Royal Order dated 24 January 1867, decided to modify their existing .69 (17.5mm) muzzle-loading percussion rifles to breech loader by using the Snider side-hinged action. These rifles remained in service only for a very...