Short summary of the history of the BSA pistol cartridges from Vol. 2 No.7 of The Historical Breechloading Firearm Association by Dr GL Sturgess. Both German and English arms manufacturers suffered a significant decline in their fortunes after the end of WW1 with the...

This was a Winchester produced cartridge for the Ingram MAC-11 Submachine Gun.    Below is a description from the August 1975 AFTE Journal: SPECIAL .380 SUBMACHINE GUN CARTRIDGE FOR MAC (INGRAM) SMG By Monty C. Lutz, Chief Firearms Examiner US Army Crime...

Developed around the late 1860’s and was based on a shortened version of the 380 Short Center Fire (Long Case). Mainly used in cheap mail-order business pocket revolvers (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 379)   ...

This was an English development dating from the late 1860’s and was also listed by most European manufacturers. Very similar and in most instances would be interchangeable with the 380 Short Colt. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 378)       ...

With concerns that the Mark 1 bullet might not be appropriate according to Art. 23(e) of the Hague Convention, the British Small Arms Committee commenced with trials late in 1936 and into 1937 with a jacketed bullet to replace the round-nosed lead bullet used. Various...

The 455 Webley was the official side-arm of British troops during the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, but after hostilities ceased, the military decided that in a modern era a lighter revolver would be sufficient. The firm of Webley & Scott submitted...

This was an English development from the period between 1870 – 1880 and was originally developed for Rook/Rabbit type rifles for varmint hunting. It was also listed in the 1898 Eley catalogue as a revolver cartridge and was also manufactured by various European...

This might also have been an early British development for small, palm sized revolvers, but not much info available. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 374)   ...

Non-lethal self-defence cartridge from ALFAPROJ, a Czech company in business since 1993. The bullet consists of a round rubber ball delivering a painful, bruise at close quarters.    

The 38-45 Hard Head is nothing more than the 45-38 Clerke in a different dress. Whereas the 45-38 Clerke is based on the .45 ACP necked down to 38 caliber, the 38-45 Hard Head is the same thing but instead of using the standard 45 ACP case with its 19,900 CUP pressure...

The 38-45 Auto was designed by Bo Clerke of the Armory gun shop, Burbank, CA and was first announced publicly in the October 1963 issue of Guns and Ammo magazine in an article by Howard French. The 45-38 Auto is based on a .45 ACP case necked down to accept standard...

The 38-44 Special was simply a more powerful loading of the .38 Special which was an intermediate step prior to the introduction of the still more powerful .357 Magnum. The inability of conventional police service revolver ammunition to reliably penetrate automobiles...

The 38-44 S&W was developed by Ira Albert Paine (1837 – 1889) in 1886 for a S&W Single Action No.3 Target Revolver. Together with the 32-44 S&W, these were low recoil target revolvers. Paine was a very good shot with a variety of weapons and performed all...

The 445 Super Mag is a ‘stretched’ 44 Magnum case and was developed by Dan Wesson Arms and the late Elgin Gates, then president of IHMSA during 1988 as a silhouette revolver.

Experimental cartridge by Paul van Hee that were made for him in Spain, but the maker is not known. This is the 9 mm /.45 Long case version – the cartridge having the basic case dimensions of the .45 Auto cartridge, but with a longer, thicker case (case length 0.95"...

Developed by Lew Schafer of 3K Industries, the 444 Schafer Mag is based on the 444 Marlin case, turned on a lathe to match the outside dimensions of the 44 Magnum and is used in custom barrelled Thompson Contender barrels. This will enable shooters to use 44 Special...

This is basically the same as the 9mm/38 Super Competition but with a deeper extractor groove. It was named after Todd Jarrett, one-time IPSC World Champion.   

Webley first produced a solid frame, double-action revolver in 1867 and was adopted by the newly formed Royal Irish Constabulary in 1868. It seemed that from its inception these cartridges were procured through other than military channels. However, during 1892/93 a...

Originally designed by Speer as a cheap alternative practice cartridge. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 371)                      The Termos-Plasticos headstamp is by Talset Comercio,...

This cartridge might be a shortened version of the 440 Long CF revolver (EB 421), but no other info available. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 423)

The 38 Super Comp story started in 1900 when John M. Browning developed the semi-rimmed .38 Auto or 38 ACP for his original design Colt pistol, that would become the prototype for the M1911 adopted by the US Ordnance Department for the 45 ACP. After Browning’s death...

The 38 Super is a higher velocity loading of the 38 Auto (ACP) and was introduced during the late 1920’s, about 27 years after the introduction of the 9mm Luger. During the early years and up to the end of WW2, the 9mm Luger was not well known in the US. It was only...

During the early 1850’s the designation used for the revolvers in service was the 100-bore, or .36 cal. Colt percussion revolver, as used by the then Republic of Texas navy. The designation remained popular in the post-Civil War era with the Model 1851 Colt Navy...

Developed in 1871 in Belgium and produced by a number of manufacturers in the UK and Europe. The dimensions are almost the same as for the 44 S&W American and should be interchangeable. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 422)   

The 38 S&W Long was only listed the Fiocchi and 1911 Alfa catalogues under the “Special Revolver Cartridges” the case length is between the standard 38 Special and the 38 Long Colt and might have been some compromise for weaker frame revolvers. (Erlmeier, Brandt...

Listed in the 1882 Eley catalogue, but very little further information available. The measurements are almost the same as for the 430 Long CF (EB Ref. 398). (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 421)

-Work in progress updated 22-07-01- The 38 Smith and Wesson has enjoyed a long and colourful history since its introduction in 1877. It was developed by S&W as a black powder cartridge for the S&W Baby Russian Single Action Revolver, a scaled-up version of the...

The 440 Cor-Bon was launched by the Cor-Bon Corporation in 1998 and is based on the 50 Action Express Desert Eagle necked down to .429: (44 Caliber) in order to achieve a flatter shooting cartridge with less recoil but better penetration than the 50 AE. It did not...

This is the shorter cased version of the original 38 Short Colt (long case). It is interchangeable with the longer cased version shown above. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 363)              

The long-cased version of the 38 Short Colt dates from around 1874. It is for all intents and purposes a copy of the British 380 Short Revolver. It was intended for metallic cartridge conversions of the old Colt 1851 Navy cap-and-ball Revolvers. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref....

The 44 Webley is the American designation of the 442 Royal Irish Constabulary revolver developed in 1868. It was manufactured in the US up to the early 1940’s and was at a stage a popular self-defence caliber in pocket type revolvers. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 419)

This cartridge is listed as the 10.8mm Montenegrin No.4 Revolver in Erlmeier, Brandt Vol 1 p.199 as Ref. 157. From an earlier IAA Forum discussion however this cartridge has been identified as an early long-cased, inside lubricated 44 Webley by UMC and pre-dates the...

Joint development by Ruger and Hornady for the Super Redhawk revolver and was launched in 2003 to provide a cartridge that is far superior to the 44 Magnum but still manageable as a carry gun. Many more powerful handguns like the 500 S&W have been introduced since...

Joseph Merwin has been involved in the firearm business since 1856 when he formed a company called Merwin & Bray although the company did not survive the Civil War and by 1868 he formed a partnership with William and Milan Hulbert who at that stage owned a 50%...

There were two developments that were the sliced bread version of handgun design. The first was the self-contained metallic cartridge and the second was the bored-through cylinder that enabled cartridges to be loaded from the rear of the cylinder. Swiss gunsmith Jean...

This is a target cartridge developed by Speer and is technically not a separate caliber, but is interchangeable with all 44 cal. handguns (44 Spl, 44 Mag etc.) Listed here as it is described separately in Erlmeier, Brandt Vol 2 p. 173 (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 416)...

The 44 Special was introduced by Smith & Wesson in 1907 and was based on a lengthened 44 Russian case. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 415)   BP is by Baschieri & Pellagri, Bologna, Italy Thunder Ranch - LAKE VIEW, OREGON - CASES MADE FOR THEM BY...

Relatively rare cartridge with the generally the same case length as the 455 Webley revolver. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 471)   

The 38 Long (Caliber .38 Revolver, Ball) was developed in 1875 by Colt and is essentially a centerfire version of the .38 Long rimfire, originally developed by UMC in late 1873 or early 1874 for the Navy to use in their Colt M 1851 and 1861 revolvers that were...

This is the improved, inside lubricated version of the original .38 Colt Navy discussed below. The case is longer than the original to enclose the inside lubricated bullet, but the overall length is basically the same as the Navy version. The US Ordnance Office...

With the successful launch of the S&W Model 3 American in 1870 and its adoption by the Army Ordnance Board the Russian Military Attaché in Washington, General Alexander Gorloff was just as impressed with the design and it was ordered for the Russian Army. One...

This is the third version of the Enfield series, the others being the Mk. 1 (EB Ref. 457) which was reportedly only manufactured in very small lots in India in the latter part of September 1880 and had a shorter bullet than the Mk. 2 with a modified bullet that was...