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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...

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...

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 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 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...

357/44 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 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 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...

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”.

39 BSA

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...

380 SMG

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...

380 REVOLVER MK. 2

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...

380 REVOLVER MK. 1

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...

380 LONG C.F.

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...

38-45 HARD HEAD

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...

38-45 CLERKE

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...

38-44 SPECIAL

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...

38-44 SMITH & WESSON

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...

38 SUPER COMPETITION

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...

38 SUPER AUTO

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...

38 SPECIAL

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...

38 SMITH & WESSON LONG

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...

38 SMITH & WESSON

-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...