11mm FRENCH Mle.1873
With the adoption of the 11mm Lefaucheux M-1858 Pinfire Revolver the French Navy became the first military organization to adopt a self-contained metallic cartridge handgun for general issue and use. After their defeat in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 the French...
38-40 WINCHESTER
Introduced by Winchester in 1879 as a higher velocity necked down version of the 44 – 40 Winchester for the Model 1973 rifle. It was also offered by various manufacturers in revolvers. USA ...
243 RCBS
"Improved" version (shoulder angle increased from 20° to 26.7°) of the 243 Winchester and about halfway between the ordinary 243 Win and the 243 Ackley
243 CATBIRD
The .243 Catbird was designed as an ultra-long range 6mm varmint round. It is based on the .270 Winchester case necked down to .243 and blown out with a 35 degree shoulder.
42 CUPFIRE
Gunmaker Rollin White patented his bored-through cylinder design on the 3rd of April 1855 and later sold it to Smith & Wesson. All other gun manufacturers in the US had to either pay royalties to Smith & Wesson or come up with various ideas to try and...
455 WEBLEY Mk.II – VI
455 WEBLEY Mk.II The Mark 2 was approved in July 1897 as “CARTRIDGE SA BALL PISTOL WEBLEY CORDITE MARK II (ALSO ENFIELD)” Problems occurred with the Mark 1 with misfires and pierced primers that were initially attributed to the cartridge but was later found to be the...
455 WEBLEY Mk.I
Unfavourable reports by Lord Wolsey (who was at that stage the Adjutant General) about the Enfield 442 RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) Revolver in use during the mid-1880’s being heavy and cumbersome as well as negative reports by the Royal Navy prompted the...
455 ENFIELD MK.II
The Enfield Mk. 2 was the second version that was approved as “CARTRIDGE SA BALL PISTOL REVOLVER ENFIELD BL MARK II” in November 1880. It followed from the Mark I that was deemed unsatisfactory. The Mark I was only made in limited quantities for service in India. The...
38-30 EXTRA LONG – BALLARD 1.63″
This is a centre fire version of an earlier rimfire round
264 PMS
6.5 TCU
9mm BERGMANN-BAYARD
This cartridge has had many designations over time. Discussed on the website is the 9mm Campo Giro, as well as the 9mm Largo, both are different designations for exactly the same cartridge, the latter two being used by Spain, until replaced by the 9mm Parabellum....
11mm DEVISME
Louis-François Devisme was known for his exceptional quality firearms during the 19th century, which are highly sought after, even today. He received numerous awards over a thirty year period, from his first award for firearms design and manufacture at the 1834 Paris...
502 THUNDER SABRE
The 502 Thunder Sabre was developed by Robyn Church from Cloud Mountain Armory during 2004 and was another big bore round competing with the 499 LWR and 50 Beowulf in modified AR-10 carbines. The 502 Thunder Sabre is basically a shortened and modified 50 AE case with...
500 PHANTOM
This was another cartridge developed by Teppo Jutsu as a heavy caliber, hard-hitting law enforcement or special operations cartridge. It was designed by Marty ter Weeme from Teppo Jutsu in 2005 and is based on the 500 Jefferey case that was shortened and necked down...
600/500 ELEY
During the middle part of the Great War (1914 – 1918) the British required a weapon/cartridge system to combat two threat areas, namely aircraft machine guns and guns capable of taking on the Zeppelins and secondly – maybe more urgent – to combat the...
500 COLT KYNOCH
There are very little notes that survived regarding this cartridge, but the best available info can be found on p.290 of Labbets’s “BRITISH SMALL ARMS AMMUNITION 1964 – 1938.” It appears to have been developed around 1901 and is a semi-rimmed cartridge. There also...
CAL. 50/10mm SLAP XPL
This is a 10mm SLAP (Saboted Light Armor Penetrator) based on a .50cal Browning case from the late 1980’s. The bullet would consist of an amber coloured plastic sabot covering a tungsten penetrator.
DEATHWIND PROJECT
“DeathWind” is a prototype next generation self-contained rocket projectile designed for Military (primarily Naval) weapons usage. It is a blend of the MBAssociates 13mm “GYROJET” and the Russian “Shkval” torpedo designs combined with some “Coanda Effect” physics....
50 VICKERS ARMSTRONG
The following is from the excellent article on the development of the .5 Vickers by By Anthony G. Williams that first appeared in Small Arms Review V15N4 (January 2012) Ammunition Development The origin of the .5 inch Vickers goes back to the First World War,...
.5 STANCHION
The British did not start developing an effective infantry anti-tank weapon until late in the War of 1914 – 1918, as they were basically the only country that fielded tanks during the War so there was no immediate urgency for such a rifle. The Germans...
50 SPOTTER
The 50 BAT (Battalion Anti-Tank) was designed during the 1950’s in the United States for use as a spotter round with the M40 106mm recoilless rifle. It has subsequently been adopted by many military powers. The specimens below are South African with the first specimen...
50-70 SPRINGFIELD
After the end of the Civil War, the Army started to convert the remaining muzzle loading rifles to breech loaders based on the design by Erskine Allin, who was the Master Armorer at Springfield Arsenal. These conversions were the .58 cal Musket M1865 Trapdoor Allin...
50 SPRINGFIELD CADET
The Springfield Cadet, also known as the .50-45-400 Cadet cartridge was produced by Frankford Arsenal around 1867 in a bar-primed copper case and the case lengths varied between 1.25in. to 1.33in. It was used in the Model 1866 Remington Cadet Rifle that...
50 OMEGA
From an old IAA FORUM discussion: The Grand Technologies Group (GTG) was incorporated July 1981 with the principal activity being the development and potentially marketing small arms systems using folded ammunition. .50 Cal. Omega Cartridge. Development of folded...
50 MEIGS
The Meigs rifle was designed by Josiah (Joe) V. Meigs. He was granted U.S. Patent 36,721 for a protected a sliding breechblock locked by a pivoting strut. It fired the .50 caliber Meigs cartridge, with a 25" round barrel, 50 round magazine...
50 McMILLAN FATMAC
The 50 Fat Mac was developed in 1996 by Gale McMillan from a 20mm Vulcan cannon case. Their primary goal was to create a modern (short/fat) case like those now used in bench rest competitive events, but designed to launch .50-caliber match bullets for use...
50 GALLAGER CARBINE
The 50 Gallager Carbine was designed by Mahlon J. Gallager and granted a patented for his design 1860 and was produced by the Richardson and Overman Company of Philadelphia. The Gallager was a breech loaded rifle and used a lever action mechanism to open the breech,...
50 BEOWULF
The 50 Beowulf was designed by Alexander Arms as another alternative on the AR platform to provide a very hard-hitting cartridge that is suitable for short/medium range applications in a semi-auto rifle for urban environments that is able to stop both...
38 WESSON
Case designed by Frank Wesson for his single shot rifles during the late 1880’s. The Wesson cartridges were not interchangeable with other cartridges for single shot rifles by any other manufacturer. Cartridges were manufactured for him by the US Cartridge Co., UMC as...
243 ACKLEY IMPROVED
416 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...
499 LEITNER-WISE RIFLE
This is actually a straight case .50 cal round that was developed by the Leitner-Wise company as a concept in 1994 in the same vein as other larger bored, AR platform type cartridges to overcome the...
460 STEYR
The .460 Steyr was designed by Horst Grillmayer (Austria) in 2002 and the cartridge was co-developed by Steyr to provide superb ultra-long-range ballistics with less recoil than the .50 BMG. Like the .50 BMG, the .460 Steyr can launch bullets that stay supersonic well...
458 SOCOM
Inspired by the lack of power offered by the 5.56 NATO cartridge used in the M4 carbine and the M16 rifle, the .458 SOCOM came about from informal discussion of members of the special operations command, specifically Task Force Ranger's experience that multiple shots...
450 WEBLEY MILITARY BREECH-LOADER (2 ½”)
- info to follow -
450 TURKISH PEABODY-MARTINI 1874
The story of the Turkish Peabody-Martini rifle is an interesting one, especially with the Provident Tool Company manufacturing the rifles on behalf of Winchester. The cartridges were manufactured by various companies in the US as well as Europe. ...
454 CASULL
The 454 Casull was developed in 1957 – just two years after the launch of the 44 Magnum – by Dick Casull and Jack Fullmer as a cartridge for handgun hunting and was based on a strengthened 45 Colt case lengthened by 1/10th inch but the cartridge was only SAAMI...
450 PEABODY-MARTINI CARBINE
This is the .45 Turkish Peabody-Martini Carbine discussed on p.219-220 of Hoyem 2. It uses the same rim and base as the standard Turkish round but there is however no record of the cartridge ever being used by Turkey at any stage. It is stated that the cartridge was...
45-80-500 SPRINGFIELD SHARPSHOOTER
Source: icollector.com During the late 1870’s there were a number of Army marksmen who were interested in competing in long range shooting matches, especially the Creedmoor matches held at Long Island, NY. The U.S. Congress however could not see either...
45-70 GOVERNMENT
At the end of the US Civil War in 1865, the military continued in their search to improve the weapons in their arsenal and that lead to the adoption of the Model 1865 Springfield based on the work done by Erskine S. Allin, who was the master armorer at the Springfield...
45 REMINGTON-THOMPSON MG
The 45 Remington-Thompson was an attempt at an improved ‘intermediate’ cartridge up to 650 yards at a rate of 400 rounds per minute and manufactured in the 1923 Military Model Thompson. The picture above shows the Model 1923, but does not confirm whether...
45 MACHINE GUN BALL CORDITE Mk.I
During 1889 cordite was invented by Sir James Dewar and Sir Fredrick Able and in August 1893 the British Director of Naval Ordnance requested that a .45 inch cordite cartridge be developed for their Naval Maxim guns as well as the Gardner, Gatling machine guns....
45 GARDNER, GATLING BALL Mk.III
According to Labbett, p. 79, some of the Mk. 2 ammunition was found to have weak heads causing jams in some of the Gardner machine guns. As a result the ‘CARTRIDGE MACHINE GUN BALL .45 inch MARK 3 (GARDNER, GATLING AND NORDENFELT EXCEPT MH (MARTINI HENRY) CHAMBERED...
45 GARDNER, GATLING BALL Mk.II
Tests done during the middle to late 1880’s showed that the Gardner and Nordenfelt machine guns were better that the older Gatling guns by the Royal Navy and on the 16th of May 1881 they stated that the 5-barrel Gardener machine gun in .45 cal. would be introduced for...
45 GATLING BALL LIGHT Mk.I
This is the ‘CARTRIDGE SA BALL GATLING GUN 0.45 inch LIGHT MARK 1’ as described on p. 76 of Labbett for service to India. It used the same 59.5mm case as the standard Mark 1 round, but was loaded with the lighter 410 gr. bullet and 80gr. of powder with a total length...
45 CYLINDRICAL WHITWORTH
The Whitworth rifle was designed by Joseph Whitworth, who was an English engineer in response to a request by the British Board of Ordnance for a universal troop rifle. The original design was a small-bore .45 caliber hexagonal-barreled rifle which fired a 530gr....
44 QUIET SPECIAL PURPOSE REVOLVER
The Quiet Special Purpose Revolver, also known as the ‘tunnel revolver’ was developed by the AAI Corporation at the US Army Land Warfare Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground from 1967 US Army requirements for a silenced, multi-projectile hand weapon for use by...
433 EGYPTIAN REMINGTON
It can be said that the story of the .433 Egyptian Remington started in 1820 with Muhammad Ali Pasha, an Ottoman governor who was responsible for founding the first modem military-industrial complex in Egypt. Fast forward a few decades to the end of the American Civil...
43 SPANISH REMINGTON
The rolling block action was developed during the American Civil War by gunsmith Leonard M. Geiger in which the shooter “rolled” the breechblock backward with the thumb and inserted a cartridge in the breech, before the block “rolled” forward and the interlocking...