In a previous post about the sometimes ambiguous meaning of the word “caliber”, we discussed how the word had mutated through the centuries, picking up different definitions and connotations along the way. In that article, I wrote: So “caliber” has gone [Read More…]
Guns of the Special Forces is a recent publication by Pen & Sword Press written by Leigh Neville, an Australian defense and military author. The book is inspired by Guns of the Elite written by George Markham, an in-depth look at the history and then current [Read More…]
Liberty Ammunition announced that its new 30-06 load is now shipping. The new round is part of the company’s Animal Instinct line of hunting ammo. It features a 100 grain copper monolithic hollow point bullet that has a nickel jacket. The bullet is designed to [Read More…]
PolyCase Ammunition announced the release of their latest round in the Interceptor Preferred Defense line of ammo: the ARX in .357 Magnum. The traditional powerhouse load is known for its recoil and muzzle blast in addition to its near legendary status as a man stopper. [Read More…]
Kim Rhode isn’t just any Olympic shooter, she’s an Olympic shooter who has won not one, not two, but six medals, consecutively, in an individual Olympic sport. Rhode is also the first American athlete to do so. Unfortunately she hasn’t received the [Read More…]
Head Down Products announced a new line of premium ammunition (their term) for the AR crowd. Initially, the company is offering two .223 Rem loads: a 55 gr FMJ and a 60 gr V-Max. The 55 gr FMJ load is actually a remanufactured load using military range brass. Head Down [Read More…]
This coverage of Army 2016 will be covering some of the precision rifles that are being introduced, apart from the SVK, which Nathaniel F. is writing about. If you aren’t tracking, Kalashnikov Concern is introducing a number of precision rifles at the expo, the [Read More…]
How can one balance the trade-offs inherent in ammunition design to create a true one-caliber infantry weapon system that is both effective and lightweight? This is a question I’ve been exploring for close to a decade, and writing about for over four years. The [Read More…]
During World War Two the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was known as a sort of lost child and wonder lab among all the war efforts. I mean compared to the 101st jumping into Normandy, operations that the OSS were interested in were very hard to be seen as [Read More…]
Previously, we discussed different concepts for lightening the soldier’s load, including aluminum-, composite-cased and caseless ammunition. Today we’re going to look at the weight-reducing concept that many believe is the horse to bet on when it comes to [Read More…]
Many of you may have heard of the Japanese Type 100, the Empire of the Rising Sun’s only fielded submachine gun. It was a blowback operated, magazine fed, bayonet mounted, 8mm Nambu submachine gun that was fielded too late in the war to make a difference, and [Read More…]
We’ve discussed a lot of different rounds in this series so far, but today we’re going to discuss a round that actually has a shot of being adopted (at least in some form) by the United States military as a next-generation small arms ammunition [Read More…]
Previously, we discussed the benefits of and challenges facing saboted projectile ammunition, including the advantages of decoupling the diameters of the bore and the projectile, and the problems of accuracy during sabot discarding. One concept that could possibly [Read More…]
After World War II, US Army analysts determined that the effectiveness of the infantryman was not as closely related to their marksmanship discipline as had been previously thought. It seemed that instead, the random environmental circumstances and effects, plus the [Read More…]
Previously, we discussed trying to lighten the soldier’s load by making the cartridge case out of different materials, including aluminum and compositing the case out of polymer and metal. Yet, wouldn’t the lightest possible case configuration be… [Read More…]
In the last installment, we talked about the growing need throughout the 20th Century to reduce the weight of the cartridge case, to lighten the burden of the soldier. Experiments in aluminum have thus far proven unsuccessful, but another material is even more [Read More…]
PolyCase caught the attention of more than a few gun owners when they first began manufacturing their copper-polymer blend bullets, and now they’re expanding their line. While their ARX bullets – which have become increasing popular as other manufacturers [Read More…]
It’s not just the Yanks that are getting improved ammunition: Our friends across the pond have developed their own firepower upgrade for 5.56mm and 7.62mm weapons alike. Jane’s has a modest article on the subject, while The Register provides a quite good [Read More…]
What happens when you take the two concepts of a traditional, full-power rifle and machine gun round, and a small-caliber, high-velocity round, and smash them together? You get one of the most extreme military small arms calibers ever developed, and one of the last [Read More…]
Modern? Sure, but let’s take a step back… Way back. It’s 1890 and smokeless powder has just been invented. There’s this guy named Rubin going around and spreading the gospel of the small caliber, high velocity .30″ bore round. You’re [Read More…]
Many would consider this next round to be the first intermediate cartridge ever, and while that isn’t really true, it is one of the most influential rounds of all time, and perhaps the most influential intermediate round ever developed. I am talking of course [Read More…]
In the mid-1950s, the People’s Republic of China followed the Soviet Union’s example and adopted the intermediate 7.62x39mm round. This decision substantially helped to promote that cartridge’s ubiquity throughout the world, as millions of cheap [Read More…]
Shouldn’t “Modern Full Power Calibers” be its own series? No, because then there would only be two episodes! So instead, we’re rolling today’s two most popular full power .30 cal rounds into the series on intermediates, primarily as [Read More…]
A video has been released wherein the wrist mounted Glock 19s used by Will Smiths character Deadshot, are being tested in a movie prop facility, most likely the Movie Armaments Group based out of Toronto. In collaboration with Walter Klassen FX, the groups worked [Read More…]
On Saturday we looked at one British “contender” which could have in some alternate reality become the NATO standard round, and today we’re going to look at another: The 4.85x49mm. After the United States adopted the .223 Remington round as the [Read More…]
Up to this point we’ve looked at calibers ranging from 5.56mm to 7.62mm, but today we’re going to look at something smaller… A lot smaller. The smallest caliber size that is feasible for a given current barrelmaking and projectile manufacture [Read More…]
Today on an extra special episode of Historical Intermediate Calibers, we’ll be taking a look at one of the most controversial experimental military rounds, one that many believe should have become the standard for the Western World at the beginning of the Cold [Read More…]
Among the interesting concepts that were tested in the mid-late 20th Century is that of an extremely light for caliber, very long bullet made in part of a lightweight material like aluminum and plastic. The 7.92×40 CETME, which if I can find a specimen I will cover [Read More…]
CCI, popular manufacturer of high performance rimfire rounds, announced a new product line of centerfire handgun shotshells called the Big Four. As the name Big Four suggests, these are loaded with #4 shot. Until now, CCI made similar shotshells, but these were loaded [Read More…]
In this installment, we’ll be looking at a very unique round. The 6mm SAW was probably the first small arms round ever designed using computer-calculated parametric analysis, and it was also probably the first American rifle round designed from the outset for [Read More…]
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