Since the beginning of the 20^th Century, new cartridges have dropped the powder and bullet weight from their designation systems, but didn’t become any less confusing.  Here are a few examples:

         The .30-06 Government cartridge replaced the .30-03 Government.  Both cartridges got their name from the caliber, .30, and the year adopted by the US Army, 1903 and 1906.  The difference was the bullet weight, the 03 having the 220 grain bullet and the 06 was introduced first as the M1—174 grain bullet, but by WW II that bullet had been replaced with the m2—150 grain bullet.  The cases are identical.

         Look at the .307 Winchester and the .308 Winchester.  The .307, introduced in 1982, as a more powerful version of the 30-30 was nothing more that a rimmed .308.  The .308 Winchester, introduced in 1952 by Winchester, was a civilian version of the 7.62x51 mm NATO cartridge that had been developed for the then new US M-14 Service Rifle, replacing the M1 Rifle.  Both the .307 and .308 Winchesters have .308 diameter bullets.  Ballistics of the two cartridges are about the same, the major difference being that the .307 was designed for a tube fed magazine and have blunt nosed bullets, thus the .307 doesn’t hold its velocity as well as the .308 with its pointed bullets.

         The .280 Remington/7 mm Express Remington is another case of the manufacture attempting to pump up sales by renaming a cartridge.  The .280 was introduced in 1957, but was nothing more that a standardizing of the 7 mm-06, developed in 1928 by necking down the .30-06 cartridge to accept a 7 mm bullet.  In 1979, Remington renamed the cartridge to 7 mm Express Remington.  This lasted for only two years and the company switched back to its original designation, .280 Remington.

 

For those interested in more information on this subject, you might check out “Cartridges of The World”, 9^th Edition, by Frank C. Barnes, published by Krause Publications.  A book I used for much of the reference material in this article.

Metallic Cartridges

By Bill P(Edit)

 

         Metallic cartridges are a fairly modern development, being perfected about 1850.  Blackpowder as a propellant in guns goes back about 650 years.  One of the earliest Rimfire cartridges that is still around, is the .22 Short, introduced in 1857 for a Smith & Wesson revolver.  It traced its origin back to the Flobert BB Cap developed in 1845.  A great number of rimfire cartridges were developed from this humble beginning.  By the late 1800’s, about 75 different Rimfire cartridges were being manufactured by American companies.  There included everything from .22 BB Caps to .58 Allin or Miller, depending on which gun you were using.  This number declined to only 42 by 1900.

         One of the now obsolete, but historically important, rimfire cartridges was the .44 Henry.  This cartridge was developed in 1860 and put into production in 1861.  It saw limited service during the Civil War, in the Henry Repeating Rifle.  While this cartridge didn’t have the power of the service rifles of that period, it was still pretty potent with a 200 grain bullet at 1125 fps and greatly increased the rate of fire from 3—4 rounds a minute to 15 rounds in 10 seconds.

         While there were other methods of ignition, the centerfire method soon became the choice for most firearms larger than .22 caliber.  Initially these cartridges were loaded with Blackpowder, but shortly before the beginning of the 20^th Century, smokeless powder began gaining popularity and by the 1930’s it was hard to find Blackpowder loadings.

         The Blackpowder cartridges designation system can be confusing, even to the knowledgeable collector.  The system started out by using the bullet diameter and powder charge, and would sometimes include the bullet weight and the manufacture’s name in its designation, such as 45-70-500 Government or .22-15-60 Stevens.

         The 45-70-500 Government was the original loading for the US Model 1873 Springfield Rifle and Carbine.  However, the horse soldiers complained about the heavy recoil of this loading and a 45-70-405 Government loading was introduced.  It was a reduced load with only 55 grains of Blackpowder, but still called the 45-70, not 45-55, as would be indicated by this loading.  Military cartridges manufactured after 1881 can be identified as Carbine or Rifle by the ‘C’ or ‘R’ on the base, along with the date of manufacture.  The 45-70 cartridge was the US Military primary rifle cartridge from 1873 until it was replaced in 1892 by the .30 US Army or more commonly known as the 30-40 Krag.  The Krag was originally a Blackpowder cartridge firing a 220 grain bullet, but soon became a smokeless round.

         The .22-15-60 Stevens was developed in 1896 for the Stevens Model 44 and 44 2 single shot rifles.  While it was introduced after the development of smokeless powder, it was a blackpowderr cartridge.  With the 60 grain bullet, the load developed a muzzle velocity of 1150 fps.  For its time, it was considered a flat shooting cartridge out to 125 yards.  With the improvement of smokeless powders the cartridge quickly became obsolete.

         The first cartridge specifically developed for smokeless powder was the .30 WCF or its more common name, .30-30 Winchester.  You will notice that the .30-30 still used the bullet size/powder capacity method of designation, but it was never offered in a Blackpowder loading since its introduction in 1895 for the then new Winchester Model 1894 lever-action rifle.  Adding to the confusion of cartridge identification is the multiple methods of designations for the same cartridge.  30-30 Winchester, 30 Winchester, 30-30 WCF, 30 WCF and 7.62x51R mm, all refer to the same cartridge.  All of these markings can be found on various firearms, even by the same manufacture.

 

 

 

 

 

OUTDOOR RANGE KEY EXCHANGE PROGRAM

 

This program was started back on April 4, 2001 as a method to increase access security to the Dillman Outdoor Range.  It authorized a new lock being placed on the gate to the Dillman Range, when necessary, to limit access to current members only.  For the next 90 days, the new lock will be in sequence with the existing lock allowing either a new “D series” key or an old “C series” key to open the gate.  At the end of 90 days, the “C series” lock will be removed and that key will no longer open the gate.

 

If you hold a key to the Dillman Range, and would like to exchange it for a new key, you must view the Club’s safety video and review the latest Range Rules.  The video will be available before Monthly Club Business Meetings.  The video may also be made available during some weekday evenings, and a schedule for viewing will be posted at the outdoor range.

 

There is no cost to exchange your key.  If you have lost your key, a $5.00 deposit will be charged for the new key.  Keys must be exchanged in person.

 

For more information regarding specific dates and times to view the safety video, please call Dennis L(Edit) at (916) (Edit) .