.45-70
Encyclopedia
The .45-70 rifle
cartridge
, also known as .45-70 Government, was developed at the U.S. Army
's Springfield Armory
for use in the Springfield Model 1873
. It is known to collectors (but never to the Army) as the "Trapdoor Springfield." The new cartridge was a replacement for the stop-gap .50-70 Government
cartridge which had been adopted in 1866, one year after the end of the American Civil War
.
The minimum acceptable accuracy of the .45-70 from the 1873 Springfield was approximately 4 inches (101.6 mm) at 100 yards (91.4 m), however, the heavy, slow-moving bullet had a "rainbow" trajectory, the bullet drop measured in multiple yards (meters) at ranges greater than a few hundred yards (meters). A skilled shooter, firing at known range, could consistently hit targets that were 6 × 6 feet (1.8 m) at 600 yards (548.6 m)—the Army standard target, and a skill mainly of value in mass or volley fire, since accurate aimed fire on a man-sized target was effective only to about 300 yards (274.3 m).
After the Sandy Hook
tests of 1879, a new variation of the .45-70 cartridge was produced, the .45-70-500, which fired a heavier 500 grain (32.5 g) bullet. The heavier 500 gr bullet produced significantly superior ballistics, and could reach ranges of 3,350 yards (3,120 m), which were beyond the maximum range of the .45-70-405. While the effective range of the .45-70 on individual targets was limited to about 1,000 yards (915 m) with either load, the heavier bullet would produce lethal injuries at 3500 yards (3,200.4 m). At those ranges, the bullets struck point-first at roughly a 30 degree angle, penetrating 3 one inch (2.5 cm) thick oak boards, and then traveling to a depth of 8 inches (20 cm) into the sand of the Sandy Hook beach*. It was hoped the longer range of the .45-70-500 would allow effective volleyed fire at ranges beyond those normally expected of infantry
fire.
). Like the cloth or paper patch used in muzzleloading firearms, the paper patch fell off soon after the bullet left the bore. Paper patched bullets were made of soft lead 0.45 inches (11.4 mm) in diameter. When wrapped in two layers of thin cotton
paper, this produced a final size of 0.458 inches (11.6 mm) to match the bore. Paper patched bullets are still available, and some black powder shooters still "roll their own" paper patched bullets for hunting and competitive shooting. Arsenal loadings for the .45-70-405 and .45-70-500 government cartridges generally used groove diameter grease groove bullets of 0.458 inches (11.6 mm) diameter.
The predecessor to the .45-70 was the .50-70-450 cartridge, adopted in 1866 and used until 1873 in a variety of rifles, many of them percussion rifled muskets converted to trapdoor action breechloaders. The conversion consisted of milling out the rear of the barrel for the tilting breechblock, and placing a .50 caliber "liner" barrel inside the .58 caliber barrel. The .50-70 was popular among hunters, as the bigger .50 caliber bullet hit harder (see terminal ballistics
) but the military decided even as early as 1866 that a .45 caliber bullet would provide increased range, penetration and accuracy. The .50-70 was nevertheless adopted as a temporary solution until a significantly improved rifle and cartridge could be developed.
The result of the quest for a more accurate, flatter shooting .45 caliber cartridge and firearm was the Springfield Trapdoor rifle. Like the .50-70 before, it, the .45-70 used a copper center-fire
case design. A reduced power loading was also adopted for use in the Trapdoor carbine
. This had a 55 grain (3.6 g) powder charge.
Also issued was the .45-70 "Forager" round, which contained a thin wooden bullet filled with birdshot
, intended for use hunting small game to supplement the soldiers' rations. This round in effect made the .45-70 rifle into a 49 gauge
shotgun.
The .45-caliber Springfield underwent a number of modifications over the years, the principal one being a strengthened breech
starting in 1884. A new, 500 grain (32 g) bullet was adopted in that year for use in the stronger arm. The M1873 and M1884 Springfield rifles were the principal small arms of the US Army until 1893.
The Navy used the .45-70 caliber in several rifles, the M1873 and M1884 Springfield, the Model 1879 Lee Magazine Navy Contract Rifle, and Model 1885 Remington-Lee Magazine Military Rifle
, the last two being magazine-fed turnbolt repeating rifles. The Marine Corps used the M1873 and M1884 Springfield in .45-70 until 1897, when supplies of the new M1895 Lee Navy
rifle in 6 mm caliber, adopted two years before by the Navy, were finally made available.
Realizing that single-shot blackpowder rifles were rapidly becoming obsolete, the US Army adopted the Norwegian-designed .30 Army
caliber as the Springfield Model 1892
in 1893. However, the .45-70
continued in service with National Guard and the Navy and Marine Corps until 1897. The .45-70 was last used in quantity during the Spanish-American War
, and was not completely purged from the inventory until well into the 20th century. Many surplus rifles were given to reservation Indians as subsistence hunting rifles and now carry Indian markings.
The .45-70 cartridge is still used by the U.S. military today, in the form of the CARTRIDGE, CALIBER .45, LINE THROWING, M32, a blank cartridge
which is used in a number of models of line throwing guns
used by the Navy
and Coast Guard
. Early models of these line throwing guns were made from modified Trapdoor and Sharps rifles, while later models are built on break-open single-shot
rifle actions.
As is usual with military ammunitions, the .45-70 was an immediate hit among sportsmen as well, and the .45-70 has survived for one and a third centuries. Today, the traditional 405 grain (26.2 g) load is considered adequate for any North American big game within its range limitations, including the great bears, and it does not destroy edible meat on smaller animals such as deer due to the bullet's low velocity. It is very good for big game hunting in brush or heavy timber where the range is usually short. The .45-70, when loaded with the proper bullets at appropriate velocities has been used to hunt the African "Big-6". This was accomplished for the first time in the summer of 2002 by American hunter Vincent Lupo. The .45-70 has been loaded and used to harvest everything from birds to elephant and that the cartridge is still undergoing new development work well over a century after its introduction.
The trajectory of the bullets is very steep, which makes for a very short point blank range. This was not a significant problem at the time of introduction, as the .45-70 was a fairly flat-shooting cartridge for its time. Shooters of these early cartridges had to be keen judges of distance, wind and trajectory to make long shots; the Sharps Rifle
in larger calibers such as .50-110
was used at ranges of 1000 yards (914.4 m). Most modern shooters use much higher velocity cartridges, relying on the long point blank range, and rarely using telescopic sight
's elevation adjustments, calibrated iron sight
s, or hold-over. Sights found on early cartridge hunting rifles were quite sophisticated, with a long sighting radius, wide range of elevation, and vernier
adjustments to allow precise calibration of the sights for a given range. Even the military "creedmoor" type rifle sights were calibrated and designed to handle extended ranges, flipping up to provide several degrees of elevation adjustment if needed. The .45-70 is a popular choice for black powder cartridge shooting events, and replicas of most of the early rifles, including Trapdoor, Sharps, and Remington single shot rifles, are readily available.
The .45-70 retains great popularity among American hunters for the niche it is suited for, and is still offered by several commercial ammunition manufacturers. Although loaded with modern smokeless powders, in most cases pressures are kept low for safety in antique rifles and their replicas. Various modern sporting rifles are chambered
for the .45-70, and some of these will benefit from judicious handloading
of home-made ammunition with markedly higher pressure and ballistic performance
. Others, which reproduce the original designs will take the original load, but are not strong enough for anything with higher pressure. In a rifle such as the Siamese Mauser or a Ruger single shot, it can be handloaded to deliver good performance even on big African game. Instructions in book form and specialized reloading tools for duplicating the original arsenal load with a full 70 gr. charge of black powder are available from Wolf's Western Traders.
In addition to its traditional use in rifles, Thompson Center Arms
has offered a .45-70 barrel in both pistol and rifle lengths for their Contender single shot pistol, arguably the most potent caliber offered in the Contender frame. Even the shortest barrel, 14 inches, is easily capable of producing well over 2,000 ft·lbf (2,700 J
) of energy, double the power of most .44 Magnum
loadings, and a Taylor KO Factor
as high as 40 with some loads. Recent .45-70 barrels are available with an efficient muzzle brake that significantly reduces the muzzle rise and also helps attenuate the recoil. The Magnum Research BFR
is a heavier gun at approximately 4.5 pounds, helping it have much more manageable recoil.
Only with the recent introduction of ultra-magnum revolver cartridges such as the .500 S&W Magnum
have production handguns begun to eclipse the .45-70 Contender in the rarefied field of big-game capable handguns.
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
cartridge
Cartridge (firearms)
A cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...
, also known as .45-70 Government, was developed at the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
's Springfield Armory
Springfield Armory
The Springfield Armory, located in the City of Springfield, Massachusetts - from 1777 until its closing in 1968 - was the primary center for the manufacture of U.S. military firearms. After its controversial closing during the Vietnam War, the Springfield Armory was declared Western Massachusetts'...
for use in the Springfield Model 1873
Springfield Model 1873
The Model 1873 "Trapdoor" Springfield was the first standard-issued breech-loading rifle adopted by the United States Army...
. It is known to collectors (but never to the Army) as the "Trapdoor Springfield." The new cartridge was a replacement for the stop-gap .50-70 Government
.50-70 Government
The .50-70 Government cartridge was a black powder round adopted in 1866 for the Springfield Model 1866 Trapdoor Rifle. The cartridge was developed after the unsatisfactory results of the .58 rimfire cartridge for the Springfield Model 1865 Trapdoor Rifle....
cartridge which had been adopted in 1866, one year after the end of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
Nomenclature
The new cartridge was completely identified as the .45-70-405, but was also commonly called the ".45 Government" cartridge in commercial catalogs. The nomenclature of the time was based on several properties of the cartridge:- .45 : nominal bullet diameter, in decimal inches i.e. 0.458 inches (11.4 mm)
- 70 : wt. of blackpowder charge, in grains i.e. 70 grains (4.5g)
- 405 : weight of lead bullet, in grains i.e. 405 grains (26.2 g)
The minimum acceptable accuracy of the .45-70 from the 1873 Springfield was approximately 4 inches (101.6 mm) at 100 yards (91.4 m), however, the heavy, slow-moving bullet had a "rainbow" trajectory, the bullet drop measured in multiple yards (meters) at ranges greater than a few hundred yards (meters). A skilled shooter, firing at known range, could consistently hit targets that were 6 × 6 feet (1.8 m) at 600 yards (548.6 m)—the Army standard target, and a skill mainly of value in mass or volley fire, since accurate aimed fire on a man-sized target was effective only to about 300 yards (274.3 m).
After the Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook Proving Ground
The Sandy Hook Proving Ground was a military facility, established by the Secretary of War on August 7, 1874, to serve as the United States Army's first proving ground for the testing of ordnance and materiel...
tests of 1879, a new variation of the .45-70 cartridge was produced, the .45-70-500, which fired a heavier 500 grain (32.5 g) bullet. The heavier 500 gr bullet produced significantly superior ballistics, and could reach ranges of 3,350 yards (3,120 m), which were beyond the maximum range of the .45-70-405. While the effective range of the .45-70 on individual targets was limited to about 1,000 yards (915 m) with either load, the heavier bullet would produce lethal injuries at 3500 yards (3,200.4 m). At those ranges, the bullets struck point-first at roughly a 30 degree angle, penetrating 3 one inch (2.5 cm) thick oak boards, and then traveling to a depth of 8 inches (20 cm) into the sand of the Sandy Hook beach*. It was hoped the longer range of the .45-70-500 would allow effective volleyed fire at ranges beyond those normally expected of infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
fire.
Bullet diameter
Note that while the nominal bore diameter was 0.45 inches (11.4 mm), the groove diameter was actually closer to 0.458 inches (11.6 mm). As was standard practice with many early U.S. commercially produced cartridges, specially-constructed bullets were often "paper patched", or wrapped in a couple of layers of thin paper. This patch served to seal the bore and keep the soft lead bullet from coming in contact with the bore, preventing leading (see internal ballisticsInternal ballistics
Internal ballistics, a subfield of ballistics, is the study of a projectile's behavior from the time its propellant's igniter is initiated until it exits the gun barrel...
). Like the cloth or paper patch used in muzzleloading firearms, the paper patch fell off soon after the bullet left the bore. Paper patched bullets were made of soft lead 0.45 inches (11.4 mm) in diameter. When wrapped in two layers of thin cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
paper, this produced a final size of 0.458 inches (11.6 mm) to match the bore. Paper patched bullets are still available, and some black powder shooters still "roll their own" paper patched bullets for hunting and competitive shooting. Arsenal loadings for the .45-70-405 and .45-70-500 government cartridges generally used groove diameter grease groove bullets of 0.458 inches (11.6 mm) diameter.
History
Terminal ballistics
Terminal ballistics, a sub-field of ballistics, is the study of the behavior of a projectile when it hits its target. It is often referred to as stopping power when dealing with human or other living targets. Terminal ballistics is relevant both for small caliber projectiles as well as for large...
) but the military decided even as early as 1866 that a .45 caliber bullet would provide increased range, penetration and accuracy. The .50-70 was nevertheless adopted as a temporary solution until a significantly improved rifle and cartridge could be developed.
The result of the quest for a more accurate, flatter shooting .45 caliber cartridge and firearm was the Springfield Trapdoor rifle. Like the .50-70 before, it, the .45-70 used a copper center-fire
Centerfire ammunition
A centerfire cartridge is a cartridge with a primer located in the center of the cartridge case head. Unlike rimfire cartridges, the primer is a separate and replaceable component....
case design. A reduced power loading was also adopted for use in the Trapdoor carbine
Carbine
A carbine , from French carabine, is a longarm similar to but shorter than a rifle or musket. Many carbines are shortened versions of full rifles, firing the same ammunition at a lower velocity due to a shorter barrel length....
. This had a 55 grain (3.6 g) powder charge.
Also issued was the .45-70 "Forager" round, which contained a thin wooden bullet filled with birdshot
Shotgun shell
A shotgun shell is a self-contained cartridge loaded with lead shot or shotgun slug designed to be fired from a shotgun....
, intended for use hunting small game to supplement the soldiers' rations. This round in effect made the .45-70 rifle into a 49 gauge
Gauge (bore diameter)
The gauge of a firearm is a unit of measurement used to express the diameter of the barrel. Gauge is determined from the weight of a solid sphere of lead that will fit the bore of the firearm, and is expressed as the multiplicative inverse of the sphere's weight as a fraction of a pound . Thus...
shotgun.
The .45-caliber Springfield underwent a number of modifications over the years, the principal one being a strengthened breech
Breech-loading weapon
A breech-loading weapon is a firearm in which the cartridge or shell is inserted or loaded into a chamber integral to the rear portion of a barrel....
starting in 1884. A new, 500 grain (32 g) bullet was adopted in that year for use in the stronger arm. The M1873 and M1884 Springfield rifles were the principal small arms of the US Army until 1893.
The Navy used the .45-70 caliber in several rifles, the M1873 and M1884 Springfield, the Model 1879 Lee Magazine Navy Contract Rifle, and Model 1885 Remington-Lee Magazine Military Rifle
M1885 Remington-Lee
The M1885 Remington-Lee is a bolt action, box magazine repeating rifle designed principally by James Paris Lee. It first appeared in 1879, manufactured by the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company. Eventually Remington took over production and produced the famous Model 1885 Remington Lee Navy Rifle...
, the last two being magazine-fed turnbolt repeating rifles. The Marine Corps used the M1873 and M1884 Springfield in .45-70 until 1897, when supplies of the new M1895 Lee Navy
M1895 Lee Navy
The Lee Model 1895 was a straight-pull, cam-action magazine rifle adopted in limited numbers by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in 1895 as a first-line infantry rifle...
rifle in 6 mm caliber, adopted two years before by the Navy, were finally made available.
Realizing that single-shot blackpowder rifles were rapidly becoming obsolete, the US Army adopted the Norwegian-designed .30 Army
.30-40 Krag
The .30-40 Krag was a cartridge developed in the early 1890s to provide the U.S. armed forces with a smokeless powder cartridge suited for use with modern small-bore repeating rifles to be selected in the 1892 small arm trials...
caliber as the Springfield Model 1892
Springfield Model 1892-99
The Springfield Model 1892-99 Krag-Jørgensen rifle is a Norwegian-design bolt action rifle that was adopted in 1892 as the standard United States Army military longarm, chambered in U.S. caliber .30-40 Krag. All versions and variants were manufactured under license by the Springfield Armory between...
in 1893. However, the .45-70
.45-70
The .45-70 rifle cartridge, also known as .45-70 Government, was developed at the U.S. Army's Springfield Armory for use in the Springfield Model 1873...
continued in service with National Guard and the Navy and Marine Corps until 1897. The .45-70 was last used in quantity during the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
, and was not completely purged from the inventory until well into the 20th century. Many surplus rifles were given to reservation Indians as subsistence hunting rifles and now carry Indian markings.
The .45-70 cartridge is still used by the U.S. military today, in the form of the CARTRIDGE, CALIBER .45, LINE THROWING, M32, a blank cartridge
Blank (cartridge)
A blank is a type of cartridge for a firearm that contains gunpowder but no bullet or shot. When fired, the blank makes a flash and an explosive sound . Blanks are often used for simulation , training, and for signaling...
which is used in a number of models of line throwing guns
Lyle gun
Line-throwing guns are most often referred to as Lyle Guns, after their inventor David A. Lyle. They were used from the late 19th century to 1952, when they were replaced by rockets for throwing lines.-History:...
used by the Navy
Navy
A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
and Coast Guard
Coast guard
A coast guard or coastguard is a national organization responsible for various services at sea. However the term implies widely different responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to being a volunteer organization tasked with...
. Early models of these line throwing guns were made from modified Trapdoor and Sharps rifles, while later models are built on break-open single-shot
Single-shot
Single-shot firearms are firearms that hold only a single round of ammunition, and must be reloaded after each shot. The history of firearms began with single-shot designs, and many centuries passed before multi-shot designs became commonplace...
rifle actions.
Sporting use
Sharps Rifle
Sharps rifles were those of a series begun with a design by Christian Sharps. Sharps rifles were renowned for long range and high accuracy in their day.-History:Sharps's initial rifle was patented September 17, 1848 and manufactured by A. S...
in larger calibers such as .50-110
.50-110 Winchester
The .50-110 Winchester is an obsolete American black powder centerfire rifle cartridge....
was used at ranges of 1000 yards (914.4 m). Most modern shooters use much higher velocity cartridges, relying on the long point blank range, and rarely using telescopic sight
Telescopic sight
A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope, is a sighting device that is based on an optical refracting telescope. They are equipped with some form of graphic image pattern mounted in an optically appropriate position in their optical system to give an accurate aiming point...
's elevation adjustments, calibrated iron sight
Iron sight
Iron sights are a system of shaped alignment markers used as a sighting device to assist in the aiming of a device such as a firearm, crossbow, or telescope, and exclude the use of optics as in telescopic sights or reflector sights...
s, or hold-over. Sights found on early cartridge hunting rifles were quite sophisticated, with a long sighting radius, wide range of elevation, and vernier
Vernier scale
A vernier scale is an additional scale which allows a distance or angle measurement to be read more precisely than directly reading a uniformly-divided straight or circular measurement scale...
adjustments to allow precise calibration of the sights for a given range. Even the military "creedmoor" type rifle sights were calibrated and designed to handle extended ranges, flipping up to provide several degrees of elevation adjustment if needed. The .45-70 is a popular choice for black powder cartridge shooting events, and replicas of most of the early rifles, including Trapdoor, Sharps, and Remington single shot rifles, are readily available.
The .45-70 retains great popularity among American hunters for the niche it is suited for, and is still offered by several commercial ammunition manufacturers. Although loaded with modern smokeless powders, in most cases pressures are kept low for safety in antique rifles and their replicas. Various modern sporting rifles are chambered
Chamber (weaponry)
In firearms, the chamber is that portion of the barrel or firing cylinder in which the cartridge is inserted prior to being fired. Rifles and pistols generally have a single chamber in their barrels, while revolvers have multiple chambers in their cylinders and no chamber in their barrel...
for the .45-70, and some of these will benefit from judicious handloading
Handloading
Handloading or reloading is the process of loading firearm cartridges or shotgun shells by assembling the individual components , rather than purchasing completely assembled, factory-loaded cartridges...
of home-made ammunition with markedly higher pressure and ballistic performance
Ballistics
Ballistics is the science of mechanics that deals with the flight, behavior, and effects of projectiles, especially bullets, gravity bombs, rockets, or the like; the science or art of designing and accelerating projectiles so as to achieve a desired performance.A ballistic body is a body which is...
. Others, which reproduce the original designs will take the original load, but are not strong enough for anything with higher pressure. In a rifle such as the Siamese Mauser or a Ruger single shot, it can be handloaded to deliver good performance even on big African game. Instructions in book form and specialized reloading tools for duplicating the original arsenal load with a full 70 gr. charge of black powder are available from Wolf's Western Traders.
In addition to its traditional use in rifles, Thompson Center Arms
Thompson Center Arms
Thompson/Center Arms Company is an American firearms company based in Rochester, New Hampshire. The company is best known for its line of interchangeable barrel single-shot pistols and rifles. Thompson Center manufactures muzzleloading rifles and is credited with creating the resurgence of their...
has offered a .45-70 barrel in both pistol and rifle lengths for their Contender single shot pistol, arguably the most potent caliber offered in the Contender frame. Even the shortest barrel, 14 inches, is easily capable of producing well over 2,000 ft·lbf (2,700 J
Joule
The joule ; symbol J) is a derived unit of energy or work in the International System of Units. It is equal to the energy expended in applying a force of one newton through a distance of one metre , or in passing an electric current of one ampere through a resistance of one ohm for one second...
) of energy, double the power of most .44 Magnum
.44 Magnum
The .44 Remington Magnum, or simply .44 Magnum, is a large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers. After introduction, it was quickly adopted for carbines and rifles...
loadings, and a Taylor KO Factor
Taylor KO Factor
Taylor KO Factor is a commonly used mathematical approach for evaluating the stopping power of hunting cartridges. The term "KO" is an acronym for "Knock Out." The Taylor KO Factor is a figure of merit that allows hunters to compare bullets with respect to stopping power...
as high as 40 with some loads. Recent .45-70 barrels are available with an efficient muzzle brake that significantly reduces the muzzle rise and also helps attenuate the recoil. The Magnum Research BFR
Magnum Research BFR
The Magnum Research BFR is a single-action revolver manufactured by Magnum Research. It is made from stainless steel and is manufactured in a variety of heavy calibers, such as .500 S&W Magnum, including some traditional rifle cartridges, such as the .30-30 and .45-70/.450 Marlin. The name "BFR"...
is a heavier gun at approximately 4.5 pounds, helping it have much more manageable recoil.
.500 S&W Magnum
The .500 S&W Magnum is a fifty-caliber semi-rimmed handgun cartridge developed by Cor-Bon in partnership with the Smith & Wesson "X-Gun" engineering team for use in the Smith & Wesson Model 500 X-frame revolver and introduced in February 2003 at the SHOT trade show...
have production handguns begun to eclipse the .45-70 Contender in the rarefied field of big-game capable handguns.
See also
- List of rifle cartridges
- 11 mm caliber11 mm caliberThis article lists firearm cartridges which have a bullet in the through caliber range.All measurements are in millimeters .-Pistol cartridges:-Revolver cartridges:-Rifle cartridges:-See also:...
other cartridges of similar caliber. - .458 SOCOM.458 SOCOMThe .458 SOCOM is a relatively large round designed for a specialized upper receiver that can be mounted on any AR-15 pattern rifle. The round offers a muzzle velocity and .- History:...
- .450 Marlin.450 MarlinThe .450 Marlin is a firearms cartridge designed as a modernized equivalent to the venerable .45-70 lever-action cartridge. It was designed by a joint team of Marlin and Hornady engineers headed by Hornady's Mitch Mittelstaedt, and was released in 2000, with cartridges manufactured by Hornady and...
- .444 Marlin.444 MarlinThe .444 Marlin is a rifle cartridge designed in 1964 by Marlin Firearms and Remington Arms. It was designed to fill in a gap for the older .45-70 at a time when that cartridge was not currently available in any lever action, making it the largest at the time available lever-action cartridge...
External links
- Breech-Loaders In The United States, The Engineer, 11 January 1867, on the adoption of a military breech loading rifle and cartridge
- Shoot! Magazine article on the .50-70 cartridge