Intermediate cartridges
Encyclopedia
Assault rifle
An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies...
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...
that is less powerful than typical full power battle rifle
Battle rifle
A battle rifle is a military service rifle that fires a full power rifle cartridge, such as 7.62x51mm NATO. While the designation of battle rifle is usually given to post-World War II select fire infantry rifles such as the H&K G3, the FN FAL or the M14, this term can also apply to older military...
cartridges such as the 7.92mm Mauser
7.92x57mm Mauser
The 8×57mm IS is a rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge. The 8×57mm IS was adopted by the German Empire in 1905, and was the German service cartridge in both World Wars...
or US .30-06, but still significantly more powerful than pistol
Pistol
When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
cartridges. As their recoil
Recoil
Recoil is the backward momentum of a gun when it is discharged. In technical terms, the recoil caused by the gun exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile and exhaust gasses, according to Newton's third law...
is significantly reduced compared to high power rifle cartridges, fully automatic rifles
Automatic firearm
An automatic firearm is a firearm that loads another round mechanically after the first round has been fired.The term can be used to refer to semi-automatic firearms, which fire one shot per single pull of the trigger , or fully automatic firearms, which will continue to load and fire ammunition...
firing intermediate cartridges are relatively easy to control. However, even though less powerful than a traditional rifle cartridge, the ballistics are still sufficient for an effective range of 250 –, which are the maximum typical engagement ranges in combat. This allowed for the development of the assault rifle
Assault rifle
An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies...
concept, which is a selective fire
Selective fire
A selective fire firearm has at least one semi–automatic and one automatic mode, which is activated by means of a selector which varies depending on the weapon's design. Some selective fire weapons utilize burst fire mechanisms to limit the maximum or total number of shots fired automatically in...
weapon that is more compact and lighter than rifles firing full power cartridges. The first intermediate cartridge was the German 7.92x33mm Kurz. Other examples include the Soviet 7.62x39mm used in the AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
and AKM
AKM
The AKM is a 7.62mm assault rifle designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is an upgraded version of the AK-47 rifle and was developed in the 1950s....
series, and the .280 British
.280 British
The .280 British was an experimental intermediate rifle cartridge. It was later designated 7 mm MK1Z, and has also been known as 7 mm NATO, .280/30, .280 Enfield, .280 NATO, 7 mm FN Short, and 7×43mm. It was designed by the British Army in the late 1940s, with subsequent help from...
round developed for the EM-2
EM-2
The EM-2, Also known as Rifle No.9 Mk1 or "Janson rifle", was an experimental British assault rifle. It was briefly adopted by British forces in 1951, but the decision was overturned very shortly thereafter by Winston Churchill's incoming government in an effort to secure NATO standardisation of...
. The 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge is also an intermediate cartridge.
History
The Second World War saw the use of the bolt action rifles such as the Mauser Karabiner 98k, Lee-Enfield SMLE, and the Mosin Nagant. As well as semi-automatic battle rifles such as the Gewehr 43Gewehr 43
The Gewehr 43 or Karabiner 43 is an 8x57mm IS caliber semi-automatic rifle developed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
, M1 Garand
M1 Garand
The M1 Garand , was the first semi-automatic rifle to be generally issued to the infantry of any nation. Called "the greatest battle implement ever devised" by General George S...
and the SVT-40. These rifles weighted over 8 lb (3.6 kg), and they were longer than 40 in (1,016 mm) and as such inappropriate for close combat. They fired cartridges capable of killing out to 1000 m (1,093.6 yd). In close quarter combat all the major armies began employing the submachine guns such as the PPSh-41
PPSh-41
The PPSh-41 was a Soviet submachine gun designed by Georgi Shpagin as an inexpensive, simplified alternative to the PPD-40. Intended for use by minimally-trained conscript soldiers, the PPSh was a magazine-fed selective-fire submachine gun using an open-bolt, blowback action...
, Thompson M1928A1 and the MP-40, all of which fired pistol cartridges. Compared with the battle rifles these submachine guns could provide high rate of controllable fire but they lacked the precision and long effective range of the battle rifles.
Bolt action rifles in use at the time were considerably long and heavy, and their rate of fire was only around 10 - 15 rounds per minute. The bolt action rifles were very accurate up to 1000 metres (3,280.8 ft) in the hands of a trained marksman, but typical combat ranges were much shorter, around 150 –, and most of the time they did not exceed 500 metres (1,640.4 ft). Therefore, the extreme effective range of the rifle was not needed.
What was needed was a selective fire weapon firing a cartridge combining the power of the rifle and the controllabilty of the pistol cartridges. The resulting cartridge would have the accuracy of the former for to typical combat ranges, and the firepower of the latter at short ranges.
The first cartridge fullfilling this requirement was the 7.92x33mm Kurz round developed by the Germans, which was a shortened version of the standard 7.92x57mm Mauser round, and was used in the first assault rifle, the STG-44.. While not being the first intermediate cartridge, it was one of the first mass-produced versions. When the Soviets developed the AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
, they already had an intermediate cartridge of their own, so they adopted the gas operation system of the StG-44, which was extremely reliable making it an ideal field weapon.
Performance
Typical characteristics of an intermediate cartridge are Kinetic energyKinetic energy
The kinetic energy of an object is the energy which it possesses due to its motion.It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its acceleration, the body maintains this kinetic energy unless its speed changes...
ranges between 1300–2600 J (958.8–1,917.7 ftlbf), muzzle velocities of 600 metre per second and bullets of 3–9 g (2.70002700027E-07–8.10008100081001E-07 gr).
See also
- List of assault rifles
- .30 Carbine.30 CarbineThe .30 Carbine is the cartridge used in the M1 Carbine introduced in the 1940s. It is an intermediate round designed to be fired from the M1 carbine's 18-inch barrel.-History:...
(7.62x33mm) cartridge of the M1M1 CarbineThe M1 carbine is a lightweight, easy to use semi-automatic carbine that became a standard firearm for the U.S. military during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and was produced in several variants. It was widely used by U.S...
carbine - 7.92x33mm cartridge of the Sturmgewehr 44Sturmgewehr 44The StG 44 was an assault rifle developed in Nazi Germany during World War II and was the first of its kind to see major deployment, considered by many historians to be the first modern assault rifle...
assault rifle - 7.62x39mm cartridge of the AK-47AK-47The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
assault rifle - 5.56x45mm NATO5.56x45mm NATO5.56×45mm NATO is a rifle cartridge developed in the United States and originally chambered in the M16 rifle. Under STANAG 4172, it is a standard cartridge for NATO forces as well as many non-NATO countries. It is derived from, but not identical to, the .223 Remington cartridge...
cartridge of the M16M16 rifleThe M16 is the United States military designation for the AR-15 rifle adapted for both semi-automatic and full-automatic fire. Colt purchased the rights to the AR-15 from ArmaLite, and currently uses that designation only for semi-automatic versions of the rifle. The M16 fires the 5.56×45mm NATO...
assault rifle - 5.45x39mm5.45x39mmThe Soviet 5.45×39mm cartridge is a rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was introduced into service in 1974 for use with the new AK-74 assault rifle. It gradually supplemented then largely replaced the 7.62x39mm round in service....
cartridge of the AK-74AK-74The AK-74 is an assault rifle developed in the early 1970s in the Soviet Union as the replacement for the earlier AKM...
assault rifle - 6.8x43mm 6.8 mm Remington SPC cartridge
- 6.5x39mm 6.5 mm Grendel cartidge developed for AR-15AR-15The AR-15 is a lightweight, 5.56 mm, air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed semi-automatic rifle, with a rotating-lock bolt, actuated by direct impingement gas operation. It is manufactured with the extensive use of aluminum alloys and synthetic materials....
External links
- http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/Assault.htm