Cartridge Families (6) - Military .30/7mm
Kim du Toit
July 1, 2006
7:48 AM CDT
The .3x “medium” cartridge family is a large one, so I’ve split it into two. This part deals with the military cartridges of that diameter.
It is unquestionably true that no other small piece of matter has ended as many lives as the .3x military cartridge. Just reading the list from left to right evokes history (the sole exception being, of course, the Swiss 7.5x55mm, which as far as I know, was never fired in anger by the Swiss military).
But the Russian 7.62x54mmR means “Russian Front” (x2); the .30-06 means dead Germans and Japanese; the .303… oy, where to start? and the 8x57mm did sterling service in both World Wars and a couple in between. And let us not forget the 7.7mm Jap, which killed American, Chinese and British Empire troops by the million.
And even today, you would not be under-gunned with a rifle chambered in any of the above cartridges, in just about any situation, and most certainly not if the foe was human rather than one of dangerous game.
And speaking of game, all the above have killed uncountable numbers of deer and other game in their time.
I’ve heard many arguments rage over which of these was “better” or “the best”—and to be quite frank, I’m not even going to stick my toe into these waters.
They’re all wonderful, effective cartridges, and not many more recent cartridges have been able to surpass their performance by any marked degree.
If you are of a collecing bent, and like your collections as “sets”, you could do far worse than get a rifle chambered to each the above. Here they are:
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With the exception of the M1 Garand, I’ve owned at least one of the above practically all my life, and for a long time, I owned every single one (excepting, once again the Garand).
And one day I will again… and this time, including the Garand.
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