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Long-Range Caliber, How to Choose the Best for You

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If you ever had a school teacher that swore that you would use and even appreciate math one day, then that promise is finally about to come true while picking a long-range caliber.

Step one is to define exactly what "long range" means for you. It might be anywhere from a few hundred yards to this.
Step one is to define exactly what “long range” means for you. It might be anywhere from a few hundred yards to this.

USA –-(Ammoland.com)- So, you want to shoot long-range. Excellent! I can offer a 100% money-back guarantee that you’re going to have lots of fun while learning all sorts of cool stuff.
If you ever had a school teacher that swore that you would use and even appreciate math one day, then that promise is finally about to come true. Yes, you’ll need to embrace a bit of math to master the long-range game, but it’s practical and even borders on enjoyable.

Yes, I know. I used “math” and “enjoyable” in the same sentence. On purpose. Just trust me, OK? The first time you press the trigger to nail a distance target, you’ll get a big kick out of hearing that “clang” several seconds later.

Step one is figuring out which caliber is best for you. Notice that I didn’t say “best” but rather “best for you.” There are a lot of great long-range cartridges available, and it’s pointless to try to figure out which is “best” because the answer is always… it depends. The correct question is this: Which ones are good for your intended use?
Here are a few factors to ponder before making your caliber decision

How long is the “long” in Long-Range Caliber?

Depending on where you live and plan to shoot, “long-range” might be anywhere from 200 to 2,000 yards.
Contrary to widespread assumption, bullet drop doesn’t matter all that much because it’s very predictable. That’s because gravity is reliable. Today, tomorrow, and until the world ends from some future Supreme Court pick, gravity will work exactly the same. Whether your bullet drops eight or 18 feet doesn’t matter all that much. With a good rifle, scope, and ammo, you can still make a precise hit every time, regardless of the amount of bullet drop. What does matter is the point down range at which your projectile transitions from supersonic to subsonic speeds. Up to that point on the velocity curve, bullet flight is amazingly predictable. During the subsonic transition and after, the math gets much harder and the results less precise.

The safe bet for caliber selection is to determine your realistic shooting distances and choose a caliber that remains supersonic past the distance of your longest anticipated shots.

Here’s a quick example. While 77-grain .223 Remington bullets are far better for longer range shooting than 55-grain ones, they only remain supersonic for about 750 yards here where I live. Your mileage may vary depending on your altitude and weather conditions. On the other hand, the new .224 Valkyrie, which uses the same bullet diameter, will remain supersonic past 1,000 yards here and out to 1,300 or so yards at higher altitudes.

Where will you be shooting?

Depending on where you shoot, the trajectory changes significantly. This solution is for sea level.
Depending on where you shoot, the trajectory changes significantly. This solution is for sea level.

When shooting at 50 or 100 yards, elevation and local atmospheric conditions don’t make a whole lot of difference.
When shooting at 1,000 yards, your location means everything. To illustrate the point, let’s consider an example using the 6.5mm Creedmoor cartridge.
One load I’ve been using flings a Hornady 140-grain ELD Match bullet at 2,780.3 feet per second.
Where I shoot, elevation is about 30 feet above sea level. At 1,000 yards, this bullet will have dropped 305.39 inches and still be moving at 1,444 feet per second. If I were to travel to Denver with the same rifle and ammo, the bullet drop at 1,000 yards would be significantly less – 244.25 inches.

Also, the velocity would be much faster with the bullet sailing at 1,882 feet per second as it passes the 1,000-yard mark.

Are you hunting or target shooting?

As you can see from the previous example, velocity can vary – a lot – depending on where you will be shooting. In a hunting scenario, it’s up to you to make sure that you’re using a bullet of sufficient weight and velocity, not at the muzzle, but at the anticipated distance down range where it will strike the target. While the Hornady ELD Match in the previous example isn’t a hunting projectile, we can still use it as an example. In South Carolina, it’s carrying 648 foot-pounds of energy at 1,000 yards. In Denver, that bullet delivers 1,100 foot-pounds on the same 1,000-yard target. Don’t get hung up on the illustrations here as realistic hunting distances, we’re just illustrating the point that energy varies not only with distance, but location. It’s up to you to make sure you keep your shots ethical and within your capabilities.
As for target shooting, as long as your bullets don’t miss the safety berm, the energy delivered down range doesn’t matter so much. It doesn’t take much kinetic energy or momentum to perforate paper or ding a steel target. For these uses, you’ll be more concerned with factors like wind drift.

Are you going to buy or reload your long-range caliber ammo?

Depending on the caliber you choose, your costs can vary widely, at least for factory-loaded ammunition. If you decided that you just have to shoot .338 Lapua Magnum, plan on spending five to seven bucks per round for quality pre-loaded ammo. Unless your day job title is Shady Hedge Fund Manager, that can put a severe dent in your wallet. On the other hand, reloading specialty rounds like this can save you a ton if you’re willing to invest some time in the process. We’ll get into details on that in a later article in the long-range shooting series.

Not all long-range caliber rounds are expensive. The .224 Valkyrie fits in standard AR-15 lower receivers and is affordable to buy from the factory.
Not all long-range caliber rounds are expensive. The .224 Valkyrie fits in standard AR-15 lower receivers and is affordable to buy from the factory.

If you’re not ready to take a bite from the long-range caliber reloading foot-long sub, no worries. You can find great long-range calibers with excellent factory loads that are available for reasonable prices. For example, the hot new .224 Valkyrie cartridge lists for $.50 to $1.25 per round. Even the larger 6.5mm Creedmoor round comes in around $1.25 a shot for match-grade ammo.

Semi-auto or bolt-action?

If you have strong desires on the type of rifle action, that will help narrow the universe of possible calibers too. In the semi-automatic area, most long-range rifles are members of either the AR-15 or AR-10 family. Those two lower receiver types tend to limit the numbers of choices because the magazine wells are only so big, so if you plan to fire more than one shot, cartridges will need to fit in either the AR-15 or AR-10 lower receivers. In the bolt action world, things are more flexible.

If you go the semi-automatic route, you may be deciding between the AR-10 and AR-15 platforms to fit your desired cartridges. These two rifles from Palmetto State Armory reflect one of each for the 6.5mm Creedmoor and new .224 Valkyrie.
If you go the semi-automatic route, you may be deciding between the AR-10 and AR-15 platforms to fit your desired cartridges. These two rifles from Palmetto State Armory reflect one of each for the 6.5mm Creedmoor and new .224 Valkyrie.

Ballistic Coefficient

Here comes the dreaded math, but we’re going to keep it simple. We’re going to drill into Ballistic Coefficient in a different article, so for now, think of it this way. This numerical value assigned to every unique bullet defines how “slippery” it is while flying through the air. Stated differently, it corresponds to a bullet’s ability to retain velocity as it flies. If you could fire a Yeti cooler (with the door open) that would have a very low ballistic coefficient number. Of course, it would have the added benefit of bringing joy to Second Amendment advocates everywhere when it self-destructed on impact.  On the other hand, an oversized sewing needle launched from a high-tech magnetic rail gun would have a very high ballistic coefficient.
To get practical, the new .224 Valkyrie 90-grain Sierra Matchking bullet has a ballistic coefficient of 0.563. A .308 caliber flat nose, 150-grain bullet for a .30-30 lever-action has a ballistic coefficient of just 0.185. So, yes, the ballistic coefficient number is (almost) always between zero and one, although the Yeti probably carries a BC of negative 113.9.
So, long-range caliber bullets with higher ballistic coefficients tend to carry their velocity better and as a result, act more predictably at longer ranges. That may or may not be relevant to your scenario. For example, if your goal is to knock over steel silhouette targets at 500 yards, you might be better off using a big, heavy, and fat bullet that doesn’t top the coefficient charts. Like the other factors mentioned here, the ballistic coefficient is one of many things to consider depending on what you want to do.
So, these are a few things to consider when choosing your long-range caliber. Most importantly, think about your typical use case and work backward from that.

Tom McHale
Tom McHale

About Tom McHale

Tom McHale is the author of the Practical Guides book series that guides new and experienced shooters alike in a fun, approachable, and practical way. His books are available in print and eBook format on Amazon. You can also find him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

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All About Guns Fieldcraft Gun Info for Rookies

CHANGING MAGAZINES: EMBRACE THE REALITY

BY TOM MCHALE
Smoothly changing magazines is easy - unless everything is buried under a layer of clothing.

Rationalization is a powerful thing. The temptation to convince one’s self that “it’s good enough” or that you’ll “do it later” is right up there with other irresistible forces of nature like gravity and checking your smartphone while waiting in line. 
It’s so tempting to rationalize training shortcuts, especially when the routine in question is pretty darn close to the “right” way to do something. Here’s what I mean. When at the range, whether plinking, competing, of practicing shooting skills, it’s easy to gear up with everything easily accessible.
What I mean by that is that the holster is likely outside of the waistband. The magazine carrier, if you’re using one, is also on the belt. Often, none of this is covered up with a concealment garment, or if it is, it’s not the one you would use in your everyday life travels.
Hey, you’re on the range. Or maybe you’re competing in a local match of some sort. You’re getting repetitions with actions like draws and magazine changes, so that’s all good, right? 

Practicing this way only covers the easy steps. It may be satisfying, but could get you into trouble if you have to draw from concealment.

Practicing this way only covers the easy steps. It may be satisfying, but could get you into trouble if you have to draw from concealment. Above, a Sig P320.

If you habitually practice magazine changes from an “open carry” magazine pouch on your belt, you’re certainly burning in some useful muscle memory – for part of the process. You’re ejecting the spent magazine, loading a new one, and firing. That’s all good stuff!
What you’re not doing in that scenarios is drawing from concealment. It doesn’t sound like a big deal. After all, you only need to reach under a shirt or jacket. That’s not hard. Or is it?
As a level set, let’s review the basic magazine replacement process assuming you’re carrying a spare magazine or two on the belt. 
Release the existing pistol magazine. Visually verify that it drops just in case you have to yank it out in the event of a sticky magazine or jam. 
As you do, move the cover garment out of the way. Hold this thought for a hot second…
Extract the spare magazine with your support hand while aligning your index finger along the front of the magazine with your fingertip stopping short of the top opening. See the included picture for details.
If not already there, move your pistol in front of your face and tilt it, so the magazine well is angled towards your support side. The idea is to have your “workspace” right in front of your eyeballs, so you get it right on the first try. 

Your hand goes where your index finger points, so use it as a guide on the front of the new magazine.

Your hand goes where your index finger points, so use it as a guide on the front of the new magazine. Above, a Sig P229.

Using your index finger as a guide, insert the new magazine, allowing your index finger to slide along the front of your firing hand grip as you guide the new magazine into place. 

Allow the index finger to ride along the front of the grip as you insert the magazine.

Allow the index finger to ride along the front of the grip as you insert the magazine.

Smack the magazine base with your palm to ensure that it’s firmly seated. 
Depending on your preferred method, either release the slide lock with your firing hand or quickly rack the slide with your support hand. Which to choose is a topic all its own as there are pros and cons to each method. 
Resume whatever it was you were doing before all this activity.

What we all really need to practice is drawing and retrieving magazines from this condition...

What we all really need to practice is drawing and retrieving magazines from this condition…

Here’s the gotcha for execution of this routine from concealed carry. By definition, your spare magazines are covered by some type of cover garment, so you have to factor moving that out of the way. Depending on your concealment strategy, there are a couple of ways to do this. 

the thumb hook method works well but requires plenty of practice.

the thumb hook method works well but requires plenty of practice.

If you’re wearing a jacket or coat, you can point your support-hand thumb towards your body and draw your jacket back as you reach for the magazine. With enough vigor and adequate jacket weight, it will swing out of the way long enough for you to retrieve the magazine before the coat swings back into normal position.
If you’re concealing your gun and magazines with a t-shirt or anything else untucked without an open front, things get trickier. This is the scenario where lazy practice habits become exposed. Since you’ll be holding your pistol with the firing hand throughout, you will have to move your cover garment with your support hand at the same time you’re grabbing a fresh magazine. With a jacket, you can sweep it out of the way long enough to shift your hand and extract the magazine. 

With a shirt for concealment, you'll need to hold the shirt out of the way while retrieving the magazine.

With a shirt for concealment, you’ll need to hold the shirt out of the way while retrieving the magazine.

That doesn’t work with a t-shirt, however. You’ll need to pull the t-shirt up and out of the way and hold it there while extracting the magazine – all with the same hand. It’s not hard to do when you have time. However, when in a hurry, you can get hand, magazine, and clothing tangled up easily, thereby costing you time and risking a dropped magazine. You can try a couple of methods. By extending your thumb towards your body, you can use it as a “hook” to lift the shirt up and out of the way, keeping your other fingers free to start grasping the magazine. If that’s too complex, you can also just lift your shirt normally and press it against your body with your wrist long enough to retrieve the magazine. 
Here’s the key point. Both of these methods, or any other you may prefer, don’t come naturally and are prone to hangups. If you practice retrieving magazines from an exposed position, assuming that all will go to plan when you need to do it from concealment while under stress, you’re going to get seriously messed up. To see this first hand, put your pistol away somewhere safe, put your firing hand in your pants pocket so it’s out of commission as it would be if holding your gun. Now have a buddy or significant other yell “Go!” While timing you to see how quickly you can get your magazine out from concealment only using your support hand. You might be surprised at the results. It’s surprisingly easy for your shirt to get caught up on the magazine base plate or between magazines if you carry two. 

While this Blue Force Gear magazine holder still rides outside of the waistband, it's drawn in tight and the magazines are seated deeply. All the more reason for plenty of practice. I've sewn a false base in the front one to make it a bit easier to retrieve.

While this Blue Force Gear magazine holder still rides outside of the waistband, it’s drawn in tight and the magazines are seated deeply. All the more reason for plenty of practice. I’ve sewn a false base in the front one to make it a bit easier to retrieve.

If your results are less than satisfactory, there’s an easy fix. Don’t practice lazy. You don’t need to be at the range to safely practice this skill. Just put your gun away and practice withdrawing magazine from concealment using only one hand. Here’s the key. Practice slowly and deliberately. Once you get the motions perfect and burn them into your subconscious with a couple of thousand repetitions over time, the speed will come on its own. They key is to repeat the exact same movement over and over until you can’t do it with the slightest bit of variance. 
Magazine changes aren’t the only thing that can bite you when doing it “for real.” The more you practice everything – draws, re-holstering, and changing magazines from your exact daily carry configuration, the better prepared you’ll be. Use the same gun, holster, and magazine carry equipment that you put on when going out into the world. Wear the same clothes. “Cheating” at the range or by using a photographers vest in your local IDPA competition may help you shave time off your score and stroke your ego, but it won’t help you when you have to execute the same routines from real concealment.

Tom McHale
Tom McHale is a committed learning junkie always seeking a new subject victim. As a lifelong student of whatever grabs his attention on any particular day, he thrives on beating rabbit trails into submission. In between his time as a high-tech marketing executive, restaurant owner, and hamster cosmetology practitioner, he’s published seven books and nearly 1,500 articles about guns, shooting, and the American way.
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Anti Civil Rights ideas & "Friends" Born again Cynic! Gun Info for Rookies

Some more reasons why I own guns!


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All About Guns Gun Info for Rookies

Some basic Information about Flintlock Rifles

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For those Really Old School Types out there!                          GrumpyImage result for sharpes rifles
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Some good info by CarteachO

Carteach0

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Wheel gun carry: .38 Special Vs .357 Magnum

Despite the staggering number of choices amongst semi-auto pistols for personal protection, there are still a large segment of the population who prefer revolvers.  Even those who swear by one auto or another often have a small revolver as a backup.
Why?  Because they work.  It’s not new technology.  Most are not fancy.  Almost none have any kind of external safety to remember under stress.  They just….. work.  Pick up a double action revolver, squeeze the trigger, and if it’s loaded there will likely be a Bang.  If not, squeeze the trigger again and try the next hole.

Revolvers have been around the personal defense scene for many generations, and for concealed carry, the shooting public seem to have settled on the snub-nose for everyday carry.  Short, small, relatively light, and utterly dependable, a snub nose has been in the pocket or holster of many an officer or shopkeeper since the 1940’s.  Even earlier, lawmen were cutting down larger pistols and making their own snubbies, the easier to pack some protection as they patrolled city streets.  J. Edgar Hoover required his agents to be armed at all times, and demonstrate proficiency with the little snubby on a regular basis.
There’s a wide range of caliber choices for those packing a wheel gun, but two still hold the position of top dogs by a very wide margin.  The .38 Special, a round that’s been chambered in pistols since 1900, and has been in wide use since the 1930’s.  The other, the .357 magnum, developed from a desire for a more powerful version of the .38 special, and that’s exactly what it is.
Dimensionally almost exactly the same as the .38, the .357 is made just a little longer so it will not chamber in a .38 Special hand gun.  This prevents the high pressure .357 round from being mistakenly fired from a .38 special gun…. and also gives us a wonderful choice.  This closeness in dimensions means any firearm chambered in .357 will also shoot the .38 Special, allowing the shooter to have a much cheaper, quieter, and gentler round to practice with and enjoy.  While point of impact will change quite a bit between the two rounds, this is of little concern at typical self defense practice ranges of 30-50 feet.

More to the point, for our discussion, the .357 offers a substantial boost in velocity and energy when compared to the .38 Special.  Even the ‘+P’ version of the .38 made for modern pistols does not come close to equaling the power available from the .357 loaded to full pressure.
The higher pressures of the .357 Magnum requires a somewhat beefier build to the pistol, but weight and size comparisons between snubbies of both calibers show them nearly the same.
The choice facing us is not really one of weight or dimension, but power.  Control ability and muzzle blast come into play, as does recoil.  The .357 does not get it’s nearly doubled energy over the .38 Special without a cost.  While a .38 snubby might be relatively comfortable to shoot for most people, the same pistol in .357 has a ….. ‘snappy’…. recoil that nobody sneers at for long.   Perhaps that’s why so many revolver shooters enjoy the ability to practice with .38 ammunition, but carry defensively with .357 Magnum rounds in the chamber.

This is a point Carteach agrees with.  Given the choice between the same pistol in .38 Special and .357 Magnum, it only makes sense to buy the magnum version.  One can then always shoot the lighter .38 loads, and even carry them if desired.   I consider it a cost-free option, as the magnum pistols are generally no larger or heavier than the .38 version these days.
As for ‘stopping power’, that has always been a nebulous term.   The fact is…. pistols don’t generally knock people over.  They punch holes in them, and if nerve centers or major bones are hit, the fight is generally over.  Otherwise, pistol level rounds just punch holes and mess things up.  Yes, they will eventually knock down just about everyone…. but that notion of a bad guy hit with a bullet from a pocket pistol, and immediately doing a double backflip over the railing and falling into the volcano…. only in the movies.

That same reality holds with both .38 Special and .357 Magnum.   The only real difference between the two is velocity and energy.  Both, kept to proper bullets for their velocity, have excellent track records in self defense.  The .38 Special holds it’s defensive position well when stocked with the old FBI load….. a 158 grain hollow point lead semi-wadcutter bullet.  This bullet punches holes, and messes things up, and that’s all that can be expected.
The .357 Magnum, with it’s higher velocity and energy, makes bigger holes and messes up more stuff.   As simple as it sounds, this difference is significant.  Very significant.  As a result, the .357 Magnum has a substantially better first shot drop record in defensive shootings.
If one can deal with the recoil, muzzle blast, and control issues of the .357, there is no reason not to choose it over the .38 Special.   As said….. one can always just stoke the pistol with .38’s instead of .357’s.  That said….. The Fat Old Man would not feel undergunned with the ancient .38 Special, given an understanding of it’s limitations.  There’s been a representative sample in his collection for many, many years indeed.  It fills a niche nicely, serves it’s purpose without fanfare, and has the most important feature possible in any defensive weapon….. it works.

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Darwin would of approved of this! Fieldcraft Grumpy's hall of Shame Gun Info for Rookies Soldiering

Fucking Rookies, The Girl Scouts would do a better Job!


Fire and movement? Maybe some take advantage of the Terrain? Get a squad Leader who knows WTF  to do?
Nah! Grumpy

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Gun Info for Rookies

A Primer on the Shotgun by Brett

 

Recently I’ve had the itch to buy a shotgun. It started after I read Creek’s post on how to build a survival shotgun. The itch only grew stronger after I became a homeowner (I kind of feel like Kevin McAllister). The shotgun is the perfect weapon for home defense and disaster prep. It’s powerful, reliable, and versatile. You can use it to fend off home intruders, hunt for food, or even shoot skeet with your buds.
But as I’ve discussed before on the site, I’m a complete novice when it comes to guns. I grew up around them, but I just didn’t take an interest in them until recently. Before I brought a shotgun into my house, I wanted make sure I knew how it worked and how to fire it safely and correctly.
So I headed over to the U.S. Shooting Academy here in Tulsa, OK to talk to Mike Seeklander, President of the Academy and co-host of Outdoor Channel’s The Best Defense. Mike’s helped me out before with articles on how to fire a handgun and a rifle. On this trip, he explained the very basics of understanding and firing a shotgun. Today I’ll share what I learned from Mike for those folks out there who are also interested in becoming first-time shotgun owners.

Types of Shotguns

Mike’s pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns

Shotguns are fired from the shoulder and are typically used to hit targets at short distances. Unlike rifle and handgun cartridges that can only fire a single projectile, a shotgun cartridge typically fires multiple pellets called “shot” that spread out as they leave the shotgun’s barrel. Because the power of a single cartridge charge is divided among multiple pieces of shot, the energy of the shot decreases greatly as it travels away from the gun. That’s why shotguns are short-range weapons.
There are a variety of shotguns out on the market that serve different purposes. Below we highlight the most common types.

Break-action shotguns. Break-action shotguns have a hinge between the barrel and the stock that allows you to “break” or open the barrel to expose the breech in order to load your ammo. If you’ve ever seen pictures of old big game hunters or cowboys holding a shotgun, they were probably holding a break-action shotgun. Break-action shotguns are usually double-barreled, with the barrels either side-by-side or placed one on top of the other. They’re typically used by hunters and sport shooters. The big disadvantage of break-action shotguns is that they’re single shot guns, meaning once you fire the single round in each barrel, you have to reload.

Mossberg 500 pump-action shotgun

Pump-action shotguns. A pump-action shotgun is a single-barrel shotgun that holds multiple rounds (unlike break-action shotguns). The way you extract spent shells and chamber a fresh round is by pulling a pump handle towards yourself, and then pushing it back into its original position along the barrel. Pump-action shotguns are widely used by police forces around the world because of their reliability and ability to hold multiple rounds. The Remington 870 has been the standby shotgun for American police forces for years, while the U.S. military has been partial to the Mossberg 500.
The general consensus in the firearms community is that pump-action shotguns are the top choice for home defense. They’re relatively easy to use, nearly impossible to break, and are super reliable. More importantly, the sound of chambering a hot round into a pump-action 12 gauge is sure to soil the britches of even the most hardened criminal. As an added bonus, they’re relatively cheap, with prices beginning around $200.
One of the things you have to watch out for when firing a pump-action shotgun is short-stroking. That’s when you don’t push the pump all the way back to its original position, resulting in a failure to chamber the next round in the magazine.

Browning semi-automatic shotgun

Semi-automatic shotguns. A semi-automatic shotgun fires a single shell each time the trigger is pulled, automatically ejects the spent shell, and automatically chambers a new shell from a magazine. This allows you to fire off shots quickly. Some states ban hunting with semi-automatic shotguns, so be aware of that if you plan on using your gun to hunt.
Because rounds are automatically loaded and the design is more complex, semi-automatic shotguns are more prone to jamming failures than pump-action or break-action shotguns.

Diagram of a shotgun

Understanding Shotgun Ammo


Shotgun ammo is broken down into three categories: birdshot, buckshot, and slugs.
Birdshot. Birdshot is smaller than buckshot and is used primarily for hunting, you guessed it, birds. Birdshot size is categorized by a number: the larger the number, the smaller the shot. The smallest birdshot is #12 shot and the largest is size FF. All birdshot pellets have a diameter smaller than 5 mm. Birdshot is so small it’s simply poured into a shotgun shell until the shell reaches a certain weight.
Buckshot. Buckshot is typically used for hunting small to medium-sized game and for police and home defense purposes. As with birdshot, the buckshot is categorized by a number that decreases as the size of the shot goes up. The smallest buckshot is #4 and from there the sizes go past #1 to 0000 (quad-ought), 000 (triple-ought), 00 (double-ought), and 0 (ought). Unlike birdshot, buckshot is too large to be poured into a cartridge. Rather, the buckshot pellets are stacked into the shell in a fixed geometric arrangement in order to fit.
Slugs. Slugs are basically a giant bullet. Instead of firing multiple pellets, a shotgun shell with a slug in it only fires a single slug. Slugs are primarily used to hunt large game and for military and police purposes. Slugs are rifled which gives them spin as they leave the barrel of the gun, making the slug much more accurate and stable in flight.

Understanding Gauge, Chamber Length, & Choke Tubes

Gauge
Unlike handguns and rifles that use caliber to measure the diameter of the barrel, shotguns use gauge. Measuring gauge goes back to the days of muzzle-loading guns. A shotgun’s gauge number is determined by the number of lead balls that are the size of the gun bore’s diameter that can roll down the gun’s barrel to make a pound. So for example, in a 12 gauge shotgun, twelve lead balls with a diameter equal to the diameter of the barrel adds up to one pound.
Confused? Don’t worry. It takes a bit to wrap your head around it. Just remember this: The smaller the shotgun gauge number, the larger the barrel; the larger the barrel, the bigger the boom from your boomstick.
The most common shotgun gauge sizes are: 10 gauge = .775 inch, 12 gauge = .729 inch, 16 gauge = .662 inch, 20 gauge = .615 inch, 28 gauge = .550 inch.
The 12 gauge shotgun is the most common shotgun gauge sold in America and is a good all-purpose gun — great for home defense, hunting, and skeet shooting. Because of their widespread use, ammo and accessories for 12 gauge shotguns are much easier to find than for other size shotguns. If you’re going to use your shotgun primarily for hunting or skeet shooting, you might follow the advice of shotgunning expert Bob Brister and go with a smaller gauge gun like a 20 or 28 gauge.
Chamber Length
In addition to a shotgun’s gauge number, another size you’ll see stamped on a shotgun’s barrel is the chamber length. The chamber is where the shell fits into the gun for firing. You need to make sure the length of the shell you’re loading into your gun matches the chamber length on your shotgun. Firing shells that are longer than the length of the chamber can generate dangerously high pressures in your gun. That’s a big safety risk.
Choke Tubes
As we mentioned earlier, when you fire a shotgun, the pellets in the shell spread as they leave the gun. When the pellets hit their target, they leave a spread pattern. Spread patterns can be small and dense or wide and sparse. The closer you are to your target, the more compact and lethal your spread pattern.
If you want to maintain a dense spread pattern when firing your shotgun at long distance targets (like you would when hunting), you’ll want to use a choke tube. A choke tube constricts a gun’s shot charge to hold it together longer before the shot spreads, thus giving a denser shot pattern at longer range than an open choke or no choke at all.  Choke tubes come in a variety of sizes depending on how dense a pattern you want. If you’re simply using your shotgun for home defense, you probably don’t need a choke tube. They’re mainly used by hunters and skeet shooters.

How to Stand When Firing a Shotgun

Now that we’re familiar with the anatomy and workings of a shotgun, let’s get down to how to fire it. But first, please review the four cardinal rules of firing a gun.
Mike and the folks at the U.S. Shooting Academy teach their students to assume an athletic stance when firing a shotgun. Square your shoulders up with the target. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart on a straight line. Stagger your strong-side foot about six inches behind your weak-side foot.
Place the buttstock of the shotgun near the centerline of the body and high up on the chest. Keep your elbows down.
Here’s Mike showing the athletic stance:

The biggest advantage of the athletic stance over the bladed stance (standing sideways) is that it helps in reducing the effects of recoil when firing a shotgun. Think about it. If you’re a lineman in football and you want to resist the other guy pushing you backwards, what stance would give you more balance? Being squared up with the other guy, or standing sideways with just one of your shoulders towards him? Squared up, of course.
Another advantage of the athletic stance is that it allows you to track a moving target better.

How to Hold a Shotgun

The act of putting a shotgun to your shoulder is called mounting the gun. But you don’t bring the gun to your shoulder straight off. You want to bring the side of the stock to your cheek first, before moving the buttstock to your shoulder.
Keeping your head up, bring the shotgun to your head. Press your cheek firmly to the side of the stock and then place the buttstock of the shotgun near the centerline of the body and high up on the chest,  like so:

Trigger Hand Grip
On most shotguns you’ll find a crook between the stock and the trigger guard. Simply center the crook  in the “V” junction of your thumb and index finger of your trigger hand. Grip the gun firmly, but not tightly.
If your shotgun has a pistol grip like Mike’s gun in the picture below, center the grip in the “V” at the junction of the thumb and index finger of your trigger hand. Grip the gun high on the backstrap (the backstrap is the back of the grip on the gun). Like so:

Support Hand Grip
The support hand should grip the fore-end of the shotgun roughly midway down the length of the shotgun. Here’s Mike demonstrating for us:

Putting your support hand further forward on the fore-end will give you finer control over the muzzle when aiming, which you want when precision is key. It will also give you more leverage against the gun which helps in recoil control.

How to Hold a Shotgun in Close Quarter Situations

You’ve probably seen movies where the action hero fires a shotgun in close quarters from the hip. I asked Mike about that.
“That’s a great technique…for the movies,” he said.
In other words, don’t use it in real life. It’s not safe and doesn’t provide any advantages other than looking cool.
If your target is really close to you, Mike suggests bringing the shotgun stock beneath your armpit in order to create more space between you and your target while maintaining more control. Here’s how it looks:

How to Aim a Shotgun

There’s a lot of debate among shotgunners about how you’re supposed to aim these things.  You’ll hear many folks say, “You don’t aim a shotgun, you point it,” (See Shotgunning by Bob Brister.) Others will say you should aim it just like you would a rifle.
I asked Mike about this, and he said that while you should definitely aim a shotgun, the way you aim will be different depending on what sort of situation you’re in.
“You’re responsible for every shot you fire, so you better be sure you know where they’re going,” Mike advises. “Don’t just point it and start firing action movie style.”
Aiming a Shotgun in Home Defense and Large Game Hunting Situations
If you’re using a shotgun in a home defense situation or if you’re hunting deer with slugs, you’ll want to aim your shotgun just like you would when firing a rifle. Some shotguns have a rear sight notch and a bead at the end of the gun’s barrel (most shotguns don’t have a rear sight). Align those just as you would with a rifle. After you have proper sight alignment, you’ll want to set your sight picture. I talked about proper sight picture in our post about firing a handgun. The same principles apply here. I won’t repeat what I wrote, so refer back to that post for tips on aiming a shotgun.
Aiming a Shotgun in Small Game Hunting or Trap Situations
When you’re bird hunting or shooting skeet, you don’t have time for the deliberate aiming technique described above. If you try to aim like that, your bird will be long gone before you get a shot off. When you’re hunting small, fast-moving game or shooting clays with a shotgun, instead of carefully lining up your sights and putting all your focus on them like you would with a rifle, simply focus on the target, and fire.
“You also need to lead the target when firing at fowl. Don’t focus on the target itself, but rather the target’s front edge,” says Mike.

Trigger Management (aka Pulling the Trigger)

Unlike with a rifle or handgun where you slowly squeeze the trigger, with a shotgun you can use a more direct and less controlled trigger press. Again, when firing a shotgun, speed in getting off a shot is the goal.

Practice, Practice, Practice

The key to successful and safe gun training is practice. If you don’t own a shotgun, but are interested in purchasing one, find a local gun range and rent one for an hour. Ask to have someone show you how to fire it safely and correctly. Most places will be more than happy to help. If you already own a shotgun, here’s a friendly reminder to keep training.
Oh, and if you’re curious as to what sort of shotgun I ended up getting. It’s a Remington 870 Express.
Do you own a shotgun? Have any other tips for the first-time shotgun shooter? Share them with us in the comments!
Editor’s note: This article is about understanding the shotgun and how to fire one safely and correctly. It is not a debate about gun rights or whether guns are stupid or awesome. Keep it on topic or be deleted.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Special thanks goes out to Mike and the crew at U.S. Shooting Academy for their help on this article. Mike along with the U.S. Shooting Academy Handgun Manual were the sources for this article.   If you’re ever in the Tulsa area, stop by their facility. It’s top notch and the staff and trainers are friendly, knowledgeable, and super badass.

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Wildcats

NO NOT THIS! As this is not a cute Kitty Blog!Image result for Wildcat

As a side bar and at the risk of losing readers. I hate Cats!
No what I am talking about this the subjects of Wildcat Cartridges. So let us dig in and get going on to this subject!
Now when I was growing up in the Old Days. All real Americans were tinkerers of some sort. Always looking to improve things. So it was with the Gun Folks.Image result for garage gun shop
The big thing was to make a round go faster or what not. Usually of course most of these rounds never really took off.
So now a days you will see on the racks of Gun shops with the odd & sod gun with one really real weird one of a kind round.
Usually the inventor / owner having gone to their reward. (I.E. Died & the family wants the money)Related image
But on the up side. This is how we got some really great round too. Like the 22 Hornet, 25-06, 257 Roberts or the 35 Whelen.
So like life itself, It’s a mixed bag of the good, bad and the so-so. Here is some more information about this odd annex of the story of things that go boom.

Wildcat cartridge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

.243 Winchester Ackley Improved(left) and .243 Winchester (right)

 
A wildcat cartridge, often shortened to wildcat, is a custom cartridge for which ammunition and/or firearms are not mass-produced.
These cartridges are often created in order to optimize a certain performance characteristic (such as the power, size or efficiency) of an existing commercial cartridge.
Developing and using wildcat cartridges does not generally serve a purpose in military or law enforcement; it is more a hobby for serious shooting, hunting, gunsmithing and handloading enthusiasts, particularly in the United States.[1]
There are potentially endless amounts of different kinds of wildcat cartridges: one source of gunsmithing equipment has a library of over 6,000 different wildcat cartridges for which they produce equipment such as chamber reamers.[2]

Development of a wildcat

Often, wildcats are commercially sold rounds that have been modified in some way to alter the cartridge’s performance. Barrels for the caliber are originally manufactured by gunsmiths specializing in barrel making.
Generally the same makers also offer reloading dies, tools to custom-load bullets into cases.
Because changing the barrel of a gun to accommodate custom cartridges requires precision equipment, most wildcats are developed by or in association with custom barrel makers.
Ammunition is handloaded, using modified parent cases and the gunsmith-provided wildcat dies. Generally the supplier of the barrel or dies will also provide the buyer with basic reloading data, giving a variety of powders, charge weights, and bullet weights that can be used for developing loads.
Handloaders use the data to develop a load by starting with minimum loads and carefully working up.
Wildcat cases and cartridges can be found for sale, but only from small makers.
Larger manufacturers usually do not produce wildcats because there is such a limited market for them and because there are no established CIP(Commission Internationale Permanente Pour L’Epreuve Des Armes A Feu Portatives – Permanent International Commission for the Proof of Small Arms) or SAAMI standards, which causes liability concerns.

Wildcat goals and methods

From left to right: cross sectioned and normal .338 Yogi wildcat cartridge cases compared to a factory .338 Lapua Magnum case.

 
Wildcat cartridges are developed for many reasons. Generally, the goal is to optimize some characteristic of a commercial cartridge in a given context.
Higher velocities, greater energy, better efficiency, greater consistency (which yields greater precision) and complying to a minimal permitted caliber or bullet weight for the legal hunting of certain species of game in a particular jurisdiction are the top reasons.
The sport of metallic silhouette shooting, has given rise to a great number of wildcats, as several rifle rounds are adapted to fire from a handgun.[3]
In using auto pistols for hunting or competitive shooting, improved feeding of soft nosed or hollow point bullets is also an issue; the bottlenecked .45/38, for instance, was created because the straight-cased .45 ACP had trouble feeding hollowpoints.[4]
Wildcat cartridges are generally developed because:

  • Higher velocities can be obtained by increasing the case capacity, or reducing the caliber.
  • Greater energy can be attained by increasing the caliber or the case capacity.
  • Better efficiency can be achieved by increasing the shoulder angle, shortening the case, and reducing case taper (see internal ballistics).
  • Greater consistency can be achieved by tuning the case capacity to a certain bullet diameter, weight, and velocity that give consistent results.
  • Feeding problems can be fixed.

Some methods used to develop a wildcat are:

  • Cold forming. The parent case is well lubricated and forced carefully into the reloading die for the wildcat caliber. This will swage the case into the new shape. This type of operation is used for reducing case dimensions, such as reducing the neck diameter or pushing the shoulder back, or changing the neck diameter.
  • Fire forming. This consists of taking the parent case, or a partially cold formed case, loading it with a light bullet and light load of powder, and firing it in the firearm it will be used in. Another technique uses a charge of fast burning powder topped with a case full of Cream of Wheat and a wad, to form a special blank cartridge that will expand the case. This technique is used for increasing case dimensions, such as pushing the neck forward, increasing the neck angle, or straightening the case walls.[5]
  • Trimming to length. Generally, after either a cold forming or a fire forming operation, the mouth of the case will be longer than ideal, and the case will be trimmed back to the “trim to” length. Trimming is a normal reloading operation, as high pressure cartridges will flow each time they are fired, and periodically need trimming to remove the brass that flows to the mouth.
  • Changing the diameter of the case (to suit a new caliber). Called “necking up” or “necking down”, this is the most common way of making a wildcat. The new caliber allows a much different range of bullet weights, and can greatly increase the velocity or the power or the resistance to wind drift as compared to the parent cartridge.
  • Necking back. This is a cold forming operation in which the neck is pushed back to reduce case capacity. This is often done when developing rounds for shorter barrels, such as turning a rifle cartridge into a handgun cartridge.
  • Blowing out. This is a fire forming operation that moves the shoulder forward to increase case capacity.
  • Changing the shoulder angle. By making the shoulder closer to square, the resulting space is closer to the ideal spherical shape, resulting in a more efficient burn. If the shoulder is also to be moved back, this is a cold forming operation; if the shoulder is to stay or be moved forward, it is a hot forming operation.
  • Reducing the case taper. This hot forming operation makes the cartridge more cylindrical, giving similar results to a shoulder angle change.
  • Changing the rim. While this is a wildcatting operation, it is generally only done by commercial operations, due to the precision turning needed. Generally this is a conversion from rimmed to rimless cartridge, or from rimless to rebated, and is done to allow a larger parent case than the firearm action was designed for. The opposite operation, adding a rim to a case, is also generally only done by major manufacturers; examples are the .45 Auto Rim, a rimmed .45 ACP allowing ejection in .45 revolvers without the use of moon clips, and the .307 Winchester, a rimmed .308 Winchester, developed for use in lever-action rifles. A handloader can add a rim, by swaging a ring of metal onto a rimless case, then turning it down, but this is very labor-intensive process and requires a special swaging die and precision metalworking lathe.[6] It is far easier for most handloaders to simply start with a rimmed case, either of the desired diameter or reamed out as desired.
  • Increasing the case length. This process (which allows the cartridge to contain more propellant and thus increases potential energy of the bullet) was used to make the powerful .357 Magnum cartridge from the much weaker .38 Special: A .357 magnum bullet has more than 3 times more energy than a .38 special bullet of the same weight. Increasing the length of a bullet’s case usually involves getting rid of the old case and making a completely new one from scratch, which all but limits the feasibility of this kind of modification to commercial manufactures. It is possible to draw an existing case into a slightly longer form, thinning and stretching the existing case, but this is an operation requiring special equipment and expertise.[6] It is far easier and more common to reduce, not extend the length of a case.

Example wildcat cartridges

In terms of sheer numbers of varieties, there are more wildcat cartridges than there are production cartridges.
Most wildcats are custom made, and therefore are not generally well-known. Some wildcat cartridges, however, are produced commercially in small quantities by small manufacturers. This is a list of some representative wildcats.

  • .30 Herrett. Based on the .30-30 Winchester, necked back and with a sharper shoulder angle. Developed for use in pistols with barrels as short as 10 inches (25 cm), it develops the same power as a .30-30 with greater efficiency and less muzzle blast.[7]
  • .357 Herrett. Like the earlier .30 Herrett, this cartridge is based on the .30-30 Winchester, shortened and necked up to .357 (9 mm). Designed for use in short barrels, the resulting cartridge is more efficient and more powerful than the .30-30. Often considered one of the best medium game hunting calibers available in the 10″ (25 cm) barrelled Thompson Center Arms Contender pistol.[8][9]
  • .10 Eichelberger Long Rifle. This is one of a smaller number of wildcats based on rimfire cartridges. It is made by disassembling a .22 Long Rifle cartridge, and re-using the case. The .10 caliber (2.5 mm) is the smallest rifled barrel made. The tiny .10 caliber bullets produce almost no recoil and travel at very high velocities. While it can be used on small game at short ranges, this cartridge is more of a curiosity than a practical hunting or target round.[10]
  • 5.7 MMJ, or 5.7mm Spitfire. A .30 Carbine case necked down to .223 caliber (5.56 mm), this cartridge was developed to convert military surplus M1 Carbines into short range varmint guns.[8]
  • 6mm PPC. Based on the .220 Russian, which is in turn based on the 7.62×39mm intermediate-power cartridge. The 6mm PPC was developed in 1975 specifically for benchrest shooting. While it is anything but common anywhere else, the 6mm PPC unseated the .222 Remington from its 20-year spot as the best benchrest cartridge available. Chambered only in single-shot rifles due to its short, fat case and sharp shoulder angle, the 6mm PPC is still going strong in benchrest after 30 years.
  • .22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer. This humorously named cartridge was developed by P. O. Ackley specifically to exceed 5,000 ft/s (1,500 m/s) muzzle velocity. Based on a .378 Weatherby Magnum case, the case is impractically overpowered for the bore diameter, and so the cartridge remains a curiosity.[11][12]
  • 7 mm TCU (also known as 7TCU). Based on the .223 Remington case, the 7 mm TCU is popular in single-shot handguns such as the Thompson Center Arms’ Contender and G2 Contender. It is but one of a family of wildcat TCU cartridges.

Wildcat cartridges in Australia

In Australia, wildcat cartridges were relatively common.]
Most are made primarily for hunting species such as deer, kangaroo, are generally based on the .303 British because of the post war popularity of that round and of the cheap surplus Australian Lee–Enfield MkIII military rifles available.
Many of these surplus rifles were rebarreled to .257 caliber, known as the 303-25.
One of the unique features is that these cartridges relied less on handloading – and instead were offered as proprietary cartridges from gunsmiths.
Since having an existing barrel rebored and rechambered was (at that time) less expensive than fitting a new barrel, a 303-25 rifle with a shotout barrel could be economically converted to .277 caliber, known as the 303-270.
The .222 Remington – a .222 Rimmed in a Martini was also commonly found. As too were the “Tini-Mite” and “Mini-Mite” cartridges, .17 caliber rimfire cartridges based on the .22 Long Rifle case.[2]

Commercially accepted wildcats

Some cartridges started out as custom-made (non-commercially developed) wildcats, and gained wide enough acceptance or popularity to become commercial cartridges.
Generally, cartridges become popular commercially after a commercial firearms maker begins offering a weapon chambered in the cartridge.
Once popular enough, funding is generated for SAAMI standards development. After SAAMI standards are in place, any firearms or ammunition maker can be sure that any products manufactured to the SAAMI standards can be safely used.
Some examples of custom cartridges that became commercially accepted are:

  • .22-250. Based on a .250 Savage case, the .22-250 is still one of the fastest shooting .22 caliber (5.56 mm) cartridges available. First offered in a factory firearm by Browning in 1963 (the first factory gun chambered for a wildcat), the .22-250 was later adopted by Remington as the .22-250 Remington.[13][14]
  • .22 CHeetah. A .308 BR (Bench Rest) case necked down to .22 caliber, the .22 CHeetah provides a flat trajectory with a .22 caliber bullet that has a relatively high speed of 4,000 ft/s. Hard on barrels, it provides a very effective 300 yard varmint round.[15]
  • .303/25. A .303 British cartridge necked down to fire a .25 calibre projectile, developed in Australia during the 1940s as a Kangaroo culling and pest control round. Popularised in the late 1940s and 1950s in New South Wales, owing to restrictions in that state on ownership of .303 British calibre firearm and the difficulties of obtaining commercial hunting arms and ammunition from overseas. Now largely obsolete, but there are still large numbers of converted Lee–Enfield rifles chambered for this round in Australia.[8]
  • 6.8 mm SPC. This cartridge was developed by American military special operations soldiers in search of a more lethal round than the 5.56×45mm NATO. It is based on the .30 Remington cartridge necked down to .270 caliber, and sized to fit in the M16 rifle. The 6.8 SPC is currently deemed unlikely for official military adoption, but is fielded by special operations troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and is gaining popularity as a commercial round.[14]
  • 7 mm-08. A .308 Winchester necked down to 7 mm (.284 caliber), the 7 mm-08 provides a flatter trajectory with lighter, more aerodynamic 7 mm bullets. It provides nearly the performance of a 7 mm Magnum, but can use a shorter rifle action and does not need a belted case.[14]
  • 7-30 Waters. Designed to improve the performance of lever-action rifle designs dating back to the 1890s, the 7-30 Waters is a .30-30 Winchester necked down to 7 mm (.284 caliber). Even with the lower chamber pressures allowed by the lever-action rifle and the flat tipped bullets necessitated by the tubular magazines, the 7-30 Waters offers a significant gain in velocity and sectional density with little loss in bullet weight. This cartridge has also developed a following among handgun hunters using single-shots such as the T/C Contender or G2, which can take advantage of spitzer (pointed) bullets that are unsafe in tubular magazines. It is very efficient on small to medium-sized game including whitetails and mule deer.[14]
  • .454 Casull. This magnum revolver cartridge, a lengthened .45 Colt, was developed by Dick Casull and Jack Fulmer in 1957 as a high-powered big game hunting round. For many years, the small Wyoming manufacturer Freedom Arms was the only substantial maker of guns for the cartridge. In the mid-1990s, two major manufacturers, Ruger and Taurus, started selling guns chambered in .454 Casull because it was popular due to its extreme power. It was finally commercialized in 1998, when SAAMI published its first standards for the cartridge.[16][17]

Commercially developed wildcats

Though a cartridge technically has to not be developed commercially to be considered a wildcat, some commercial cartridges were developed by ammunition and firearm manufacturers by modifying existing cartridges – using essentially the same process used to make wildcats.
Cartridges that are modified by being made longer (usually to make them more powerful) are for the most part only created commercially because of the difficulty of the process.
One example of such a cartridge is the .357 Magnum, which was developed from the .38 Special in 1934 by firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson.

  • .38-40. One of the oldest wildcats, the .38-40, introduced by Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1874, was made by necking down a .44-40. Actually a .401 in (10.2 mm)[18] cartridge, the .38-40 had faded into obsolescence before being revived with the growing popularity of Cowboy action shooting. The ballistics of the .38-40 are close to those of the .40 S&W.[19]
  • .221 Fireball. This cartridge was developed by Remington Arms for the XP-100 pistol, which was a single shot bolt action pistol. The .221 Fireball was a necked back .222 Remington, designed for greater efficiency in the 10 in (25 cm) barrel of the XP-100. Even loaded with a smaller load of faster powder for the short barrel, the .221 Fireball lived up to its name, with a massive muzzle flash; the performance, however, was unheard of for its day: over 2700 feet per second (885 m/s) out of the short XP-100 barrel. It remains the fastest SAAMI approved handgun cartridge, and the cartridge is so efficient and accurate that it has been chambered in rifles as well.
  • .22 Remington Jet. This cartridge was developed by Remington for a Smith & Wesson Model 53 revolver and a Marlin Model 62 lever-action rifle, but the rifle was never produced in this calibre. The .22 Remington Jet was a necked down .357 Magnum case.[20] The .22 Jet is no longer manufactured by Remington or other commercial manufacturers.
  • .357 SIG. This now-popular pistol cartridge was developed by Swiss weapons company Sig Sauer in an attempt to produce ballistics matching the powerful .357 Magnum revolver load, but in a semi-automatic pistol cartridge. The cartridge was made by necking down and slightly stretching the .40 S&W case, which itself derived from the 10mm Auto.
  • .400 Corbon. This cartridge was designed to produce 10mm Auto ballistics in a cartridge that could be chambered in a .45 ACP pistol with a simple barrel swap. It was made by necking a .45 ACP down to .40 (10 mm). Initially, no firearms were available in .400 Cor-Bon, but barrels in the new caliber were produced for the M1911 pistol.
  • .41 Action Express. Developed in 1986 by Action Arms for the Jericho 941 pistol. It, like the .357 SIG, attempted to make a magnum-power cartridge for a semi-automatic pistol. It started with a .41 Magnum case and cut it down to fit in a semi-automatic pistol chambered for 9×19mm. The rim was then turned down to the same dimensions as the 9×19mm, making it a rebated rim cartridge. This allowed a unique switch up to a larger caliber. The .41 AE never saw huge commercial success because of the creation of the similarly-powerful .40 S&W in 1990.[21]
  • .204 Ruger. Introduced in 2004 by Ruger, in its time it held the title of fastest production cartridge with a velocity of 4225 ft/s (1290 m/s) with a 32-grain (2.1 g), .204 bullet from a 24-inch (610 mm) barrel. Intended as a varmint riflecartridge, the .204 was based on the .222 Remington Magnum, which is slightly longer than the .223 Remington and offers about 5% more case capacity. Designed to have a very long point blank range, the factory loading offers impressive ballistics, 1.5 inches high at 150 yards (140 m), and 1.5 inches (38 mm) low at 277 yards (253 m).[citation needed]

Second (and later) generation wildcats

Some wildcats are based not on commercial rounds, but on other successful wildcats. The .308 × 1.5″ Barnes, a wildcat from noted cartridge author Frank Barnes made by simply necking a .308 Winchester back to 1.5 inches (38 mm) in length (38.1 mm) is probably the best example of a wildcat that has spawned many other successful wildcats.
The .308 x 1.5″ case is available from a number of case manufacturers, and differs from a homemade .308 x 1.5″ in that it has a small primer pocket, where the original .308 Winchester case has a larger primer pocket (the smaller primer is more suited to the smaller case capacity of the short round).
There are at least 8 wildcats that are made from the small primer .308 x 1.5″ brass, including some very successful benchrest rounds, including the Benchrest Remington family of cartridges, .22 BR, 6mm BR, 6.5mm BR, 7mm BR, .30 BR.
Another example is the .220 Russian, based on the 7.62×39mm. Since nearly all 7.62×39mm ammunition made in the 1970s used the complex-to-reload Berdan priming, and often steel cases, it made a poor choice for wildcatting.
The .220 Russian, however, was and still is readily available in Boxer-primed, brass cases of high quality. The .220 Russian is still the parent cartridge of choice for the PPC line of cartridges, such as the .22 PPC and 6mm PPC, even though there are far more PPC chambered firearms available than .220 Russian chamberings.
Likewise, the PPC line of cartridges were the parent case of the 6.5 Grendel, a long-range, high-energy cartridge for the AR-15.[22]

See also

References

  1. Jump up^ “Guns per Capita in the US”. Reuters. 2007-08-28. Retrieved 2009-03-03.
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b Frank C. Barnes. Stan Skinner, ed. Cartridges of the World, 10th Ed. Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87349-605-1.
  3. Jump up^ Robinson, John. “Wildcats”. Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  4. Jump up^ Barnes, Frank C. Cartridges of the World (Northfield, Illinois: DBI, 19776), p. 140, “.45-38 Auto Pistol”.
  5. Jump up^ Case-Forming Top Contender Hunting Loads, Performance Shooter, May 1997; includes information on cold forming and fire forming, including the “Cream of Wheat” fire forming method.
  6. ^ Jump up to:a b Nonte, Jr., George C. (1978). Basic Handloading. USA: Times Mirror Magazines, Inc. LCCN 77-26482.
  7. Jump up^ “.30 Herrett”. Archived from the original on 2007-11-01. Retrieved 2007-11-14.[self-published source]
  8. ^ Jump up to:a b c “Wildcat Cartridges”. Retrieved 2007-11-14.[self-published source]
  9. Jump up^ “.357 Herrett”. Archived from the original on 2007-11-01. Retrieved 2007-11-14.[self-published source]
  10. Jump up^ AmmoGuide.com, free registration may be required.
  11. Jump up^ “.22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer”. RelaodersNest.com.
  12. Jump up^ Ackley, P.O. (1927) [1962]. Handbook for Shooters & Reloaders. vol I (12th Printing ed.). Salt Lake City, Utah: Plaza Publishing. p. 442. ISBN 978-99929-4-881-1.
  13. Jump up^ “The Great .22-250”. Rifle Shooter Magazine. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
  14. ^ Jump up to:a b c d “Rifle Cartridges”. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
  15. Jump up^ Cartridges of the World p. 188.
  16. Jump up^ Chuck Hawks. “.454 Casull”. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
  17. Jump up^ “.454 Casull”. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
  18. Jump up^ Barnes, Frank C., ed. by John T. Amber. Cartridges of the World (Northfield, Illinois: DBI Books, 1972), p.67.
  19. Jump up^ John Taffin. “TAFFIN TESTS: THE .38-40 (.38WCF)”. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
  20. Jump up^ Barnes, Frank C., ed. by John T. Amber. Cartridges of the World (Northfield, Illinois: DBI Books, 1972), p.148, “.22 Remington Jet”.
  21. Jump up^ “Pistol Cartridges”. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
  22. Jump up^ Chuck Hawks. “The 6 mm PPC-USA”. Retrieved 2007-11-14.

External links

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The 5mm Caliber Ammo – God there sure is a sh*tload of them!

5 mm caliber

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article lists firearm cartridges which have a bullet in the 5 millimetres (0.20 in) to 6 millimetres (0.24 in) caliber range.

  • Length refers to the cartridge case length.
  • OAL refers to the overall length of the cartridge.

All measurements are in imm (in).

Rimfire cartridges

Name Case type Bullet Length Rim Base Shoulder Neck OAL in cm
5mm Remington Rimfire Magnum[1] rimmed, bottleneck 5.21 (.205) 25.91 (1.020) 8.25 (.325) 6.58 (.259) 6.58 (.259) 5.72 (.225) 3.300 cm (1.30)
.22 BB rimmed straight 5.639 (.222) 7.214 (.284) 6.86 (.270) 5.69 (.224) N/A 5.69 (.224) 0.871 cm (.343)
.22 CB rimmed straight 5.639 (.222) 7.214 (.284) 6.88 (.271) 5.72 (.225) N/A 5.72 (.225) 1.321 cm (.520)
.22 Short rimmed straight 5.66 (.223) 10.74 (.423) 6.93 (.273) 5.72 (.225) N/A 5.69 (.224) 1.742 cm (.686)
.22 Long rimmed straight 5.66 (.223) 10.54 (.415) 6.91 (.272) 5.72 (.225) N/A 5.69 (.224) 2.027 cm (.798)
.22 Long Rifle rimmed straight 5.68 (.224) 15.11 (.595) 6.88 (.271) 5.74 (.226) N/A 5.72 (.225) 2.500 cm (.984)
.22 Remington Special rimmed straight 5.689 (.224) 24.38 (0.96) 7.39 (.291) 0.612 cm (.241) N/A 6.10 (.240) 2.972 cm (1.17)
.22 WRF rimmed straight 5.689 (.224) 24.38 (0.96) 7.39 (.291) 6.12 (.241) N/A 0.610 cm (.240) 2.972 cm (1.17)
.22 WMR rimmed straight 5.689 (.224) 26.72 (1.052) 7.39 (.291) 6.12 (.241) N/A 6.10 (.240) 3.429 cm (1.35)

Pistol cartridges

Name Bullet Length Rim Base Shoulder Neck OAL
5mm Clement Auto 5.131 (.202) 14.7(.58) 6.9(.273) 6.75(.2655) – 5.85(.2325) 21.43(.844)
5mm Bergmann 5.156 (.203) – – – – – –
5mm Bergmann Rimless 5.156 (.203) – – – – – –
5.45×18mm Soviet 5.334 (.210) 17.78 (.701) 7.62 (.300) 7.62 (.300) 6.26 mm (0.246 in) 5.588 (.220) 24.89 (.980)
22 TCM 5.56 (.224) 26 (1.022) 9.6 (.378) 9.6 (.376) 32.1 (1.265)
FN 5.7×28mm 5.689 (.224) 28.70 (1.13) 7.874 (.310) 7.874 (.310) 7.849 (.309) 6.325 (.249) 40.50 (1.594)
5.8×21mm 5.994 (.236) 21.00 mm (0.827 in) 8.0 (.315) 7.95 mm (0.313 in) 7.77 mm (0.306 in) 6.57 mm (0.259 in) 33.5 (1.320)

Revolver cartridges

Name Bullet Length Rim Base Shoulder Neck OAL
5mm Pickert 5.258 (.207) – – – – – –
.22 Remington Jet[2] 5.651 (.223) 32.51 (1.28) 11.2 (.440) 9.55 (.376) 8.89 (.350) 6.27 (.247) 40.13 (1.58)
5.5mm Velo Dog[3] 5.715 (.225) 28.45 (1.12) 7.82 (.308) 6.43 (.253) – 6.3 (.248) 34.29 (1.35)
5.43mm Louis Mattis 5.766 (.227) – – – – – –

Rifle cartridges

Name Caliber (mm) Caliber (inch) Case type Pressure (PSI) Case length (inch) Rim (mm) Rim (inch) Base (mm) Base (inch) Shoulder (mm) Shoulder (inch) Neck (mm) Neck (inch) OAL (mm) OAL (inch) Primer
.19 Calhoon Hornet 5,030 0,198 – 35,310 1,390 8,890 0,350 7,470 0,294 7,260 0,286 5,460 0,215 – –
.19 Badger 5,030 0,198 – – – 9,140 0,360 8,990 0,354 – – 5,690 0,224 – –
.19-223 5,030 0,198 – 44,700 1,760 9,520 0,375 9,470 0,373 9,200 0,364 5,690 0,224 – –
5mm Craig 5,182 0,204 EVRC 25,930 1,021 8,130 0,320 6,530 0,257 6,500 0,256 5,870 0,231 31,500 1,240 CCI 450
.20 VarTarg 5,182 0,204 – 35,400 1,395 9,600 0,378 9,600 0,376 9,200 0,361 5,900 0,233 47,100 1,855 –
5mm/35 SMc 5,182 0,204 – 39,520 1,556 12,010 0,473 11,960 0,471 11,680 0,460 5,870 0,231 51,560 2,030 –
.20 Tactical 5,182 0,204 – 45,000 1,760 9,600 0,378 9,600 0,376 9,200 0,361 5,900 0,233 54,100 2,130 –
.204 Ruger 5,182 0,204 – 46,990 1,850 9,600 0,378 9,560 0,376 6,400 0,252 5,870 0,231 57,400 2,260 –
5.45×39mm 5,600 0,220 – 39,620 1,560 10,010 0,394 10,030 0,395 7,290 0,287 6,248 0,246 56,390 2,220 –
5.66×39mm – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
.218 Bee 5,689 0,224 – 34,160 1,345 10,360 0,408 8,865 0,349 8,357 0,329 6,147 0,242 42,670 1,680 –
.220 Russian 5,689 0,224 – 38,7 1,52 11,200 0,441 11,180 0,440 10,950 0,431 6,223 0,245 46,230 1,820 –
.22 Hornet 5,689 0,224 – 35,640 1,403 8,890 0,350 7,569 0,298 7,010 0,276 6,172 0,243 43,760 1,723 –
5.56×45mm NATO, .223 Remington 5,689 0,224 – 44,700 1,760 9,601 0,378 9,550 0,376 8,992 0,354 6,426 0,253 57,400 2,260 –
.222 Remington Magnum[4] 5,689 0,224 – 46,990 1,850 9,600 0,378 9,550 0,376 9,070 0,357 6,480 0,253 57,910 2,280 –
.22-250 5,689 0,224 – 48,560 1,912 12,010 0,473 11,910 0,469 10,520 0,414 6,450 0,254 59,690 2,350 –
.224 Weatherby Magnum 5,689 0,224 – 48,840 1,923 10,920 0,430 10,540 0,415 10,010 0,394 6,400 0,252 59,180 2,330 –
.220 Swift 5,689 0,224 – 56,010 2,205 12,010 0,473 11,300 0,445 10,210 0,402 6,600 0,260 68,070 2,680 –
.22 Spitfire[5] 5,690 0,224 rimless bottlenecked 32,770 1,290 9,040 0,356 8,970 0,353 8,430 0,332 6,430 0,253 41,910 1,650 Boxer small rifle
.223 WSSM 5,690 0,224 – 42,420 1,670 13,590 0,535 14,100 0,555 13,820 0,544 6,910 0,272 59,940 2,360 –
5.6×50mm Magnum[6]5.6×50mmR 5,690 0,224 – 50,040 1,970 9,550 0,376 9,520 0,375 9,020 0,355 6,450 0,254 56,130 2,210 –
5.6×57mm
FN 5.7×28mm 5,700 0,224 – 28,830 1,135 7,800 0,307 7,900 0,311 7,900 0,311 6,350 0,250 40,500 1,594 Boxer small rifle
.221 Remington Fireball 5,702 0,225 – 35,560 1,400 9,601 0,378 9,550 0,376 9,195 0,362 6,426 0,253 46,480 1,830 –
.222 Remington[7] 5,702 0,225 – 43,180 1,700 9,600 0,378 9,550 0,376 9,070 0,357 6,420 0,253 54,100 2,130 –
.225 Winchester [8] 5,702 0,225 – 49,020 1,930 12,010 0,473 10,700 0,422 10,300 0,406 6,600 0,260 64,000 2,500 –
5.6×52mmR 5,800 0,227 Rimmed 52,000 2,050 12,700 0,500 10,600 0,416 9,100 0,360 6,400 0,252 64,000 2,510 –
5.8×42mm DBP87 5,994 0,236 – 42,545 1,675 10,389 0,409 10,389 0,409 9,350 0,368 6,706 0,264 57,500 2,266 –

Values with comma for better sortability.