Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What is a magnum cartridge?

....any chambering Tom Selleck owns

BINGO We have a winner. Cheers NC

Need I say more??

Magnum = larger than normal is my loose definition.

Let say:
rimfire = 22RF
22cal (0.376 size)= 223Rem ... small bolt face and above 30gr powder capacity qualifies as a magnum.
22cal (0.473 size)= 22/250 ... so 220Swift is a magnum by my definition but was never named as such.
6mm = the 243Win and 6mmRem "twins"

From 6.5mm through to 375cal, its a powder capacity greater than that given by the 30/06 case.

In 40cal and above, its the ability to throw a 400gr/500gr projectile at speeds above 2150fps.

Cheers...
Con

Actually, the Brits apparently originated the term "magnum" for larger cartridges, with the .375 H&H in 1912. And originally they used "express" for black powder cartridges using light-for-caliber bullets at what were then considered very fast muzzle velocities, not the big Nitro-Expresses.

In reality both magnum and express were used on both sides of the ocean. One of the earliest American "magnums" was the .30 Adolph Express, which appeared about a year after what Holland and Holland called their ".375-Bore Magnum High Velocity" cartridge. (The Adolph round was designed by Charles Newton, who later made some tiny changes and called it the .30 Newton, but not the .30 Newton Express.)

If the .375 H&H was the original "magnum," then perhaps anything smaller doesn't qualify. Oh, and by the way H&H did not call their .300 a magnum. Instead they called it "The Super-Thirty." It didn't become a magnum until Winchester started making ammo.

Okay MD, no problem. However my post per 7mm Rem Express is what Rem said was the reason they dropped the term.

Well, yeah, some idiots thought they could shoot 7mm Express ammo in their 7mm Remington Magnums. But those idiots weren't British shooters, and didn't have any idea what "express" means in British rifles.

As I pointed out, both the British and Americans used "magnum" and "express" to denote more powerful than usual cartridges.

Not so sure ... express loads often denoted lighter weight projectiles at elevated speeds. Velopex was another word for such as was 'Accelerated Express'. As a marketing tool it denoted something that hit like 'an Express train'

Sidetrack, which country/cartridge first incorporated the term 'magnum' in its name? Earliest I can find is probably the Brits with the 350Rigby Magnum and 425Wesley Richards magnum 2-3 years prior to the 375H&H ... and beltless to boot. Took the Americans a long time to re-discover beltless magnums.
Cheers...
Con

I forgot about the .350 and .425 magnums preceding the .375. It seems the term magnum was not just invented in Britain but common before Americans ever started using it.

Maybe not as long as you think?

In the 70's or so---

Jack O'Connor titled the 270W as "Every Mans Beltless Magnum". I have the magazine & title round here sommers.

Gaday Mate:

Oops ... just pulled out COTW ... 500/450 3 1/4" Magnum Express takes us back to the 1890s. I wonder if barrels were actually marked with 500/450 Magnum Express or Nitro Express?
Cheers...
Con

Whatever a magnum is, its obviously not as good as an ultra magnum.

I prefer RUM, personally.

But probably better than a 'short' magnum.....

Guys --

I'm really not bored today.

This am, my motorcycle would not start.

My 4 wheeler barely did and I checked fences.

But it was so cold my HORSE WOULD NOT START.

It's all about the 30-06, and comparisons to it. Like it or not, it is the standard.

Sorry MD I missed that post whilst typing.

Well, you challenged us to see what trouble we could get into and it looks like the misconception that it was first coined with the 375H&H is now dead and it's maybe harking back into the 1890s with a flanged (sorry rimmed for you Americans ) cartridge. I really think a modern US manufacturer needs to add a new flanged cartridge ... nice word flanged.
Cheers...
Con

The term magnum apparently had some useful meaning originally but in today's world it has little or no definable meaning as it relates to cartridge nomenclature. But as far as I can tell there is no rationale to cartridge nomenclature any way.

Con,

Yeah, I looked at my oldest copy of COTW and there were also the .450/.400 Magnum Nitro-Express 3-1/4" from 1884 and the .500/.450 Magnum Black Powder Nitro Express from around 1880. So apparently the Brits not only came up with both magnum and express, but combined 'em!

I wonder if there was a .75-caliber Magnum Express flintlock in the past as well? Or maybe that's what the Masai called their extra-long spear blades, the Magnum Express Lion Stabbers.

DakotaDeer,

If the .30-06 is the standard, why did magnums appear before 1906?

Actually, I'm starting to feel an article coming on....