Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What makes a magnum a magnum?

I was wondering if someone could tell me how a Magnum becomes a magnum verses a reg cal?

If memory serves ... Magnum was originally a french word designating a bottle of Champaign in the larger size.

Usually, it implies a larger version of an already existing cartridge.

Over the years though, I believe it has been somewhat abused to make any new cartridge sound cool. Generally, it would imply a higher power than average cartridge. Bigger, better faster ...

I know of know rule that implies minimum speed, delivered energy, etc.


Now, it's not good enough to be merely a magnum. You have to add the words super, extra, ultra, etc.

Short answer: a sales gimmick

Not really, I had to pull out before Magnums came along.

Good one Steelhead!

then there is the contradiction cartridges -- the whole line of

Short Big
Super Short Big
Short Ultra Big

Define Magnum... hmmm... Maybe there should be a power scale rating from 1-10 in each caliber.

Let's try an easy one first:

Data compliments of GunnersDen

25 Caliber, Actual Bore Groove Diameter - .257 in. / 6.5mm
Bullet VMuz V200 EMuz E200
.250 Savage 100 2820 2210 1765 1084
.257 Roberts 120 2780 2360 2060 1480
25 WSShortM 120 2990 2459 2383 1612
.25-06 Rem 120 2990 2484 2382 1644
.257 W Magnum 120 3305 2801 2910 2091

On a scale of 1-10:

.250 Savage = 1
.257 bob = 4
25 wssm = 6
25-06 = 6
257WM = 10


Which are moderate, which are considered magnum?
<3 underpowered in the caliber
>=3 and <6 moderate in caliber
>6 = magnum in caliber
10 = stupid overbore

Just some thoughts running through my head and onto the keyboard. What do you think? Is a model like this worth persuing?

the ol' two-sendy was considered a magnum back then....

The first �Magnum� of which I�m aware was the Holland & Holland .375 Belted Rimless Nitro-Express (AKA .375 Holland & Holland Magnum) in 1912, although I�m not sure it was the first cartridge to use a belted case. In 1925 H&H introduced the .300 Holland & Holland Magnum. Subsequent cartridges based on the .375 H&H case also were called �Magnums�.
These days, many cartridges are called �Magnums, even if they do not offer any significant increase in case capacity or velocity over so-called �standard� or �non-magnum� cartridges. The .25 Winchester Super Short Magnum is an example. It has a short, fat case but has the same case capacity as a .257 Roberts and struggles to deliver the same velocity as a .25-06. (The .25 WSSM achieves higher velocity than the .257 Roberts by running higher pressures.)

Adding the moniker �Magnum� to a cartridge name is often more of a marketing ploy than anything else as there is no standardized definition of what constitutes a �magnum� cartridge. The French word �magnum� meant a wine bottle twice as large as a normal bottle.

My WSM has officially lost the M.

Mags get their name the same way the Swift, express, Hornet, ect got theirs, someone thought it sounded good on the end..If it`s your baby you get to call it what ya want.