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A 'PRIMER' ON CARTRIDGES


© Anthony G Williams

with thanks to Nelson H. Lawry for comments

Adapted from 'Rapid Fire: the Development of Automatic Cannon, Heavy Machine Guns and their Ammunition for Armies Navies and Air Forces', with additional information from 'Assault Rifle: the Development of the Military Rifle and its Ammunition since World War 2' .

The purpose of this article is to answer some of the questions which are always asked by people as they become interested in cartridges and want to learn about them. It consists of a basic guide to cartridges including their design, naming conventions and projectile types. The emphasis is on military cartridges, but some civilian terms and examples are included.

Having absorbed this article, the next stage should be to read the ones on Basic Ballistics and The Search for High Velocity. Many of the larger cartridges are illustrated in the Ammunition Photo Gallery and data are provided in the Ammunition Data Tables. Other terms which you don't recognise may be identified from the Glossary. All of these are on this website.

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