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Unsafe firearm and cartridge combinations are combinations of firearms and cartridges which can cause an unsafe condition for the shooter when firing.
The unsafe condition can arise due to use of a cartridge intended for another chambering (see SAAMI list below), or using overpressure ammunition in a firearm not designed for such pressures, or using explosive (tampered) ammunition, or otherwise unsafe ammunition.
Another example of an unsafe firearm and cartridge combination is the firing of saboted rounds in firearms with muzzle devices (such as a flash suppressor, muzzle brake, or choke) unless the muzzle device has been specifically designed for safe use with that particular type of saboted ammunition (see Saboted ammunition and muzzle devices below).
The U.S. based Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI) has listed a number of known unsafe firearm chamber and cartridge combinations which can happen due to mixing of different common cartridges. [1]
Examples include:
While the table below lists most unsafe combinations known by SAAMI, the list is not exhaustive of all dangerous combinations due to the large number of cartridges. [1]
Saboted ammunition use an accelerator (often made of plastic) to propel a much smaller projectile in a large bore. An example of such ammunition is a saboted light armor penetrator (SLAP), like for example the 12.7×99 mm round designated as M962.
Muzzle devices, like a flash suppressor, muzzle brake or choke, and with muzzle brakes in particular, can cause material buildup from copper, lead, etc. upon firing. In particular, firing of saboted ammunition in firearms with muzzle devices can leave behind residue in the bore upon firing, which can cause an increase in barrel and chamber pressure in subsequent firing. The Hard-Target Interdiction sniper manual contains the following warning on page 411: [2]
Do not fire any style saboted ammunition in a weapon fitted with a muzzle brake, compensator, flash hider or shotgun choke unless you are sure that they are compatible.
— Dean Michaelis, Complete .50-Caliber Sniper Course : Hard-Target Interdiction (2000)
The manual warns that such obstructions may be hard to detect upon visual inspection, and that the obstruction is likely to become dislodged and thus be not be discoverable after a catastrophic failure.
It is also known that other obstructions in the bore, such as ice, mud or even moisture, can cause similar increases in barrel pressure. [3]
In Norway there have been several examples of .308 Winchester cartridges being fired in Norwegian K98k surplus rifles rechambered for .30-06 Springfield. In Norwegian military nomenclature the first is called 7.62×51 mm (nicknamed "7.62 kort", literally '7.62 short'), while the latter is called 7.62×63 mm (nicknamed "7.62 lang", literally '7.62 long'). Both cartidges are very common hunting cartridges in Norway. The practice of firing the shorter .308 cartridge means that the case will lack support against the chamber walls in the .30-06 chamber, which will deform the brass heavily during firing. This can be dangerous and cause a case head separation. The phenomena was at one point so common that the brass formed from such firing earned the nickname .30 Idiot, "a cartridge named after its users". The confusion might have arisen due the many German rifles being left behind in Norway after World War II and subsequently used by the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Norwegian coastal artillery chose to keep their K98k's in their original 8x57 mm chambering, while the Norwegian Army and Norwegian Air Force rechambered their rifles at Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk. .30-06 was chosen, as this was the standard of the U.S. Army at that time, but the barrels were only marked as "7.62". In 1954, NATO introduced 7.62×51 mm NATO as their standard cartridge, and a small number of Mauser carbines were rebuilt to 7.62×51 mm with the designation "7,62 mm Mauser M98kF2" (with F2 meaning "forbedring 2", or literally 'improvement 2'). The sniper rifle Kongsberg M59 was also chambered for 7.62×51 mm. [4] At the same time, 7.62×51 mm was the standard cartridge of the National Rifle Association of Norway, which could cause further confusion. Most of the Norwegian armed forces transitioned to the AG-3 from 1966, but Mauser actions chambered in .30-06 were used by the reserve forces in the Norwegian Home Guard until transition to the AG-3 was started in the early 1970s. Surplus rifles from the home guard chambered in .30-06 continued to be sold to military personnel, civilian shooters and hunters until around 2005.
There is also an example of 8×57 mm cartridges being fired in .30-06 rifles, which produced empty casings humorously nicknamed "7.62×57". In one instance at least four rounds were fired before the error was discovered, and the firearm did not explode. [5]
The Krag–Jørgensen is a repeating bolt-action rifle designed by the Norwegians Ole Herman Johannes Krag and Erik Jørgensen in the late 19th century. It was adopted as a standard arm by Norway, Denmark, and the United States. About 300 were delivered to Boer forces of the South African Republic.
A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to, or a feature integral to the construction of, the muzzle or barrel of a firearm or cannon that is intended to redirect a portion of propellant gases to counter recoil and unwanted muzzle rise. Barrels with an integral muzzle brake are often said to be ported.
The Karabiner 98 kurz, often abbreviated Karabiner 98k, Kar98k or K98k and also sometimes incorrectly referred to as a K98, is a bolt-action rifle chambered for the 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge. It was adopted on 21 June 1935 as the standard service rifle by the German Wehrmacht. It was one of the final developments in the long line of Mauser military rifles.
The .50 BMG, also known as 12.7×99mm NATO, and designated as the 50 Browning by the C.I.P., is a .50 in (12.7 mm) caliber cartridge developed for the M2 Browning heavy machine gun in the late 1910s, entering official service in 1921. Under STANAG 4383, it is a standard service cartridge for NATO forces, as well as many non-NATO countries. The cartridge itself has been made in many variants: multiple generations of regular ball, tracer, armor-piercing (AP), incendiary, and saboted sub-caliber rounds. The rounds intended for machine guns are made into a continuous ammunition belt using metallic links.
The Steyr IWS 2000 is an Austrian single-shot bolt-action anti-materiel rifle produced by Steyr Mannlicher. IWS stands for Infantry Weapon System. Unlike other anti-tank rifle designs, it has a smoothbore barrel. This facilitates higher projectile velocities and allows a longer barrel service life, but the lack of gyroscopic spin-stabilization requires the projectile to have aerodynamic stabilizing fins instead. The IWS is chambered in a 15.2×169 mm armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding-sabot cartridge, and is the first man-portable rifle to use this type of ammunition.
The .308 Winchester is a smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge widely used for hunting, target shooting, police, military, and personal protection applications globally. It is similar, but not identical, to the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge.
The Remington M1867 is a rolling-block rifle that was produced in the second-half of the 19th century. It was the first rifle using metallic cartridges to be adopted by the Norwegian and Swedish armies. Nominally, it had a caliber of 4 decimal lines, but the actual caliber was 3.88 Norwegian decimal lines or 4.1 Swedish decimal lines (12.17 mm), and it fired a rimfire round with a 12.615 mm lead bullet. The 12.17 mm caliber was chosen because the Swedish army had approximately 30,000 new muzzle-loading M1860 and breech-loading M1864 rifles in 12.17 mm caliber in stock, rifles that were suitable for conversion to M1867 rolling-block rifles. With the exception of the first 10,000 rifles and 20,000 actions, which were made by Remington in the US, all Remington M1867 rifles and carbines were made under license in Norway and Sweden, by Kongsberg Vaapenfabrik in Norway, and by Husqvarna Vapenfabriks Aktiebolag and Carl Gustafs stads Gevärsfaktori in Sweden with the two Swedish manufacturers producing about 80% of the weapons.
The 7×57mm Mauser is a first-generation smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was developed by Paul Mauser of the Mauser company in 1892 and adopted as a military cartridge by Spain in 1893. It was subsequently adopted by several other countries as the standard military cartridge, and although now obsolete as a military cartridge, it remains in widespread international use as a sporting round. The 7×57 Mauser was a popular stalking cartridge and sporting rifles in this chambering were made by the famous British riflemakers, such as John Rigby, Holland and Holland, Westley Richards and others. British cartridge nomenclature designated caliber in inches, and the cartridge was known as the .275 bore after the measurement of a 7 mm rifle's bore across the lands. The cartridge is sometimes erroneously referred to as the ".275 Rigby", However, the original John Rigby & Sons never referred to the cartridge by that name, nor did any of UK gun trade; the Rigby association is a misconception attributed to modern American gun writers.
6.5×55mm Swedish, also known simply as 6.5×55mm, 6.5x55 SE, 6.5x55 Swede, or in its native military as 6.5 mm patron m/94, meaning "6.5 mm cartridge model 94", referring to 1894, is a first-generation smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge. The cartridge has most users in the Scandinavian countries, where it is known as the 6,5×55 or just "the 6,5".
The 7.92×57mm Mauser is a rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge. The 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge was adopted by the German Empire in 1903–1905, and was the German service cartridge in both World Wars. In its prime, the 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge was one of the world's most popular military cartridges. In the 21st century it is still a popular sport and hunting cartridge that is factory-produced in Europe and the United States.
The Kongsberg M59 is a sniper rifle produced by Kongsberg Arms of Norway based on left-behind K98k actions from the German World War 2 occupation, in a similar fashion to the later Kongsberg M67. Even though these rifles are sometimes called Mauser M59 and Mauser M67, they were not licensed products of Mauser, but were produced by Kongsberg and marketed as such.
The 8×68mm S rebated rim bottlenecked centerfire rifle cartridge was developed in the 1930s by August Schüler of the August Schüler Waffenfabrik, Suhl, Germany as a magnum hunting cartridge that would just fit and function in standard-sized Mauser 98 bolt-action rifles. The bore has the same lands and grooves diameters as the German 7.92×57mm Mauser service cartridge. This is one of the early examples where a completely new rifle cartridge was developed by a gunsmith to fit a specific popular and widespread type of rifle.
The 6.5×68mm rebated rim bottlenecked centerfire rifle cartridge and its sister cartridge the 8×68mm S were developed in the 1930s by August Schüler from the August Schüler Waffenfabrik, Suhl, Germany as magnum hunting cartridges that would just fit and function in standard-sized Mauser 98 bolt-action rifles. This is one of the early examples where a completely new rifle cartridge was developed by a gunsmith to fit a specific popular and widespread type of rifle.
The evolution of German military rifles is a history of common and diverse paths followed by the separate German states, until the mid-19th century when Prussia emerged as the dominant state within Germany and the nation was unified. This article discusses rifled shoulder arms developed in or for the military of the states that later became Germany; it excludes firearms of the Austrian Empire, except where they were used substantially by German troops.
The .257 Roberts, also known as .257 Bob, is a medium-powered .25 caliber rifle cartridge. It has been described as the best compromise between the low recoil and flat trajectory of smaller calibers such as the 5 mm and 6 mm, and has more energy, but is harder recoiling, similar to larger hunting calibers, such as the 7 mm and 7.62 mm.
The Kongsberg M67 is a bolt-action sharpshooter rifle made by Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk of Norway, based on actions from Mauser M98k left by German armed forces in 1945. The M67 replaced the M59 in 1967 and was produced until the 1990s. The rifle is sometimes unofficially referred to as Mauser M67. However, both M59 and M67 were not licensed products of Mauser, but were produced by Kongsberg and marketed as such.
A 22 mm rifle grenade is inserted over the firing mechanism on the front of rifles that are equipped with the appropriate spigot-type launcher, either in the form of an integral flash suppressor or a detachable adapter. As with most rifle grenades, it is propelled by a blank cartridge inserted into the chamber of the rifle. A 22 mm (0.87 in) grenade can range from a powerful anti-tank round to a simple finned tube with a fragmentation hand grenade attached to the end. The "22 mm" refers to the diameter of the base tube which fits over the spigot of the launcher, not the diameter of the warhead section, which is much wider.
The SIG Sauer 200 STR, also known as the SIG Sauer 200 STR Match, is a bolt-action rifle mostly used as a target/competition rifle for national competitions by Norwegian, Swedish and Danish sport shooters. It is a variant of the Sauer 200 TR or SIG Sauer 200 TR Match rifle that features thicker 19 mm (0.75 in) diameter barrels. The 200 STR is produced by J. P. Sauer & Sohn GmbH in Germany.
The .300 AAC Blackout, also known as 7.62×35mm, is an intermediate cartridge developed in the United States by Advanced Armament Corporation (AAC) for use in the M4 carbine. The cartridge yields increased performance in shorter barrels and effective subsonic performance for silencer use when compared to 5.56mm NATO. The .300 AAC Blackout uses standard 5.56mm NATO magazines and components with the exception of the barrel.
The 7.62×51mm NATO is a rimless, straight walled, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries.