ORIGINAL: statjunk
Found this in a buddy's Dad's ammo rack. What caliber is it and what is the name of the cartridge? Any history there? What is it primarily used for and why is it so long?
Thanks
Tom
Tom, just off the top of my head at first glance, those are 6.5X52mm Italian Carcano rounds, in the Mannlicher-style en-bloc clip that is inserted into the M/C rifle. After feeding the last round, the clip drops out of a hole in the bottom of the magazine that projects down in front of the trigger guard.
Sadly, the same round that Oswald used to kill JFK.....
This is one of Oswald's 6.5X52mm rounds,made in USA by Western Cartridge..... Until I read the Warren Report, I was totally unaware that we had ever made that ammo in the U.S.(As far as I know, there were never any Mannlicher rifles that used en-bloc clips chambered for the 7X57mm mauser cartridge. So you won't find that round in such a clip.)
Prior to the 1905 German adoption of the 154-grain "Spitz-Geschoss" (pointed bullet), ALL modern smokeless-powder militarycartridges adopted by the U.S. and European powers used long, heavy-for-caliber roundnose bullets like this Italian one. Ours were the 220-grainers in both the .30/40 Krag and .30/'03 Springfield rounds.(ALL were deep-penetrating FMJ bullets)
