Skofnung
Member
Hey folks.
My brother just called me up and asked me to identify an odd cartridge that a buddy of his had in his pocket.
Like a moron I left my dial calipers at the house, (thinking that I would know what it was at first sight
) so I will have to describe it for you.
The overall length of the round looked to be about the same as a .308 or other "short action" rifle rounds. The case was about (I was eyeballing here) the same diameter as a .308 and it was also rimless. The case shoulder was "short" and "rounded."
Ok, now it gets weird. First off, the bullet itself looked to be around .35 caliber (or 9mm, take your pick) It had a metal jacket, with a faded red or orange tip, but the profile of the nose was very rounded, not "spitzer" shaped at all.
To top that off, the jacket did not cover the entire bullet. It stopped around a tenth of an inch from the case mouth, exposing the lead. There seemed to be a rebated area halfway between the jacket and the case mouth. The jacket was crimped on with a crimp that can best be described as a "scalloped crimp" and you could wiggle the jacket slightly. If I had to GUESS on the bullet weight, I would put it around 180-200 grains.
The case head was weird too. It looked like a 9mm Luger rim inside a .308 rim. That is, it was a two piece head consisting of two concentric rings. The headstamp read "RG 86" and was located inside the innermost rim.
When I asked the fellow about the round, he said that he had inherited several magazines full of these odd rounds. He said that each magazine holds six rounds apiece, and that he had no clue as to what kind of gun they are for.
So, what are we dealing with here? The metal jacket and colored nose leads one to think that it is some form of military round. But, why the exposed lead, why the round nose, and why the "concentric" head? Additionally, why the 6 round magazines?
Our only ideas at this point are thus:
A) It is some European hunting round that someone altered to AFMJ (almost full metal jacket). I know they are fond of 9mm rifle rounds there, so there you go...
B) It is a wildcat round
C) It is some uber-secret baby killing military death round capable of destroying entire villages in one shot... (This is the owner's hypothesis)
D) It is a .35 Remington or a .35 whatever with a weird nosecap on it. I do not know ANYTHING about the .35 Remington, so this could be WAY off. Is it a rimmed round or no? I think that it is akin to the .30-30, which IS rimmed and has a longer shoulder... And WHY the funky jacket an a "hunting" round?
Just when you think you know alot about a subject, something like this crops up. I am abashed and I am stumped.
PLEASE HELP!!!
My brother just called me up and asked me to identify an odd cartridge that a buddy of his had in his pocket.
Like a moron I left my dial calipers at the house, (thinking that I would know what it was at first sight
) so I will have to describe it for you.The overall length of the round looked to be about the same as a .308 or other "short action" rifle rounds. The case was about (I was eyeballing here) the same diameter as a .308 and it was also rimless. The case shoulder was "short" and "rounded."
Ok, now it gets weird. First off, the bullet itself looked to be around .35 caliber (or 9mm, take your pick) It had a metal jacket, with a faded red or orange tip, but the profile of the nose was very rounded, not "spitzer" shaped at all.
To top that off, the jacket did not cover the entire bullet. It stopped around a tenth of an inch from the case mouth, exposing the lead. There seemed to be a rebated area halfway between the jacket and the case mouth. The jacket was crimped on with a crimp that can best be described as a "scalloped crimp" and you could wiggle the jacket slightly. If I had to GUESS on the bullet weight, I would put it around 180-200 grains.
The case head was weird too. It looked like a 9mm Luger rim inside a .308 rim. That is, it was a two piece head consisting of two concentric rings. The headstamp read "RG 86" and was located inside the innermost rim.
When I asked the fellow about the round, he said that he had inherited several magazines full of these odd rounds. He said that each magazine holds six rounds apiece, and that he had no clue as to what kind of gun they are for.
So, what are we dealing with here? The metal jacket and colored nose leads one to think that it is some form of military round. But, why the exposed lead, why the round nose, and why the "concentric" head? Additionally, why the 6 round magazines?
Our only ideas at this point are thus:
A) It is some European hunting round that someone altered to AFMJ (almost full metal jacket). I know they are fond of 9mm rifle rounds there, so there you go...
B) It is a wildcat round
C) It is some uber-secret baby killing military death round capable of destroying entire villages in one shot... (This is the owner's hypothesis)
D) It is a .35 Remington or a .35 whatever with a weird nosecap on it. I do not know ANYTHING about the .35 Remington, so this could be WAY off. Is it a rimmed round or no? I think that it is akin to the .30-30, which IS rimmed and has a longer shoulder... And WHY the funky jacket an a "hunting" round?
Just when you think you know alot about a subject, something like this crops up. I am abashed and I am stumped.
PLEASE HELP!!!
