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What caliber has caused more casualties than any other in wartime?
- Thread starter 10thmountain
- Start date
If I had to guess....
7.62x54r... has been in service since the 1890's so, it's seen WWI & WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc. etc.. and still in service as a military round, with no replacement in sight, in the near future. creeping up on 150 years of service, still in wide use across the globe.
8mm... Also came to being around the 1890's, used in WWI & WWII, fairly wide use in the middle east and Balkans wars up to the mid 1990's. I remember reading that many people consider it the most deadly military round ever devoloped.
7.62x39... It's been killing people on a mass scale since the 1950's, I'd have to say its probably in the number 1 spot, since it's in use every where in the world, in every modern conflict. And there is what??? 100 million AK-47's in the world... Think of how many rounds have been produced to feed those guns...
303 British... Also end of the 19th century round ( If I remember correctly.) Used in Africa, WWI & WWII, The Brits, changed over to 7.62x51 NATO (.308) In what? The late 1950's or early 1960's, but were slow to phase out the .303's because they were broke from the war.
50 cal.... In use from WWII and the USA has been useing it ever since, and lets face it, this round knocks planes out of the sky, and can sink ships, and can bust up just about anything with wheels or tracks (not to mention what it will do to a human being)... Its a Bad MF'er...
Some honorable mentions...
7.62x25
30.06
5.56
7mm Jap.
9mm
45 ACP
7.62x54r... has been in service since the 1890's so, it's seen WWI & WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc. etc.. and still in service as a military round, with no replacement in sight, in the near future. creeping up on 150 years of service, still in wide use across the globe.
8mm... Also came to being around the 1890's, used in WWI & WWII, fairly wide use in the middle east and Balkans wars up to the mid 1990's. I remember reading that many people consider it the most deadly military round ever devoloped.
7.62x39... It's been killing people on a mass scale since the 1950's, I'd have to say its probably in the number 1 spot, since it's in use every where in the world, in every modern conflict. And there is what??? 100 million AK-47's in the world... Think of how many rounds have been produced to feed those guns...
303 British... Also end of the 19th century round ( If I remember correctly.) Used in Africa, WWI & WWII, The Brits, changed over to 7.62x51 NATO (.308) In what? The late 1950's or early 1960's, but were slow to phase out the .303's because they were broke from the war.
50 cal.... In use from WWII and the USA has been useing it ever since, and lets face it, this round knocks planes out of the sky, and can sink ships, and can bust up just about anything with wheels or tracks (not to mention what it will do to a human being)... Its a Bad MF'er...
Some honorable mentions...
7.62x25
30.06
5.56
7mm Jap.
9mm
45 ACP
Well written sir.
I also vote for one of the big-bore blackpowder musket or rifle bullets.
What was used during the Civil War?
Were they all .50 or .54 caliber?
The problem with trying to pick which cartridge or caliber racked-up a higher body count is that so many different calibers were used in WWI and WWII.
Maybe if we looked at the Civil War, we'd find that there was less diversity of calibers? (just a guess).
ALSO, in WWII they say more battlefield casualties (on both sides) were caused by exploding shells than any rifle or pistol or machinegun bullets.
If we go back to WWI, I think rifles accounted for the great majority of all deaths.
Going back to the Civil War, rifle or musket fire probably did 95% or better of the killing (of those who were killed directly by any weapon of the enemy, rather than disease or starvation).
What was used during the Civil War?
Were they all .50 or .54 caliber?
The problem with trying to pick which cartridge or caliber racked-up a higher body count is that so many different calibers were used in WWI and WWII.
Maybe if we looked at the Civil War, we'd find that there was less diversity of calibers? (just a guess).
ALSO, in WWII they say more battlefield casualties (on both sides) were caused by exploding shells than any rifle or pistol or machinegun bullets.
If we go back to WWI, I think rifles accounted for the great majority of all deaths.
Going back to the Civil War, rifle or musket fire probably did 95% or better of the killing (of those who were killed directly by any weapon of the enemy, rather than disease or starvation).
Definitely 54r are guys are still getting hit with it.
well my best guess would be one you don't see much it's both c&r and a small bore... not very many out there cause of the paper work required on each round of ammo... that would be the 105MM... it was the gun that really won the second world war.
Artillery was responsible for the majority of battle field deaths in WWI and WWII. The indiscriminate killer, the King of Battle.
My guess is the mosquito.......
I am thinking 7.62x25 in those Russian and Chinese burp guns.
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I'm going with 303.
