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30-06, 25-06, -08 Terminology

Ballistic
I understand the common caliber dimensions like; .308, .223, .270 but what does the -06 mean after the bullet diameter???
Probably a simple answer but I can't figure it out. Help me out here.
thanks
Mike
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Comments

6 comments

Date Votes
  • bpost
    The numbers after the in 30-06 is the year of adoption by the US military, 1906. It was preceded by the 30-03, all 03 rifles were rechambered for the new 06 round. The 25-06 is a necked down 30-06 and the 308 is basically a short 30-06. The 308 refers to the bullet diamater of .308. There is some good information available on the 06 is last months American Rifleman, the NRA publication.
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  • Ballistic
    Thanks bpost, I have that issue of American Rifleman, I must of missed the article.
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  • Snellstrom
    Ballistic the '06 is a good place to start but some real interesting ones are Savage 250/3000 now referred to as the .250 Savage. In its day it was the first commercially chambered cartridge to exceed 3000 Feet Per Second ( did it with a 87 gr bullet I believe). Shortly thereafter people started necking it down to .22 cal and called it 22 varminter and all sorts of things, then it was formally adopted by Remington as the 22/250 ( 22 for caliber 250 for the 250/3000 Savage it was spawned from). There are many more 7mm-08 comes to mind. There are also many other cartridges without the hyphenated name that are spawned from a parent cartridge 7X57 Mauser is responsible for the likes of the .257 Roberts and 6mm Rem as well as a few others. .308 is a parent to 7mm-08, 260 Rem, 243 and a few more.
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  • Herschel
    Explaining how to interpret cartridge names is about like trying to explain the rules of the English language. There are just too many exceptions.

    For Instance:

    .308 Winchester is almost exactly the same (cartridge will interchange) as what the military calls the 7.62 NATO which is also referred to as the 7.62X51

    .303 Savage is actually a .30 cal and uses the .308" diameter bullets as do most .30 cals.

    .270 Winchester uses a .277" diameter bullet

    .280 Remington uses a .284" bullet

    .250 Savage and .257 Roberts both use a .257" bullet.

    The .218 Bee, .219 Zipper, .220 Swift and .222 Remington all shoot the .224" bullet while the .22 Savage shoots a .228".

    The .38 Special shoots a .357" bullet while the .38-40 Win. shoots a .401" bullet.

    The 8mm Mauser, 8X57 and 7.92X57 are all the same cartridge.

    There is nothing logical or easy about learning how cartridges are designated. You just have to get a book like Cartridges of the World or a reloading manual and memorize the names and bullet diameters.

    If you are not confused by now, read the message again.[:)]
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  • Snellstrom
    Herschel that was good! Trust me I wasn't trying to explain how to read whats in a name for cartridges of the world, as you know the only real way to learn the info that you and I posted is from lots of reading and usually quite a few years in the business.[8D]
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  • Ray Boone
    The cartridge names are a quite involved study: some are measured in diameter across the lands,eg .300 anything; across the grooves, eg .308 anthing; some are then further clarified by adding case length, eg 6.5x54, 6.5x55, 6.5x57. Others are designated by a number close to the bore/groove size, but different so to prvent confusion,eg 240,243,244 all use the same size bullet. Back in the days of blackpowder, they used bore diameter, cartridge length, powder charge weight, & bullet weight; so for example you'd have 45-70-405 or 50x3". Additionally things got thrown in like velocity with Savage's 3000 fps in the 250/3000. And there's much more- like I said, it's a study all in itself.
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