7.62 mm caliber

7.62 mm caliber is a nominal caliber used for a number of different cartridges. Historically, this class of cartridge was commonly known as .30 caliber, the Imperial unit equivalent, and was most commonly used for indicating a class of full power military main battle rifle (MBR) cartridges. The measurement equals 0.30 inches or 3 decimal lines, written .3″ and read as Three-Line.

7.62 mm refers to the internal diameter of the barrel at the lands (the raised helical ridges in rifled gun barrels). The actual bullet caliber is normally .308 in (7.82 mm), although Soviet weapons commonly use a .311 in (7.91 mm) bullet, as do older British (.303 British) and Japanese cartridges.

Pistol cartridges in 7.62 mm caliber

There are many pistol cartridges in this caliber, but most common are:

• 7.62x25mm Tokarev also known as 7.62 mm TT
• 7.65x17mm Browning also known as the .32 ACP.
• 7.63x25mm Mauser, which was the basis for, and has nearly identical dimensions to the Tokarev, but has different loading specifications. While 7.63x25 Mauser will safely work in firearms chambered for 7.62x25 Tokarev, the reverse is not true.
• 7.65x22mm Parabellum

Revolver cartridges in 7.62 mm caliber

Some of the revolver cartridges in this caliber are:

• 7.62x38mmR used only in the Nagant M1895 revolver
• .32 Long Colt, originally revolver cartridge today little used in revolvers, but used in large number of sport pistols in .32 LC WC form (WC stands for Wad Cutter, it means cylindrical bullet)(correction suggested ".32 LC" be changed to ".32 S & W Long" relative to use in sporting pistols.
• .32 H&R Magnum only revolver cartridge in this caliber which is in wider use today, mostly in smallframe revolvers.
• .327 Federal Magnum is a new catridge developed jointly by Ruger and Federal.

Rifle cartridges in 7.62 mm caliber

Some of most common rifle cartridges in this caliber are:

• Soviet 7.62x39mm, also known as the 7.62 mm Soviet, M43, or occasionally .30 Short Combloc, designed for the SKS and used in the AK-47 and AKM assault rifles and RPK and RPD light machine guns.
• 7.62x51mm NATO, and its civilian variant .308 Winchester, sometimes incorrectly described as .308 NATO by persons mixing English measurements used by some civilians with metric measurements used by the NATO organization.
• 7.62x54mmR another Russian cartridge that was first used in the Mosin-Nagant rifle since 1891. The modern versions of the cartridges to this day are in wide use in numerous world armies as sniper rifles (particularly the SVD family) and machine guns (numerous types, many developed from AK family such as the PKM).
• 7.62 Jonson First commercial, computer-designed cartridge, known as The Big Jonson, the grandfather (1974) of the modern, short magnum.
• .30-06 Springfield US Military cartridge for both World Wars and Korea, known as the 7.62x63mm in metric measurement.
• .30 Carbine, used in the M1, M2 and M3 Carbines. Sometimes called the 7.62x33mm.
• .300 Winchester Magnum used by many hunting/sniper rifles, sometimes called the 7.62x67mm.
• .30-378 Weatherby Magnum
• .30-30 Winchester A popular Deer hunting cartridge typically used in Lever-Action Rifles such as the Winchester Model 1894 and Marlin Model 336.

See also

• List of rifle cartridges
• 7 mm caliber