Why is it there are so many different calibers? One would think that if there were fewer and less varied calibers, guns would be more "universal".

You have .22 rimfire and .22 Centerfire. .357 and .38 and .38 special and .380. there's 9mm and 10 mm. There's 5.56 and 7.62 Nato. There's .40 cal and .45 cal. and .50 cal.

If the end of the world comes and I have but one (or maybe two) weapons, I would hate to come on a cache of .38 ammo and only have a .40 cal available. what if I had a nice .38 cop gun on me and found a stash of .45 ???

Just wondering.

People like to be individuals. They also like to buy the "newest, greatest" thing. Why are there so many different types of cars?

The 30-06 might be the best rifle round available, but manufacturers and inventors have tried to better it a thousand times over the last hundred years. As long as people are willing to buy, they will be willing to invent.

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Because of the metric system?

A quality gun will last for generations. Without new calibers, features, and overzealous gun magazine writers, companies would be hard pressed to stay in business manufacturing new guns.

Same goes for car models, motorcycles, pocket knives, cell phones, etc.

Well , in many countries you can only own certain calibers. Doubt they have too many cartridges available in England , Russia , Iran , Iraq , etc.


Pick up a copy of Barnes Cartridges of the World if ya really wanna get confused! Over 1500 cartridges!

Some of it is a striving for "new and improved". However one of the key driving factors for the multitude of calibers is the multitude of people doing the shooting. If everyone was 6 foot 5 and bench pressed 350 lbs the 458 Lott might be the "ideal" caliber. However, hand a rifle in 458 Lott to a woman only 4 foot 8 and weighing in at 85 lbs. and you have a very real potential for a fractured shoulder. So, we have a wide variety of calibers to accommodate a wide variety in the stature, experience, and strength of shooters.

BTW, the reason why our military transitioned from 30 caliber battle rifles to the 5.56 platform was threefold. First, the 30.06 is somewhat hard hitting even in a heavy semi automatic Garand. So, training new shooters presented more challenges than training with a milder recoiling caliber. The second reason is that in a battle rifle the size of a Garand or M14 proved to be difficult to use accurately in full auto. Third, 5.56 ammo is a lot lighter than 30.06 or 308 so a "battle load" permitted a lot more rounds to be carried.

PS; in regards to your "stash" concerns I would suggest that you consider the 22LR to be your primary caliber. It's light, cheap, and effective when used well.

Baskin Robbins would be a pretty boring place to go if they only served vanilla.

Same reason there are so many car models.

Doesn't matter what it is humans will always innovate and strive for the better mousetrap. By profession I'm a software engineer and there's an underlying mentality that prevails... if I didn't write it then it needs to be rewritten. Same principle and just human nature.

It is a plot to make us buy more guns!

The funny thing is they all will kill if used correctly even the lowly 22LR round. I agree that people always want new and better calibers that come out and are pimped by the gun writers and in most cases the round they invent kills only marginally faster. Where I live I can shoot 6 deer which I did and I shot two with a muzzle loader, two with a 30-06 and two with a 25-06 and the results were the same as they all went less then 30 yards in 3 cases and 3 fell when the stood when shot.

I just ignore what I'm not interested in. There's enough people trying to get rid of guns that I don't feel a need to bad talk rounds I have no use for.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

Everybody thinks their idea is "best" or at least more marketable. Sometimes guns and calibers are made for a specific niche, i.e. the 9mm Makarov. Some are natural evolutions, such as .38 special to .357magnum. The .38 S&W is the same thing as the .38 Colt New Police. I have a lot more interesting and pressing things to worry about than the plethora of different small arms cartridges available out there.

The development of the various calibers and cartridges has been an evolution since the origin of the firearm. The start of cartridge era had lots of different calibers and systems. All where tested in the marketplace and many where replaced by new improved technology same as they are today. Some examples are pin fire, and big bore rim fire like the .44 Henry RF and a whole bunch of civil war cartridge systems that no longer commercially exist.

Black powder cartridges evolved from the cap and ball guns, IE .38 caliber .45 cartridges are essentially made to shoot in the the same bore diameter as the .36 and .44 caliber cap and ball. Smokeless powder cartridges evolved directly from many black powder cartridges. New cartridges and wild cats are introduced all the time to the market and if they are accepted and fill a need of the shooting customer they survive, if not they die.

Military develop calibers to fill a real or perceived strategic need. Smaller calibers for small arms have replaced the larger calibers of WWI and WWII as combat has changed to more urban scenarios and the ability to carry larger amounts of lighter weight small caliber to provide greater fire power is the current strategic thinking. Smaller calibers use less material and are more cost effective too.

Watching too many Zombie movies?

I ask myself the same question. Take the 9mm for instance. The same .355" bullet diameter fits the .380 auto (aka 9mm Kurz, aka 9x17), the 9x18 Makarov, the 9x19 parabellum (aka 9mm Luger), 9x21, the 9x23 (aka 9mm Largo, aka Bergmann-Bayard) and the 357 Sig.

Step up the diameter one-one thousandth of an inch to .356 and you enter the .38 Special territory - 38 Super Auto/38 S&W/38 Special/357 Magnum/357 Maximum...

It reminds me of the old Chesterfield 101 commercials about "a silly millimeter longer"!

Adequate deer calibers begin with .223 and go up from there, even though plenty have been killed with .22 LR over the years. It does get a bit ridiculous once you get to the fast .30's and the heavier calibers when hunting a 120 pound animal.

I view my gun safe like a golfer views his golf bag. He uses specialized clubs for specialized situation just as I use my .44 mag Ruger Carbine for heavy brush or my .257 Weatherby Vanguard when I need to reach out and touch one.

The funny thing is I've killed most of my big game with the pedestrian .30-06. I have handguns from .22 LR up to .44 Mag. However, I find myself shooting and carrying calibers that are over 100 years old most of the time, the .38 Special and the 9 mm Parabellum.

Maybe the OP has a point. Certainly I could get by with three rifles and two pistols, but how much fun would that be? I'm just grateful that I live in a country where the Second Amendment allows me to have choices and for the gun companies to offer them.

There you have it.

You left out cars:-)

There have been some awesome developments in cartridges. I haven't tried one yet (because I don't hunt big game any more), but the WSMs are huge, IMO, doing away with the useless belt and generating magnum ballistics from a much shorter round.

Unlike cars, cell phones, et. al., guns can last hundreds of years. So calibers long out of production are still being used.

I'm not a prepper, but if I were, here's what I'd go with:
.22 LR: Start here You can't have enough ammo. Rifles and pistols. I'd make least one pistol a revo and one rifle a single shot should my magazines get lost.
12 gauge. I'd stick with 2 3/4". Probably 1 pump and 1 SS.
Now I would have to hold my nose because I don't like these rounds or their guns, but if you want to be prepped, you gotta go with whats likely to be available:
9mm & .223. At least one .223 would be a bolt gun and one 9mm a revo should I get separated from magazines. In fact the only 9mm I have ever owned is my Ruger OM convertible. I wish S&W or Ruger would make a convertible DA.
7.62x39: Yeck! I dunno about this one.
.308: this is more like it to me.
.357 it can shoot .38 SC thru .357

WHY TOO MANY CALIBERS?

Someone always thinks they have come up with a better mousetrap.

Someone wants to make money offering "a new concept".

Firearms people always have the need to tweak a caliber, gun, or equipment.

Sometimes a "new caliber" must be invented to go around a patent or infringement problem.

Sometimes people are just bored and want to come out with a new & improved version.

Of all of the relatively new calibers to rear their heads in recent times I think the one that has become the most popular and has had the most success is the .40 S&W.

A lot of the "flash in the pan" calibers come and go within a few years. Remember the .357 Maximum? A lot of the new calibers that came out recently will be all but history in a few years.

Why do I have a 6mm Remington when 243 ammo is so much more common? Because it is a better round. Plus its bigger than my 222 and 223s. Why do I have a 308, a 30-06 and a 30-338? Because my dad had a Enfield with a sloppy chamber in the days before the 300 WM and the 308 is a handy little rifle with lots of ammo avalible. Why do I have a 338 WM. Because. A 38, a 357, a 44 special, a 45LC and a 44 mag? Because. A 30 and 357 Herret? Why don't you want one? LOL

There ya go in a nutshell.

As the late Jeff Cooper once wrote: "In a society that is still relatively free, when asked "why do you need that?", the only required answer is "why not?""

You're joking, I hope. If not, you need to take a look at a current (or even old) copy of Cartridges of the World. There are MANY hundreds of different (and not so different) cartridges. Almost all of them had a good reason for existing at the time. Do you think that everyone should now throw away all their guns except for two or three standard chamberings?

A .22 would get me a nice rabbit for dinner. A 357 magnum would help me sleep better at night.

Just under the heading Of ".22 Centerfire" there is more different cartridges than I can think of. .222, .223, .22-250, .220 Swift, etc.

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'Merica!

There can be violent disagreement even within a caliber. For instance, put forward the 140 grain bullet over the 139 grain bullet, regardless of configuration, in the 7X57, and watch the hurricane that follows.

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and what his trumpet saith

History or perhaps money is the better answer. Not that long ago there were no international or even national standards and any manufacturer could develop a cartridge and a firearm to go with it and if that did well it the market then they would have an advantage over their competitors. Would be interesting to see any infographic showing the history of calibers to see how long any given cartridge remained in use and what periods had the most innovation.

Also advances in manufacturing capabilities not only for the cartridge itself by also for the feed and ejection mechanisms.

And I'd imagine there is at least one, and likely more, that started out along the lines of someone saying, "ya know what'd be cool..."
The 22 TCM for instance.

The history of a certain cartridge in itself can be very interesting.
Just for example the 6mm Remington

Introduced in 1955 as the 244 Remington, at the same time as the 243 Winchester. It was developed from a wildcat. A 257 Roberts case necked down to .243. Unfortunately Remington chose a 1 in 12" twist for the round's new rifle and shooters where disappointed when it would shoot bullets over 90 grains well. The 243 would and became known as a good small deer caliber. Remington reintroduced the exact same 244 cartridge 8 years later as the 6mm in a faster twist barrel, but the 243 had a big following by then and the 6mm has slipped to a fairly rare chambering with little factory ammo choice. Yet, it has a slightly superior design to a 243. Longer case neck to hold the bullet firmly in place and a slightly larger case capable of 100-200fps more velocity dependent on bullet weight.

Many of the older rounds started as black powder rounds and then big bullets reined supreme. These first rounds also had rims as they headspaced and extracted easily. With the advent of smokeless powder smaller faster bullets started gaining ground but kept the rim. The hey day of the 30-30. A transition round for sure the first 30 standing for 30 caliber and the second for 30 grains of black powder. Then the military started to experiment with rimless cartridges and the birth of the 30-06. The 45ACP and 9mm came into being as auto actions began to appear. As the world armed itself preceding and during WWI with better rifles and machine guns came into being. Some new cartridges appeared and quickly faded. The 30-06 proved itself. As did the modern bolt action. Lets neck it up and down the 25-06, the 270 and the 35 Whelen. Plus, the conversions on the excellent Mauser actions. WWII and faster shorter actions to fire faster and more reliable. The 308. Then it was necked down a some love velocity. The hey day of American machining and reloading. Prosperity and love of shooting and hunting combine for all kinds of new and improved, key words of the day. Korea, then Vietnam and the procieved need to carry and fire thousands of rounds to kill one enemy brought us the 5.56 or the .223 and the AR platform. While the real shooters kept the bolt actions and killed far more efficiently. More prosperity and experimentation. Now here we are an empire on the verge of collapse and some worrying about ammo supplies and survival. If it comes to that there will be plenty of guns and ammo. There always is. Look at what happens in the rest of the world when it happens. They always seem to come up with enough weapons and ammo to slaughter each other. One good gun and a plan and you can get lots more. If it comes to hunting for survival, I will have a 22, but some light aircraft cable made into snares will hunt for me 24/7.

Steelslayer: One correction to your post above. The .30-30 was never loaded with black powder. It was a smokeless powder round from the beginning. The second 30 in the designation was for 30 grains of whatever smokeless powder was first used. The same anomaly occurs with the .30-40 Krag. It was never loaded with BP, and the 40 was the weight of the original smokeless powder.

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Tom
1560

Sorry never meant it was a black powder round. Thought that the second thirty was meant the "equivalent" of 30 grains of BP. Like the 45-70, 45-90 many of the Sharps rounds etc.

Why are ther blondes,brunetts, and redheads...

PS: I like them all....

There are still so many cartridges in use because a properly maintained gun lasts for generations.. well over a hundred years.
Not only do the gun pundits pimp out the latest new super-round, they frequently declare the "death" of certain rounds.
Sometimes these rounds, dead for a generation, recapture the imagination of a large number of folks.
New sports emerge. And fade.
A good example would be the 44-40 now used in Cowboy shooting.
Then there are the malingerers. "Take for example the 6mm Rem."
If you visit the varmint boards, this round is still considered one of the best there is.
I have 2 rifles in 6mm.
I don't know where these guys are getting their brass but the 6mm AI is going strong with new rifles offered by several custom shops.
People also shoot obscure cartridges for their own reasons.
The 445 Supermag would be an example. This is a semi-wildcat (my wife calls those feral cats).
The sport that spawned it has faded some but it has found use in hunting.
I have 2 guns for that one as well.

Maybe some of us just like running off the beaten path.

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Nemo

Inventors are always on a quest for something better. Whether it is 22 CB Caps for quieter shooting of pests, or a better handgun for personal defense -- the thinking and dreaming never stops.

And who knows what military arms developers are thinking. Personally, I'd prefer the cowboy SAA model in 45-70 to go with my Quigley Sharps replica.

Attached Images

S&W 50 BMG.jpg (14.9 KB, 38 views)

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S&WHF 366

Now that's a Snubby!

Who wants universal, and who decides what is universal? I don't even understand folks who have handguns all of the same caliber.

Don't forget the 32 family; 32 S&W, 32 ACP, 32 S&W Long, 32 H&R, 32/20 and 327 Federal Magnum. All but the ACP and the /20 are the same case becoming increasingly longer.

Froggie

To basically answer the question of why so many different calibers, lets use a set of golf clubs as an anology. Each club has a specific purpose, trajectory & distance is determined by the angle of the club head. Same as it is with firearm calibers. Each caliber has a specific task. For example, if you are hunting for rabbits it would be overkill to do so with a 30.06. Would it get the job done? sure, it will, a 30.06 will also fillet & debone the animal & serve it on a silver platter before the body hits the ground too, thats why a smaller caliber would come in handy, such as a .22. Same as it is with a Moose, you're not going to go moose hunting with a .22 are you? Not only would it would be inhumane, I'm not entirely sure it can be done... A 1860 Colt army in .44 might have been a formidable weapon in its time, however due to the powder used & the metallurgy involved in its construction, a .44 caliber ball was determined to be the most effective caliber. But by todays standards its about equal to a 9mm. Over the years handguns became smaller & more efficent and again, their uses vary, some were intended for LEO's, some designed for personal protection, others designed for hunting etc and so on... Fast forward to 2015 & now you know why there are so many different calibers...

I reload for 48 calibers and I don't have a clue why, except I have a gun in each. They sure could have saved me a lot if they stuck to just few. But you know the French cant have the same as Britain and USA, and the Russians so on and so on and so on. And then there are my friends and guys at the range and Gunstore..........

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"I'm feeling MUCH better now"

Think of it this way. Imagine a woman with a closet full of shoes if she doesn't like one pair then another will do. Same with why there are so many calibers. Now having said that the 45/70 has been around for well over a hundred years. Is it obsolete? nope many use it for hunting, and bpcr shoots. 32-40 is an old schutzen round that became very popular back in the late 1800's as a target round. It was the 222 remington of its day. Benchresters are always coming up with new cartridges just to shoot very small groups on paper. Now we get to hunting ammo, There we run the full range of centerfire 22's where legal old military rounds,wildcats, just about any decent cartridge will kill a deer. Pistols and revolvers the same thing, home defense,sport shooting and hunting. Be kinda boring if only there were a few to choose from. Frank

OK. If we are going to resurrect a 1.5 year old thread, let me continue:

SMSgt sezzed: I don't even understand folks who have handguns all of the same caliber.

I have 6 handguns in .44 Special. They are all different. :P~

(I knew you were just yankin' my chain)

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Nemo

So would a sleeping pill, and they are easier to swallow.

I didn't realize so many of our members had such a cynical view of our hobby.

Turner Classic Movies?

I'd love to fiddle with some non-standard cartridges if I had time, especially a big-bore SS rifle I could shoot CBs in.

Brings up a question for me: which bore size has the most different cartridges? .22? 7mm? .30? 9mm?

I'm betting on the .22s myself.

It's a dilemma that troubles me at times. I like too many calibers and wish to own all of them. Practically, I can't afford that, don't have room for it, and it makes me crazy trying to keep a good inventory of all those components. Yeah, there's way more calibers/cartridges that we NEED. As Nimrod 44 and I have often said to one another when faced with that logic, "NEED ain't go nuthin' to do with it." Most of my stuff, I don't NEED, but I want it. Reason enough.

Recently, I've kinda been going the other way - trying to simplify my array of cartridges and calibers I shoot and load for. Allows me to focus more on the ones I REALLY like and spend more time on load development for those. That said, I added another caliber a couple of weeks ago when a 3-digit Ruger Blackhawk .30 carbine followed me home. Sigh. First-world problems, right?

.22lr, 30-06, .45 Auto or Long Colt. All you need.

To that list I would add only one thing:
A rifle in something 338 or larger for the big animals.

See? I am already proliferating
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Nemo
(hard core big-bore)

You haven't even scratched the surface of cartridge selection. Look at "Metallic Cartridges of the World" or some such title. There are thousands of calibers, but most are obsolete and or black powder.

All those cartridges were more: quiet, accurate, deadly. Life is simple if you stick with basics: 22 LR for plinking, .458 Win magnum for everything else.

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S&WHF 366

Because we're gullible.

It's all a marketing scam.

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'Merica!

It's just a plot by the metallic cartridge component manufacturers to create new business with new products. In a word.... Marketing.


Did we really need a ruger .204, no. But hey, new bullets, brass, dies... Someone will buy it, then they gotta buy all new stuff for it.

I HOPE THAT YOU ARE JOKING ALSO, BUT I FEAR THAT YOU ARE NOT….

THESE CARTRIDGES CAME INTO EXISTENCE AT DIFFERENT POINTS DURING THE EVOLUTION OF FIREARMS. EACH WAS THOUGHT TO BE AN IMPROVEMENT OVER WHAT WAS IN EXISTENCE AT THE TIME, OR THE SOLUTION TO A PERCEIVED PROBLEM. SINCE THEY WERE APPARENTLY SUCCESSFUL, AND MANY FIREARMS WERE, AND CONTINUALLY ARE CHAMBERED FOR THEM. THEY HAVE REMAINED IN PRODUCTION, AS THEY ARE STILL USEFUL. THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU NEED TO HAVE A FIREARM CHAMBERED FOR EACH OF THEM TO FEEL SECURE…...

GET YOURSELF A .223 CALIBER RIFLE, A 12GA PUMP SHOTGUN, AND A .357/.38SPL REVOLVER. PUT TOGETHER A REASONABLE STASH OF AMMO, AND YOU CAN SLEEP TITE AT NITE. COMMON AMMO LIKE THAT SHOULD BE AVAILABLE, IF AND WHEN TSHTF, AND MAY EVEN BECOME A FORM OF CURRENCY OR BARTER, FOR FOOD OR FUEL…..…..

AND FOR GOD'S SAKE, STOP WORRYING ABOUT THOSE ZOMBIES. I'M 73 YO, AND I'VE SEEN LOTS OF WEIRD STUFF IN MY LIFE, BUT NEVER A ZOMBIE…..

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'Nam 1968-69.DAV,VFW,NRA Inst.

One Eye Joe: It's accepted etiquette to not post in all CAPS
The caps lock key should be located somewhere hard to get at IMHO.

"Life is simple if you stick with basics: 22 LR for plinking, .458 Win magnum for everything else."

Had I become a 45 guy instead of 44 I might be on that bandwagon.
I don't have time, space, or funding to do both.
As it is I understand how that could work given some handloading.
I might add a 12ga. to that mix though.

Since the start of the use of gunpowder (the black stuff) you can mostly blame the various military brass for the proliferation of calibers.
Using reasoning I have never quite followed, no one wanted to use a cartridge or bullet that was the same as anyone else.
Certainly not the same as any potential or actual enemies.
This trend continues to this very day.

One reason I gave up reading most gun rags after a couple of decades is I realized they were rehashing everything given the limited number of legitimate ideas to cover.
This includes the bigger better idea, the revolver vs. auto topic, the flatter farther idea .. you get the picture.
Even the S&W 460 and 500 magnums aren't really new ideas.
The fact they actually make the guns is what is exciting.

My first "real" rifle is a 700 in 6mm.
Also have a B-85 in 6mm.
It is now considered an obsolete round but that sure doesn't hinder me from enjoying it.
Some 1000 yd and varmint shooters still use the "improved" version.
Why did the 243 "win" and the 6mm "lose"?
Another of those articles I read 5 versions of and then got bored.

I'll end with a couple of competing sophistries:
"Variety is the spice of life"
"The more things change the more they stay the same"
That one sounds more impressive in the original French

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Nemo

I think it's the urge to do something better, or at least something that 'seems' better whether it is or not. Even within one caliber there are several cartridges that we think covers certain needs. The term 'hunting' comprises a huge range of animals and people have always tried to tweak out something just a tad better.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"