The .308×1.5" Barnes is a

wildcat cartridge A wildcat cartridge, often shortened to wildcat, is a custom-made cartridge (weaponry), cartridge for which ammunition and/or firearms are not mass-produced. These cartridges are often created as experimental variants to optimize a certain ballis ...

based on the .308 Winchester (7.62×51mm NATO). The cartridge is similar to the

7.62×39mm The 7.62×39mm (also called 7.62 Soviet, formerly .30 Russian Short) round is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate cartridge of Soviet origin. The cartridge is widely used due to the global proliferation of the AK-47 rifle and related Kalashn ...

Russian (M43) cartridge though it outperforms the Soviet cartridge.Barnes, p.188, "7.62x39 (M43) Russian", & p.135, ".308x1.5" (.308 Short)". It was designed by Frank C. Barnes in March 1961 by shortening the .308 Winchester to and giving it a shoulder angle of 20° (α=40°) similar to the parent cartridge.

History

The first rifles commissioned for the developmental work by Barnes for the .308×1.5" cartridge were a Swedish Model 96 Mauser with a 1 in 12 (305 mm) twist built by Les Corbet and a

Remington Rolling Block Remington Rolling Block is a family of breech-loading rifles that was produced from the mid-1860s into the early 20th century by E. Remington and Sons (later Remington Arms). These rifles were made in a variety of calibers, both rimfire and cente ...

with a 1 in 10 (254 mm) twist built by

P.O. Ackley Parker Otto Ackley (May 25, 1903 – August 23, 1989) was an American gunsmith, barrel maker, author, columnist, and wildcat cartridge developer. The Ackley Improved family of wildcat cartridges are designed to be easily made by rechambering exi ...

. Due to the weights of the bullet and the performance of the cartridge, the 1 in 12 twist became the standard by consensus.

Similar cartridges

Apart from experimenting with .308×1.75", the legacy of the Barnes cartridge is found in its progeny cartridges. The .308×1.5" caused a wildcatting craze, which had individuals necking the cartridge down to .224 (5.56 mm), .243 (6 mm), .264 (6.5 mm), .284 (7 mm) and necking up to .338 (8.5 mm) and .375 (9.5 mm). Due to the cartridges' efficiency and accuracy, many of these cartridges, such as the .22 BR,

6mm BR The 6mm BR / 6.2x39mm is a centerfire cartridge created for benchrest shooting. The cartridge is also known as the 6mm Bench Rest or simply 6 BR, and has also developed a following among varmint hunters because of its efficiency. There are tw ...

, 6mm BR Norma, 7mm BR, and .30 BR, went on to become popular

benchrest Benchrest shooting is a shooting sport discipline in which accuracy and precision, high-precision rifles are rested on a table or countertop, benchrather than being carried in the shooter's handswhile shooting at shooting target, paper or steel ...

cartridges and some of these were adopted by mainstream ammunition manufacturers. The .308×1.5" was one of the original short fat cartridge designs, having a length to width ratio of 3.17. The short fat cartridge design is considered to promote efficiency and shot to shot consistency. The .308×1.5" Barnes cartridge is comparable to cartridges such as the

and the .30-30 Winchester. The .308×1.5" is capable of launching a bullet at . While the Barnes and 7.62×39 are similar length, the Barnes has a greater body girth, which provides a greater propellant capacity which in turn contributes to its performance advantage. While the .30-30 Winchester has about a 16% greater capacity over the Barnes cartridge, the .30-30 has a

SAAMI The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI, pronounced "Sammy") is an association of American manufacturers of firearms, ammunition, and components. SAAMI is an accredited standards developer that publishes several A ...

-recommended pressure limit of . For this reason, most factory .30-30 ammunition loaded with a bullet achieves a mere . Furthermore, the Barnes cartridge is capable of launching heavier bullets than the 7.62×39 and has the advantage of using

spitzer bullet A spitzer bullet (from , "point shot") is a munitions term, primarily regarding fully-powered and intermediate small-arms ammunition, describing bullets featuring an aerodynamically pointed nose shape, called a spire point, sometimes combine ...

s and is chambered in strong

bolt-action rifle Bolt action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the turn-bolt via a bolt handle, most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the firearm (as most users are right-handed). The majority of b ...

s, whereas the .30-30 is commonly loaded with round-nose or flat-nose bullets due to the fact that it is chambered in

lever-action rifle The toggle-link action used in the iconic Winchester Model 1873 rifle, one of the most famous lever-action firearms Picture showing a Volcanic Pistol A lever action is a type of action for repeating firearms that uses a manually operated cockin ...

s with

tubular magazine A magazine, often simply called a mag, is an ammunition storage and feeding device for a repeating firearm, either integral within the gun (internal/fixed magazine) or externally attached (detachable magazine). The magazine functions by holdi ...

s. The .308×1.5" Barnes was intended as a short range deer cartridge that could also be used as a varmint and predator cartridge. Loaded with the cartridge, it is capable of taking deer-sized game out to . For predator and varmint hunting, bullets weighing are commonly used.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:308 by 1.5 Barnes Pistol and rifle cartridges Wildcat cartridges

History

Similar cartridges

References

Further reading

External links