6.5X54MM MANNLICHER-SCHONAUER

CARTRIDGE BOARD

- Gil Sengel

Given the proliferation of 6.5mm, medium-capacity cartridges over the past few years, it would seem that the caliber had just been discovered. It was as if some faceless bureaucrat in a secure, undisclosed location had been running a secret algorithm on the most powerful supercomputer in existence. After a few weeks’ time, the machine spit out dimensions for the perfect rifle cartridge.

Eager to spread the news, the bureaucrat rushed down undisclosed hallways and thrust the findings into his supervisor’s outstretched hand. The boss, used to dealing with earthshaking events, gasped and blurted out, “This looks like my .260 Remington! No…no, it’s just a 6.5x53R of 1892!”

“You mean the year 1892?” asked the bureaucrat who had a major in history from a top American university. “Were there people here then?”

“Never mind,” said the boss, producing another secret algorithm and ordering, “Run this next, it will tell us how to end deficit spending.”

The bureaucrat rushed blindly away, flush with the knowledge he would now solve another history-altering problem. Suddenly, however, he realized he was in an undisclosed area of the undisclosed location and had no idea how to get back to his personal undisclosed location – obviously he never made it!

This may not be exactly how the new 6.5mm cartridges were created, but we do have insight into how their predecessors in the 1890s came about. Unlike today, where cartridge sizes are determined by a specific rifle design, the shape and caliber of early smokeless rounds were determined by the powders available.