Caliber Reboot - Bring These Cartridges Back

It's a grand world, a world full of projectiles, cartridges, guns, and oh so much more. In such a massive world of awesome, we are bound to see ideas fail, even good ideas. Some of those ideas are guns, accessories, and various calibers. Today we will look at some of the rounds that have faded from popularity and talk about why they should make a comeback! The great caliber reboot is on.

Caliber Reboot - Some Don't Make It

New calibers rarely ever really 'make it.' Yearly we get the new whiz-bang cartridge for the AR 15, and they almost always have a significant big build-up before ultimately becoming quasi obscure fodder for CDNN. For every 300 Blackout, we have a dozen other cartridges that might get a cult following before following in obscurity. So how did I pick just five for our great caliber reboot with all these calibers on the market?

Well, I looked at rounds that not only performed well for a variety of tasks but did something different than what is or was currently on the market. Of course, I also tried to grasp various rounds for rifles, PDWs, shotguns, and handguns. So without further jawin', here is the great caliber reboot.

7mm Penna

The 7mm Penna is a 7x23mm handgun cartridge created by Leonardo Pena in 2004. The 7mm Penna was C.I.P. standardized, and the purpose was for both law enforcement and competition use. The round used the old 5.7x28mm case necked up and therefore straight walled for a 7mm projectile.

The projectile itself is a semi-spitzer-style projectile. It's much pointier than most pistol cartridges and allows for excellent penetration. The little bullet is essentially a large caliber PDW round and performed very well for its small size. The round offered roughly the same energy as a 9mm, with greater penetration.

Its real strength was capacity. You can fit 13 rounds of 7mm Penna in a single stack sized 1911. Imagine if you chambered one of the polymer fanatics in this caliber? You'd easily get 20 rounds in a flush-fitting, double-stack magazine. Fiocchi produced the ammo, and STI produced 1911s and the Nemesis in the 7mm Penna. Sadly it died a quick death, but I think a caliber reboot could bring it back, especially in a PCC and handgun matched set.

.224 Boz

The 224 Boz brings us more of a PDW round than a handgun round. In the 90s and early 2000s, the personal defense weapon idea was raging around NATO. The 224 Boz took on those European PDW calibers like 4.6 and 5.7 and Americanized it! They took a 10mm case and necked it down to accept a .223 inch bullet.

It's awkward looking, but proved to be potent.

The end result was a 45-grain spitzer round that could reach 2,400 feet per second. It sailed through soft armor and steel helmets with absolute ease like any good PDW round. The .224 Boz found its way into MP5s with little effort, and the round functioned exceptionally well.

224 Boz courtesy of Collectible Ammunition

In fact, the 224 Boz beat the 5.7 and 4.6 in head-to-head tests, apparently. Guess what happened next? 9/11/2001 happened, and small arms ideas shifted as the GWOT fired up. Unfortunately, the project was left behind, and since the makers wouldn't sell to civilians, it died a quick death without a military contract. If the 224 Boz gets a caliber reboot, we better see ammo for the everyday joe market.

16 Gauge

In the world of shotguns, anything less than 12 gauge is often viewed as anemic. Never mind that 20 gauge is completely capable. Even more capable than 20 gauge is 16 gauge. 16 gauge has stuck around but never got the love it deserves. 16 gauge offers you less recoil and more controllability than a 12 gauge and more power than a 20 gauge.

The 16 gauge is the perfect compromise of size and power. Courtesy of Hunting Spot

It's the just-right of shotgun cartridges. You can hunt deer, birds, hogs, squirrels, whatever efficiently and effectively with it. A 12 pellet load of Number 1 buckshot is just right for defensive applications. 16 gauge would make shotguns lighter and easier to handle, make carrying ammunition easier, and allow for higher capacities in box mag shotguns.

Sure, you lose some pellets, but with a modern defensive load, the 16 gauge would still be a very potent man stopper. As a shotgun nerd, I guess this would be my favorite caliber reboot, and I think it would make shotguns more accessible to shooters.

7.65 French Longue

The 7.65 French Longue isn't actually French but an American creation during World War 1. It was intended to be used with the Pederson device that turned the M1903 into a full-auto, pistol caliber trench broom. However, America ditched that idea after the war, and the French adopted the caliber.It's not a powerhouse, but it makes a great pocket pistol cartridge.

For warfighting, it's meek and a bit weak. The big claim to fame is that the round holds onto its energy better than modern calibers like the 5.7 out to 200 yards. A French gun throws a 77-grain bullet at 1,132 feet per second, so it's roughly a 380 ACP. However, it's smaller in width and could fit more projectiles in a small gun.

It's slightly longer than the 380 ACP but delivers less recoil total. It would be a great pocket pistol cartridge and likely provide a much more comfortable shooting experience. Modern ballistics could certainly hop the caliber up to and turn into a much more powerful cartridge as well. A 20mm case offers lots of room. This would be a caliber reboot that would benefit modern guns more than antiques.

.22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer

I lied a little bit. In the beginning, I said I chose rounds that were useful and could be used for various tasks. Unfortunately, I decided on the .22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer, which is not practical. It's a .22 caliber projectile in a necked down .378 Weatherby case. P.O. Ackley invented the round in the 1960s with the goal of producing a 5,000 FPS round.

I don't know why, but I love it.

Poor Ackley never saw that 5,000 FPS goal but did see Mach 4 with 4,600 feet per second. As the name implies, this thing must've been crazy loud and required one helluva of an awkward rifle. I'm surprised the .224 grain projectile did rip itself to pieces mid-flight.

Is this really worthy of a caliber reboot? I mean, for practical reasons, no. But, man, it sure would be cool to see it come back. I'd buy a rifle, pay four bucks for the round, and fire it twice, but it'd be an experience.

Do Reboots Suck?

In a world of remakes, sequels, and reboots, it's easy to get wrapped around the wheel and say nothing original comes out. Sure, but I think my reboots are primarily useful and highly effective little rounds that deserve a comeback. What say you?