What is the most powerful rifle cartridge ever produced?
Posted by vuzz33@reddit | Firearms | View on Reddit | 23 comments
By power, I mean kinetic/muzzle energy, and I'm only considering infantry weapons and not artillery pieces that might be rifled.
I made my own research, and my first thoughts were toward the famous .50 BMG (\~18.000 J), but I quickly learned it was far from being at the top, as several used by sporting rifles cartridges beat it by quite a wide margin. And the biggest one is certainly (at least for now) the .950 JDJ (\~53.000 J), which makes the .50 BMG looks meager in comparison. But while it might be the strongest sporting cartridge, there exists a class of military rifles that support even more impressive types, the anti-materiel rifles. And the best I could find was the 23x152mmB (\~89.000 J). It was first used by the Soviets in autocannon during WW2, and is now employed by the Iranian forces with the Baher anti-materiel rifle, probably the heaviest of its kind with its astonishing weight of 62kg.
Is there any other cartridge, fired by rifles that can beat this last one?
Koko22Loco@reddit
.950 JDJ Fat Mac. It is a 100 pound, 5 foot long rifle that shoots a one pound solid brass bullet at 2200 FPS. It is a non-NFA item only because the ATF gave it a sporting exemption as a joke as if anybody is going to hunt with this. This round would be overkill for hunting blue whales.
I would like to paint a picture for you. It's 2AM and you hear a window break in your living room. This is the worst day this could happen, as every single one of your guns was lost in a tragic boating accident this morning. All were lost except for one. You look across your room in dread at your anti-kaiju rifle. You know what you have to do, but you don't know if you have the strength to do it, both literally and figuratively.
Heaving the rifle into your arms, you load a .950 cartridge and begin to waddle towards the door. Your feet make a loud “thud” as you take each 6″ step. You know the intruders hear you. You hope they do, for perhaps they will run and spare the world the suffering that is about to befall it.
You try to set the rifle down, but end up clipping your bedroom door and it is immediately knocked off its hinges by this battering ram in your hands. You attempt to round the corner, bonking the muzzle against the doorframe and adjacent wall across the hall at least 4 times. To your horror, two invaders stand there at the end of the hall.
With a heavy heart, you raise the rifle to your shoulder while making inhuman grunting noises from the strain of attempting some semblance of a shooting position. The burglars simply stare in disbelief, unable to process the situation they are witnessing, as if in a dream. You cannot aim the rifle, as the last time you fired the gun, it turned your $3000 Leopuld into a kaleidoscope. You simply hold it at an angle that appears correct and fire.
You are immediately knocked to the floor as if hit by a semi truck going 20 MPH. The shot connected with one of the criminals and it erased him from existence. Even the memories of him have been destroyed and you're wondering why you just shot into an empty hallway. The shot continues to travel through at least 4 houses, a car, and a 10 ton boulder before lodging itself 20 feet into a nearby hill, never to be seen again.
It is at this point, you realize you cannot hear. The surviving burglar can't hear either but he's also on fire from the muzzle blast and is currently vacating your home. You don't care. Your shoulder is dislocated and there is a hole in your brand new AR500 refrigerator. You're crying now. The police arrive and, upon seeing the scene, start laughing. You start crying harder.
vuzz33@reddit (OP)
Well thanks for that interesting scenario, I guess. As I said in my post the .950 JDJ is one of the most powerful cartridges ever designed for a rifle (although it fired a half-pound projectile, not a one-pound). But the 23x152mmB is almost twice as powerful.
EmuFar1149@reddit
I thought the scenario he wrote was extremely entertaining and made me laugh . I guess some are just too fn serious to find humor . Especially concerning such important and critical matters as this subject matter . 🤪
9to5Voyager@reddit
Are you autistic?
skunimatrix@reddit
L27A1 APFSDS with L17A1 case fired from a L30A1?
vuzz33@reddit (OP)
Is a tank gun an infantry weapon?
skunimatrix@reddit
You asked for a rifle cartridge. L27A1 + L17A1 case from a 120mm Rifled barrel...
1P-Man@reddit
OP specified infantry weapon but still cool.
vuzz33@reddit (OP)
I specifically said: " I'm only considering infantry weapons and not artillery pieces that might be rifled." What you're suggesting is out of scope.
Ok-Significance-3473@reddit
easily the Steyr IWS 2000. it has a APFSDS, 15.2x169mm bullet that can (roughfly) produce a staggering 157,700J of energy. source: a calculation by Copilot's GPT-4.
vuzz33@reddit (OP)
I did my own research, and it's clearly not 157 700 J. Considering the projectile is 20g and goes at 1450 m/s, the kinetic energy is 21 025 J.
How could it hope to compete with the Baher when the Steyr "only" weighs 18kg?
JK_Actual@reddit
If we're getting into dumb things - Steyr IWS 2000.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steyr_IWS_2000
15.2mm x 169mm APFSDS (tungsten or depleted uranium), because f*ck that engine block over there in particular. Supposedly could penetrate 40mm RHA at 1 kilometer with secondary fragmentation (assuming DU penetrator, because lol).
ClosetGamer19@reddit
are we talking small arms, shoulder fired rifles?
or can the 30x173mm cartridge (fired by the GAU-8 Avenger) be counted?
vuzz33@reddit (OP)
Shoulder-fired. So unless there exists a rifle big enough to fire the 30x173mm, it doesn't count.
ClosetGamer19@reddit
i figured that would be the case. has anybody yet suggested the 14.5x114? (PTRD/PTRS)
vuzz33@reddit (OP)
According to wikipedia it has ~24.000 J of muzzle energy, a bit more than the .50 BMG but still far from the top.
ClosetGamer19@reddit
nice
Gooble211@reddit
In that league is the Finnish Lahti L39, which fires a 20mm projectile. It was designed as an anti-tank rifle and used during the Winter War. O can't offhand find the energy produced by its cartridges.
Val_at_home@reddit
The photo on that wiki link is such a neat perspective. & to OP, this is really fascinating stuff - so thanks for sending me into a wormhole!
vuzz33@reddit (OP)
If you like that kind of stuff, here is a video comparing all calibers from the 2.34mm rimfire to the 800mm Gustav.
edventure_2025@reddit
If you mean able to be fired by an actual human, what about the 4 bore rifle? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4kPfUBy19E
vuzz33@reddit (OP)
Why stop with 4 bore when you can have 2 bore ? It's heavier than all the projectiles I have mentioned, but unfortunately, it's much slower too. So it "only" has 23.000 J of kinetic force.
SniperSRSRecon@reddit
2 bore I think