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?