It seems that the old calibers of the early 1900s and late 1800s were just so fascinating. I got into weird calibers a few months ago, like 9mm Glisenti - an Italian pistol cartridge from world war one that was used in only a handful of weapons for the Italian Kingdom. And 10.35mm Italian Ordinance, used in only 1 gun I know of. Then I got into even weirder calibers, like 10.75x68, a big game caliber used in German colonies such as Namibia that fell out of fashion because of anti-German sentiment in WWI. Other nations created their own big game ammo and African loadings for their colonies. Germany had a few, England had more than anybody - but what about Italy and France? Did any weird loadings get produced by the citizens of these nations for their own colonies? (ps- yes, italy had colonies. I have no idea why! Marble exports? Tomato plantations? Catholic missionaries preaching the gospel of olive oil?)
What's with the anti-Italy sentiment? Where do you think the Roman Empire was centered!? We sorta had 'em too. Blame-America-first Libertarians will take a toke and tell you we still do...
Plenty of weird ones out there. Take a quick cruise through "Cartridges of the World" and Nonte's "The Home Guide to Cartridge Conversions". One that always intrigued me was a shotshell---the Bottleneck shotshell used in the Greener Police Shotgun, and ONLY in that one gun.
Not all of the old cartridges were weird. The .303 British and 7mm Mauser have been around a long time and are still great calibers to use. They are two of my favorites and in part because they both have so much history behind them. The fact that both are still in use after so much time is a testament to how good a design they actually were.
you're right, many of the old cartridges are in use today, even in international militarizes such as china and the Tsarist era 7.65x54R. So the basic question is; Did the nations of Italy or France, develop cartridges for hunting in their former African/Asian colonies? It seems logical, seeing as how the French once controlled Vietnam and they have elephants of a sort. The Germans had a small amount of big game cartridges developed for their likings (9.3x...) and the british had an unholy mess of them (nitro express... everything!) So what about the Italians and the French?
