What was/is the most energetic infantryman's caliber?

[DeepSouth]

JMR40 I don't know where you got your info about the 45-70 being too weak for buffalo hunting, or how you know it wasn't used for that purpose, but I know this:

Read some of Mike Venturino's books, he is the go to source on late 1800's rifles.

While I wouldn't say the 45-70 was considered marginal for whitetail, nor would I say it was never used on buffalo. It certainly wasn't as popular or strong as it is made it out to be.

Modern 45-70 loads aren't normally black powder loads, and are normally much better than the loads of the 1870's. Their isn't really much comparison between their average load and the average modern load.

 

[lencac]

I think the parameter was for the standard issue infantryman ............... I see a lot of specs and numbers that don't exactly fit that bill.

However, all the cartridges listed are way overkill for shooting people.
Anybody ever wondered why such powerful cartridges were used to kill people?
I wondered because it seemed to me there was much wasted material when a much smaller caliber, like a 5.56 cartridge can do the job perfectly well.
I know why but wondering if any of you know why.

 

[tark]

I guess it's pretty much settled. With the original military loads it was the 7.92X57; with modern loads, the good ole' 06.

We beat the German again!!!!

 

[lysanderxiii]

However, all the cartridges listed are way overkill for shooting people.
Anybody ever wondered why such powerful cartridges were used to kill people?
I wondered because it seemed to me there was much wasted material when a much smaller caliber, like a 5.56 cartridge can do the job perfectly well.

Machine guns, and effective range. That's why the Germans dropped the 154 gr 7.92x57 and went with a 198 gr s.S.

We still use 7.62mm for that....

 

[Jim Watson]

What interests me is that the main combatants in WWII all used comparable rifle rounds.
We had .30-06, England had .303, Germany had 8mm, Russia 7.62.

But the Italians and Japanese launched hostilities with neat little 6.5s.
The Japanese upgunned to 7.7mm in 1938 but under war pressure had to support both calibers. The Italians attempted to go to 7.35mm, probably as big as they figured a Carcano would handle, but had to retrench and go back to 6.5.
I guess those Chinese and Ethiopians were tougher than they expected.

 

[lencac]

"Anybody ever wondered why such powerful cartridges were used to kill people?"

Back in those days when those cartridges were designed soldiers still rode horses into battle. They wanted a cartridge that would take down a charging horse at 350 yrds. to put the soldier on foot.