What's with the Russians and 762?

[Aaryq]

Howdy, folks.
I was just thinking about 762.
7.62 Nagant in the Nagant Revolver
7.62x54R in the Mosin Nagants, SVD, & SVT-40
7.62x39 in the SKS and AK-47
7.62x25 in the PPSH-41, PPD40, and TT-33 Tokarev
76.2 in the T-34

Yeah, even their tank guns were 76.2mm Anyone know why the Russians like the 7.62/76.2 so much?

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

It could possible have something to do with 7.62 being .3 inches. Ever notice how much stuff the US had in .30 caliber?

It'll really blow your mind when you find out that most of those 7.62mm bullets aren't even 7.62mm. 7.43, 7.78, 7.899...

 

[Aaryq]

Touche.

 

[35Rem]

Common maintenance equipment? (except the last one, of course)

 

[docfubar]

It could be because that is a metric measurement...... equal to oh say a 30 cal

 

[Prince Yamato]

It's because it can all be made on the same or similar equipment. 7.62 x Y (Y being the variable), was just simpler to do and cheaper as well.

 

[femoralis]

I have heard that it was so that the same machines could bore out barrels to different weapons. I have no idea if that is true, however.

 

[BattleChimp Potemkin]

Ease production costs and simplification.

 

[Z-Michigan]

What's up with those crazy english speakers and the 0.30 caliber? 30-30, .303 British, 30-40 Krag, .30-06, .308, .300 Winchester magnum, .300 RUM, .300 RSAUM, .300 WSM, is there no end to their thirty caliber obsession?



I think the 3-inch tank gun is coincidence. Military uses often get the latest technology, and it's hard to keep technology secret, so everyone seems to adopt similar things around the same time. The US is often first, but not always, and we certainly weren't as dominant back before WWII.

 

[tinygnat219]

Simple.

Russia got a deal on 7.62 Barrel reamers in the early 1880s and they have just started to run out.

 

[lee n. field]

Anyone know why the Russians like the 7.62/76.2 so much?

Barrel making machinery they don't want to pay to replace.

 

[bthest86]

For simplicity of manufacture and logistics.

 

[Rubber_Duck]

The 7.62mm is an effective round. What's not to like?

 

[230RN]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_(length)

Line (length)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

A steel rule with gradations based on 1/10th of an inch on the upper and 1/16th of an inch on the lower scales.The Line is an archaic pre-metric and pre-decimal unit of measurement, one line being equal to 1/10th or in some cases 1/12th of an inch.


[edit] In use
The Line was most useful in machining and became a standard to which small arms ammunition was manufactured. A 7.62 mm caliber round seems a numerically arbitrary round, until it is realised that 7.62 mm is 0.3 inches, .30 cal or three-lines. The Russian Mosin-Nagant rifle for example is known as the "Three-line rifle". There was also the "Four-line" Swedish 12.17 x 44 mm round, although rarely referred to as such the 12.7mm Browning HMG round is a "Five-line" round. The actual calibre of the round would differ as the actual value of the inch would vary from country to country.


[edit] References
Military small arms of the 20th Century 6thedition, Ian V Hogg and John Weeks, Guild Publishing, 1991.

[edit] See also
Imperial unit
Ligne
Obsolete Russian units of measurement
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_%28length%29"

(And I suspect that all those spectacular "300-yard" shots were actually 300 Arshins.)

 

[Bezoar]

the reason is that russia merely copied the western nations fad for small bore rifles with high velocity bullets in the late 1800s. The western choice was a bullet that fell in the nominal .30 caliber family. Russia merely followed suite and made a great infantry weapon that uses a bullet the same diameter as the british chose for the enfield rifle.

They used it for so many different weapons is that logistics were easy. If you look closely, you can load rifle bullets with those rifles with tokarev bullets in an emergency.

 

[ColinthePilot]

The ruskies probably figured out that 7.62 is an effective combat round, like we did, and make all their rifles in a common caliber, like we did, (until the M-16, anyway).
I love .30/7.62. All my rifles except my .22 are in either some kind of .30 or some kind of 7.62. I'm about to break that pattern with my first AR in 5.56, but I would take a .30cal anywhere, any day.

 

[AntiqueCollector]

Save money and simplify things. The Nagant (revolver) and Mosin-Nagant rifle barrels, for example, were made with the same equipment, and just cut to different lengths.

 

[SDC]

Ditto; the Russians were also leaders in the area of hammer-forging their barrels, where an engraved mandrel was put into a tube, and that tube was then hammered to shape on machinery; after the barrel was finished, the mandrel was pushed out of the barrel and re-used, while the barrel could be cut to length and chambered. Supposedly, you could get two PPSh-41 barrels from one completed blank, or use it to finish one M1891/30.