Giant 14.5x114mm Cartridge Dwarfs .338 Lapua Magnum
Photo courtesy Elardus de Lang, Truvelo Manufacturers Armoury, South Africa.
Believe it or not, here is a cartridge that makes a .338 Lapua Magnum look like a toy. The 14.5x114mm cartridge was designed as a MG and rifle-fired anti-materiel round. To translate from the metric system to caliber and inches, the round is a mammoth .57 caliber which measures 4.49 inches to the case mouth, and 6.13 inches overall. That jumbo-sized case holds a whopping 655 grains of powder. Commonly-loaded projectiles weigh 920-1030 grains. The 993gr armor-piercing projectile has a muzzle velocity of approximately 1006 meters per second (3300 fps) and can penetrate 30-32 millimeters of RHA steel at a range of 500 meters.
The top photo comes from Elardus De Lang, a Forum member who works at the Truvelo Manufacturers Armoury in South Africa. Elardus also provided an impressive video showing the massive 14.5x114mm being shot from prone with a Truvelo-built bolt-action rifle. Elardus tells us: “Here is a video, with a slow-motion ending, of our 14.5x114mm anti-materiel rifle being fired in our indoor testing facility. This caliber is a true beast! It propels a 993gr Armor-Piercing Incendiary bullet to 3300 fps, burning 480 grains of powder in the process. [This shows] that rifles of that power level can actually be shootable. The concussion indoors is something to experience……every shot feels like you are being punched in the face, and the heat from the muzzle flash actually hits you like a wave!”
14.5x114mm Cartridge Design and Dimensions
The 14.5×114mm has 42.53 ml (655 grains H2O) cartridge case capacity. The exterior shape of the case was designed to promote reliable case feeding and extraction in bolt action rifles and machine guns alike, under extreme conditions. Cartridges typically use lacquered steel cases, but some countries also use brass cases for the 14.5x115mm.
All dimensions are in millimeters (mm). Americans would define the shoulder angle at alpha/2, or 22.5 degrees. The common rifling twist rate for this cartridge is 455 mm (1:17.91″) with eight lands/grooves. According to official guidelines, the 14.5×114mm can handle up to 360 MPa (52,213 psi) piezo pressure.
14.5x114mm Cartridge History
The 14.5×114mm (.57 Cal) is a heavy machine gun and anti-materiel rifle cartridge used by the Soviet Union, the former Warsaw Pact, modern Russia, and other countries. It was originally developed for the PTRS and PTRD anti-tank rifles, but was later used as the basis for the KPV heavy machine gun that formed the basis of the ZPU series anti-aircraft guns that is also the main armament of the BTR series of armoured personnel carriers from the BTR-60 to the BTR-80 and for heavy anti-material sniper rifles. The cartridge was designed in 1939 and first issued in 1941.
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Tags: 14.5x114 mm, 50 BMG, Anti-Tank Round, Heavy Machine Gun, Russian anti-tank, ZPU anti-aircraft
Though the bore is 14.50 mm (±0.05 mm), so 0.5708 inches (±1.969 thou) to four significant figures, the bullet and groove diameter is 14.93 mm (to the same tolerance), so 0.5878 inches. So in reality the bullets are nearly 59 calibre! This data from 1946e-ere Russian technical drawings. It’s a bit like the 50 BMG, as its bullets are normally between 0.510-0.511 inches (12.95-12.98 mm), and the bore is 0.498 inches (12.66 mm), so not really 50 calibre!
That case really needs to be fireformed into an improved shape.
Thanks for the information and great technical description. Although I am familiar with this cartridge, I did not know all the variants. It is surprising that such a heavy bullet achieves a muzzle velocity comparable to the NATO 5.56×45 cartridge. It will certainly be more stable, but I believe that it will not have such a flat flight path. In the armor-piercing missile, there will probably be a cumulative charge of 76% hexogen, 20% Al, 4% binder. It was a proven composition of German anti-aircraft armor-piercing incendiary missiles.
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Diky za informace a skvělý technický popis. Ačkoli jsem s tímto nábojem obeznámen,všechny varianty jsem neznal. Je s podivem,že tak těžká střela dosahuje úsťové rychlsti srovnatelné s nábojem NATO 5,56×45.Jistě bude stabilnější, nicméně se domnívám, že nebude mít tak plochou dráhu letu. V průbojné střele bude patrně kumulativní nálož 76% hexogen,20%Al,4% pojivo.Bylo to osvědcěné složení německých protiletadlovýc průbojně zápalných střel