MAGNUM

[NOTABIKER]

what makes a bullet a Magnum ?. looking at a 30-6 and a HH magnum 300 i do not see it. is it the powder charge vrs bullet weight ?.

[russ69]

It's cartridge not bullet. The magnum designation is defined by the manufacturer and may or may not have much meaning.

[Merc1138]

In some instances it refers to things like more powder and a slightly longer case, but not all. Really it's a marketing thing.

Read this, you'll have a better understanding of what and why.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.44_Magnum

However that does not mean every "magnum" has a predecessor, or that "magnum" itself has some specific technical meaning. Plenty of other cartridges have been improved upon over the years in one way or another without having "magnum" attached to the name.

[9mmepiphany]

It is a cartridge designator that was originally meant to denote that the cartridge provide more power than more standard loadings in that caliber. RE: .38spl vs. .357mag

It is now more of a marketing or identity tool. RE: .224 Weatherby Magnum vs. 22-250

[Mute]

In most cases magnum rounds were created by enlarging the case size of an existing cartridge to allow more powder (and thus more power) for the new round. It's based on the use of the magnum designation for wine and champagne where the traditional bottle contained 750ml of liquid vs. a magnum bottle, which held 1.5 liter (twice the amount of a standard bottle).