which cartridge has inflicted more causualties to date?

which cartridge has caused the most human casualties?

  • .303 british

    Votes: 96 26.6%

  • 7.62X54R

    Votes: 34 9.4%

  • 7.62x39

    Votes: 207 57.3%

  • 5.56x45

    Votes: 11 3.0%

  • 30-06

    Votes: 13 3.6%
  • Total voters
    361
K-2 said:
During WW1 maybe 10 million people were killed. During WW2 50 million people were killed. Since the end of WW2 over 100 million people have died in various conflicts around the world.

Therefore a post-WW2 cartridge is likely to be the biggest killer and its probably the 7.62x39.
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Not sure if the 100 million number is even close to correct, but it would be fairly important when the casualties occurred to make a stab at what cartridges were used. For example in Korea, many WWII firearms were used by both sides, also in the middle east and africa up to and including the '90s in many cases.

I would argue that the 8mm mauser round would be number one, 7.62x54 and 7.62x39 would be close.
 
Although I truly am not sure, I would guess the 7.62x39
The reason I would pick that round is the same as others here in that after the world wars there have been many conflicts ect that have used the AK.
From what I have read the AK is extremely popular worldwide and I have no doubt is still doing it's fair share.
The others have also done alot, but to me the AK round just "seems" logical. However it only seems, I have no hard data
 
This gives what appears to be a pretty comprehensive account of armed conflicts in the 20th century:
http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/massacre.html

160 million overall, of which approximately (from skimming/guesstimating) 105-110 million occurred prior to 1947; probably rules out the modern rounds.

My guess would go with 8mm Mauser. Considering the number of Russians and Ukrainians mowed down by it in addition to other areas/conflicts in which it was used, probably the most deadly cartridge of the 20th century (aside from maybe .50 BMG? I don't know enough about which countries use/used it to make a solid presumption).
 
guess_kto said:
303 is not even near 8mm mauser (2 world wars in both east and west) or 7.62x54R (2 world wars, Russian civil war after 1917, Korea, Finland and other wars).

I voted for 7.62 x 39, but realized it was a mistake and I should have go for 54R
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I did the same. 54R or the 8mm is my new vote.
 
Sorry guys I think you may ALL be wrong, I think the lead round ball fired from brown bess in the form of the paper cartridge may have killed more.

Think about it for a moment
The peerless kings musket "brown bess" from the early 1720's-1850s flintlock then later converted to percussion served in many wars all over the world

She conqured Europe,Africa ,India and the Americas

For nearly 130+ years from before the french and indian wars to the Americam civil war, jaipur rebellion etc....etc

The 69-70 cal lead ball wrapped in the paper cartridge fired from the 75-77 cal bess I do believe is still the king of wartime fatalities.

:cheers:
 
They did not say metallic cartridge......Just cartridge and a paper cartridge is a cartridge.

Though I know what your saying

I suppose if you mean modern centerfire cartridge I would be forced to choose the 308 brit round just because its been through the boer war, 2 world wars and used by many countries still to this day.
 
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I'm going with the 7.62x39. If you consider the massacre by gov'ts using the AK, its almost a no-brainer. Approx 262 million CIVILIANS have been killed by their own government in the last 100 years. I picked away at the list, and found that 144.5 million civilians were killed by countries using the Ak-47. Thats more than the total death count for both world wars...just thought I would point it out....
 
Plus the fact that the Ruskies would hand out millions of the AK's to any crack pot organization who asked, this has to be the most prolific gun and cartridge combo out there. God only knows how many millions the world doesn't know about.
 
mvarley84 said:
I'm going with the 7.62x39. If you consider the massacre by gov'ts using the AK, its almost a no-brainer. Approx 262 million CIVILIANS have been killed by their own government in the last 100 years. I picked away at the list, and found that 144.5 million civilians were killed by countries using the Ak-47. Thats more than the total death count for both world wars...just thought I would point it out....
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But of course the vast majority of these civilians were starved to death not shot.
 
redleg said:
But of course the vast majority of these civilians were starved to death not shot.
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And the ones that are murdered are generally murdered in more "cruel" ways then getting shot when one starts killing their own countrymen. Actually in alot of these "civil wars" getting shot and dieing in a fire fight is probably the best way to go. Cause if they captured you, whether or not your fighting them, your fate will not be pleasant.

Dimitri
 
mvarley84 said:
I'm going with the 7.62x39. If you consider the massacre by gov'ts using the AK, its almost a no-brainer. Approx 262 million CIVILIANS have been killed by their own government in the last 100 years. I picked away at the list, and found that 144.5 million civilians were killed by countries using the Ak-47. Thats more than the total death count for both world wars...just thought I would point it out....
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You'll probably find out with some research that most of those were shot in the back of the head with a small-caliber pistol (Tok, PPK, assorted .32's etc)...
 
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