I’ve been clearing this up for a lot of people this week. If you’re new to shooting, it’s easy to look at the huge variety of ammunition out there and get incredibly confused. There is nothing wrong with asking, and it’s far preferable to blowing up a gun or getting hurt.
Here are a few of the misconceptions I most frequently have to address:
- .38 S&W is not the same as .38 Special
- .38 Super is not the same as .38 Special
- .357SIG is not the same as .357 Magnum
- .32 S&W is not the same as .32 ACP (also known as .32 Auto)
- 7.65 Browning is the same thing as .32 Auto
- 6.35mm is the same thing as .25 ACP
- .45 Colt is not the same as .45 ACP
- .45 GAP is not the same as .45 ACP
- 7.62×39 is not the same as 7.62x54R
- 7.62×51 is pretty much the same thing as .308
- 7mm Mauser is not the same as 7mm Remington Magnum is not the same as 7mm Ultra Mag is not the same as 7mm-08 is not the same as 7.5mm Swiss
- 9mm Largo is not the same as 9mm Luger
- 9mm Kurtz is not the same as 9mm Luger
- 9mm Luger is the same as 9mm Parabellum
- .38 Short Colt is…wait, where did you find .38 Short Colt?!?
If your gun is a .22, then it’s most likely .22 Long Rifle, not to be confused with .22 Long. You may be able to shoot Longs (or Shorts) in it, but it’s unlikely to feed well. The Longs and Shorts are generally relegated to older bolt-action rifles and revolvers (though Beretta made an automatic for Shorts). If it’s a new gun, chances are, it’s chambered in .22 Long Rifle.
.22 Magnum (or .22 WMR) is a different animal than .22 Long Rifle, and they cannot be interchanged.
.223 and 5.56 NATO (5.56×45) are generally interchangeable. If a rifle is chambered in 5.56, then you’re fine shooting .223. In fact, you might be better off, since 5.56 is harder to find and more expensive. (There will be differences in POI between the two loads, so choose one and stick with it)
Some rifles are chambered exclusively in .223, but if you have one of those, you likely know it. Bear in mind that the 5.56 uses a heavier bullet at higher pressures.
When it comes to .308 Winchester, the formula is reversed. 7.62×51 runs at lower pressures and has a lower powder capacity. As such, you can shoot 7.62×51 all day in a .308 hunting rifle, but beware of the hotter .308 loadings in a military rifle.
Postnote: thanks to Dean Speir for pointing out the blatantly obvious. The original title was “An Embarrassment of Bullets,” which is plainly wrong, since I’m not discussing individual components. He also notes that, although Sig Sauer uses the term “.357 SIG,” the rest of the industry seems to have dropped the decimal point.