DBP87 5.8x42mm: China’s High Velocity Caliber

By David Fortier

For the last few decades, the American 5.56x45mm and the Russian 5.45x39mm have dominated the world’s small-caliber, high-velocity (SCHV) ammunition. Surprisingly, in the mid-1990s the Chinese military introduced an indigenous 5.8x42mm SCHV assault-rifle round of its own. As with the Russians, the advantages of SCHV assault-rifle ammo observed in Vietnam War battle reports did not go unnoticed by the Chinese military. In March 1971, the Chinese military logistic department commenced a small arms research meeting known as the 713 Conference in Beijing to develop the design criteria for an SCHV cartridge. The design criteria called for a cartridge of approximately 6mm caliber, 1,000 meters-per-second muzzle velocity, with the goals of reducing recoil and ammo weight while improving accuracy and terminal ballistics over the Type 56/M43 7.62x39mm round.

The following 744 Conference narrowed down the calibers under consideration to 5.8mm and 6mm caliber. The cartridge case was to be selected from seven designs with overall cartridge lengths ranging from 56mm to 59.5mm. However, the new small-caliber cartridge development was mostly a paper project for the initial eight years. The actual initiation of the project didn’t begin until late 1978 after most of the cultural-revolution turmoil had died down. By 1979, the 5.8mm …Read the Rest

Source:: Guns and Ammo