7.62 mm caliber
7.62 mm caliber is a nominal caliber used for a number of different cartridges. Historically, this class of cartridge was commonly known as .30 caliber, the Imperial unit equivalent, and was most commonly used for indicating a class of full power military main battle rifle (MBR) cartridges. The measurement equals 0.30 inches or 3 decimal lines, written .3" and read as Three-Line.
7.62 mm refers to the internal diameter of the barrel at the lands (the raised helical ridges in rifled gun barrels). The actual bullet caliber is normally 7.82 mm (.308 in), although Soviet weapons commonly use a 7.91 mm (.311 in) bullet, as do older British (.303 British) and Japanese cartridges.
Pistol cartridges in 7.62 mm caliber
There are many pistol cartridges in this caliber, but most common are:
7.62×25mm Tokarev, also known as 7.62 mm TT, used in the Tokarev pistol, and many of the WWII Soviet submachine guns.
7.63×25mm Mauser, which was the basis for, and has nearly identical dimensions to the Tokarev, but has different loading specifications.
