5.2x68mm Mondragon

[Boberama]

The 5.2x68mm Mondragon was an early attempt at high velocities by Manuel Mondragon, a Mexican Army officer in the the early 1890s. It was used in semi-auto and repeating rifles, and had a piston on the inside of the case.
It was made by Polte of Magdeburg and also by the Swiss Government.

The resultant round, the 5.2x68mm Rubin, may well have been too much for the Mondragon. Indeed, it was almost too much for itself! To handle the extreme pressures generated when it was fired, the 5.2x68mm's bullet was surrounded by a detachable collar that moved forward within the case as the powder gases expanded so as to increase the size of the
combustion chamber.

Dentro del 5.2x68 mm por lo menos hay dos variantes una con surco de extraccion y otro sin el mismo. El mismo carga 48 grains de polvora sin humo dando velocidades de 2650 pies por segundo. Las balas encontradas poseen un peso de 90 o 105 grains.

90 or 105 grains, 48 grain charge, 2650 ft/s.

What a poorly designed round. It has a piston inside the case that pushes the bullet out.



-Boberama (I was Born This Way baby)

 

[SIGSHR]

Smokeless powder was pretty new in the 1890s, semiautomatic firearms were pretty new, no Internet, few if any professional publications, so anyone designing one was pretty much on his own. Designers and inventors came up with all sorts of designs that are strange to us and were dead ends, but seemed like great ideas at the time. Besides, as Thomas Edison noted, finding out what doesn't work can be as useful as finding out what does.

 

[Boberama]

Still, I can't help smiling at this. When I first heard of the name I thought "5.2 by WHAT?" and imagined 4000 fps+ velocities.

Then I see a puny 2650 fps.


-Boberama (Just hold your head up girl and you'll go far)

 

[FrankenMauser]

Still, I can't help smiling at this. When I first heard of the name I thought "5.2 by WHAT?" and imagined 4000 fps+ velocities.

Then I see a puny 2650 fps.

I actually find the 2,650 fps quotation pretty impressive, given the complicated design and technology available at the time.


Where did you find that information? You may want to cite your sources.