December 31, 2023 : ECDV version 6.04.02

Calibers : 18,563  -  Specimens : 37,966  -  Images : 34,840  -  Documents : 14,0326  -  Drawings : 3,421 - Appendices : 17 - Bibliographic references : ca 80,000

 

   

Purpose:

The main purpose of the ECRA CALIBER DATA VIEWER (ECDV), edited by the European Cartridge Research Association, is the identification of small caliber cartridges (up to 50 mm).

It is probably the most important database in the world, with

- more than 15,000 registered calibers or case types,

- descriptions of more than 30,000 specimens, either measured or taken from literature,

- 27,000 of them photographed.

Languages:

The ECRA Caliber Data Viewer can be used in six languages: English; French; Spanish; German; Dutch or italian.

              

Sources:

75% of the data have been provided by friendly collectors from all over the world and by the ECRA Representative/Data Manager during site visits and 25% extracted from websites, magazines, newsletters and bulletins of various associations: ECRA; IAA; Patronensammler Vereinigung; Nederlanse Vereniging ter Bestudering van Munitie en Ballistiek; Asociación Española de Coleccionistas de Cartuchos; New Zealand Cartridge Collectors Club; R.S.A. Cartridge Collectors Association; Scandinavian Ammunition Research Association; etc.

4000 specimens have been recently photographed and measured at Woodin Laboratory, and many others measured and photographed by visiting several important European collections.

Some details:

All the measurements are based on the Cheinisse-Regenstreif (XCR) system, very efficient and easy to use to identify a given cartridge according to its dimensions, but the latter can also be displayed according to the CIP or Cartwin systems.

Beside the dimensions of the cartridges, the database can also be searched using any key (shapes, headstamps, countries, etc.) and the records found can then be sorted in any order, sub-selected, printed, exported, etc.

When a cartridge is identified, MSELECT users can also export most of its data to their own MSELECT database automatically with only a few clicks.

In addition, the ECRA Caliber Data Viewer is more than an "simple" identification database since more than 13,000 documents are linked with the registered calibers: photographs of boxes; specific weapons; patents; factory drawings (about 1,800, including more than 1,000 from the Société Française des Munitions); dimensional details, sectioned ammunition, X-rays; historical data; etc.

History:

The ECDV project was initiated in October 1993 and introduced to the market in 1994 with 10,402 specimens for 5,826 calibers or different case types, the sole objective being the identification of ammunition.

The only information it contained came from the XCR code. There were no photographs, no supporting documents and no dimensional drawings.

To our knowledge, only two or three updates were available by way of a diskette (for a fee) in the first twelve years.

In 2005, the ECRA decided to improve the ECDV by adding photographs, headstamps and profiles of the specimens. This required the creation of new software.

The ECDV2 software which allowed photographs of the specimens was launched in February 2006. This was followed in 2007 by ECDV3 with the addition of supporting documents, and in 2010 by Version 4 which provided some appendices: abbreviations; the great names in the history of ammunition; SAA codes; French markings; GR codes; etc. The purchasers of the software could download, on average, one free update per month.

   

 

 

ECRA Caliber Data Viewer © ECRA 2006

 

visitors since November 11, 2017

 

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