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The Esses Aren't All At LeMans
Jim,
There has been a lot of confusion and conflicting info over the years regarding the meaning of this or that abbreviation. The later bullet was indeed "Schweres" meaning heavy, but the cartridge designation by the German ordnance board used the letter I for Infanterie (usually abbreviated in the west as "J" and assumed by us to be for Jaeger, hunter) and "S" for Spitz geschoss (see attached picture of the German script). Here is a quote from Wiki:
"The letter 'J' is actually not a 'J' at all, but an 'I' for Infanterie (infantry). However, at the time the German printers were using a typeface in which the letter 'I' looked like the modern 'J'. The letter 'S' stands for Spitzgeschoß (pointed bullet), and the English word "spitzer" is derived from this German term."
As you note, the single S (for Schweres, the heavy 198 gr spitz geschoss bullet) marking indicated a 323 bore. That change (again, as I recall) was precipitated by the poor performance of the lighter bullet in the MG-15 in WW1. The heavier bullet increased the effective range of the round significantly and directly contributed to the horrible casualties incurred by the troops facing those guns.
I have read extensively about all this years back, with an occasional re-load of the info, but the "S's" were rattlin' all around my head ;). Thanks for (kindly) pointing it out.
Regards,
Maj Dad