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ARMAG

Search matches names, aliases and the text of every page. An arm found by its service designation is found by its alias, not its title.

5.8×42mm

Introduced 1987People’s Liberation Army

Also known as DBP87, 5.8 Chinese — the same cartridge under different names, all of which find this page.

Dimensions and pressure

Generated from the schema, like every specification table on this site, so a figure recorded on this entry cannot be missing from the table.

Identity
Designed by
People’s Liberation Army
Introduced
1987
Production
not recorded
Standards body
No standards body
Case type
Rimless
Case shape
Bottleneck
Dimensions
Bullet diameter
5.8 mm0.2283 inestimatedsource

No standards body publishes this cartridge: C.I.P. does not list it and the Chinese GJB standard is not free. This is the uncited infobox figure of the article named, and it is a lead rather than a standard.

Bore diameter
not recorded
Case length
42.2 mm1.661 inestimatedsource

No standards body publishes this cartridge: C.I.P. does not list it and the Chinese GJB standard is not free. This is the uncited infobox figure of the article named, and it is a lead rather than a standard.

Overall length
58 mm2.283 inestimatedsource

No standards body publishes this cartridge: C.I.P. does not list it and the Chinese GJB standard is not free. This is the uncited infobox figure of the article named, and it is a lead rather than a standard.

Rim diameter
10.42 mm0.4102 inestimatedsource

No standards body publishes this cartridge: C.I.P. does not list it and the Chinese GJB standard is not free. This is the uncited infobox figure of the article named, and it is a lead rather than a standard.

Neck diameter
6.65 mm0.2618 inestimatedsource

No standards body publishes this cartridge: C.I.P. does not list it and the Chinese GJB standard is not free. This is the uncited infobox figure of the article named, and it is a lead rather than a standard.

Base diameter
10.4 mm0.4094 inestimatedsource

No standards body publishes this cartridge: C.I.P. does not list it and the Chinese GJB standard is not free. This is the uncited infobox figure of the article named, and it is a lead rather than a standard.

Pressure
Maximum pressure
not recorded
Pressure standard
not recorded

SAAMI and C.I.P. measure pressure differently and their figures are not interchangeable, which is why the body is always named beside the figure.

Loads

Velocity is recorded per barrel length as published. A gun page interpolates between these points and never projects beyond them.

DBP87/95 ball

Bullet mass
4.15 g64.04 grsource

Ballistics table of the cited article, which publishes bullet mass in grams.

Cartridge mass
not recorded
Bullet type
FMJ
G1 BC
not recorded
G7 BC
not recorded
Sourced velocity by barrel length
BarrelVelocity
557 mm21.93 in930 m/s3,051 fps

DBP88 heavy ball

Bullet mass
5 g77.16 grsource

Ballistics table of the cited article, which publishes bullet mass in grams.

Cartridge mass
not recorded
Bullet type
FMJ
G1 BC
not recorded
G7 BC
not recorded
Sourced velocity by barrel length
BarrelVelocity
557 mm21.93 in870 m/s2,854 fps

DBP10 ball

Bullet mass
4.6 g70.99 grsource

Ballistics table of the cited article, which publishes bullet mass in grams.

Cartridge mass
not recorded
Bullet type
FMJ
G1 BC
not recorded
G7 BC
not recorded
Sourced velocity by barrel length
BarrelVelocity
557 mm21.93 in915 m/s3,002 fps

Chambered in

Computed from every entry that lists this cartridge. Nothing here is hand-maintained.

Gallery

A 5.8×42mm cartridge lying horizontally, its case finished in matt black with a copper-jacketed pointed bullet.

Image credit

Title
File:5.8x42 mm.jpg
Author
B4Ctom1 ( talk )(attribution required)
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Source
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:5.8x42_mm.jpg
A 5.8×42mm round. The black finish on the case is the lacquer used on Chinese service ammunition.

Detail

China spent eight years from 1979 developing a cartridge to replace both the 7.62×39mm and the 7.62×54mmR in one calibre, and the 5.8×42mm is the only wholly new service rifle round any major power has fielded since the 1970s. Its specification was written against both Western and Soviet small-calibre rounds: a heavier bullet than either at a similar velocity, on the argument that retained energy at 600 m matters more than muzzle figures.

Two loadings existed for a decade because one cartridge could not do both jobs — the lighter DBP87 for the rifle and the heavier DBP88 for machine guns and marksman rifles — and the DBP10 of 2010 was an attempt to replace both with a single round.

No standards body publishes it. C.I.P. lists no 5.8 mm cartridge at all, the Chinese national defence standard is not free, and every dimension on this page is therefore an encyclopedia figure recorded as an estimate. The three load rows are better founded: the article states the 557 mm test barrel that produced them, and ½mv² reproduces its published energies exactly.

References

  1. 5.8×42mm · 1351746144 · read 2026-08-31

Last verified 2026-08-31 · review status: agent-populated