When Federal announced their new .30 Super Carry cartridge, I was really excited to see the rebirth of the 7.65mm French Long caliber. That round was originally developed for the Pedersen Device in late WW1, and then adopted by the French military for its 1935 pistols and MAS38 submachine gun. It was 7.65x20mm, and it offered good penetration compared to 9x19mm Parabellum with light recoil.

Well, the new Federal cartridge is actually not deliberately based on that French heritage - the Federal folks I spoke with at SHOT show had never heard of it (rather to my disappointment). They independently developed a straight-wall .32 caliber long semiauto pistol cartridge because modern bullet construction allows it to have equivalent terminal performance to 9x19 with about a 20% increase in magazine capacity. The .30 Super Carry is a substantially higher pressure round than the old French cartridge (50,000 psi), so that is can obtain a good velocity (1250 fps with a 100-grain projectile) from the short barrel of a subcompact carry pistol.

I think the cartridge has interesting applications in two main areas. One is subcompact carry pistols, like the S&W Shield Plus that has been released in .30SC. With a 17-round (!) capacity, it removes (IMO) any need to carry a spare magazine. The other area is in PDWs and PCCs. Being able to have full-size magazines with 20% more ammunition than 9x19 models would be a nice advantage in a carbine sort of platform, and the high working pressure of the cartridge will also likely give it a nice bump in velocity out of a 10"-16" barrel.