Magnum originally meant extended case ie the .357 magnum is the extended case version of the .38 special.
The belts on belted magnums were initially put on the .375 H&H magnum (rimless nitro express originally) as it was believed there was not enough shoulder for reliable head spacing.
They then became marketing tags as used by Weatherby, Winchester and Remington who used the .375 as a parent case for their subsequent magnum cartridges. And thus the “belted magnums” were born.
This is similar to the “express” tag used for marketing the latest and greatest big game cartridges at the turn of the 20th century.
Magnum is mostly and American thing, European cartridges don’t get the magnum tag despite case size and velocity ie a 7x64 isn’t called a 7x57 magnum
We have gone a away from the magnum marketing now and most new cartridges don’t get the tag despite being very fast ie Nosler, Ruger, Dakota etc.
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