Need a little education here.

Just wondering, why are so many British rifle calibers in inches instead of mm, being that they use the metric system over there?

Probably because the British came up with inches? Google Imperial Units .... :neener:

They used to use inches. That's where we got it from. Don't remember when they switched over.

Well that explains it! Don't I feel like a moron now? Lol. Thanks for the info guys.

That Lil tidbit has been bugging me for the longest time! Lol.

As I said, needed a little education.... Even if it was elementary grade, lol.

That's why it drives me CRAZY that we're not on the metric system. the people who invented our system have admitted that it doesn't make sense, and we cling to it... it's just silly.

Yea true... But I'm quite comfortable with my inches, feet, yards, and miles, LOL!! Imagine the U.S. switching over? At first I was ALL for it, but then I thought: I'll have to go and replace all my tape measures and other tools!! Forget that! Lol!!

Actually the brits still still use imperial units for length. Try watching British TV, they're constantly talking in terms of miles and feet.

they use inches, feet, yards and miles and a squaddie friend of mine refers to 7.62 nato as .308

There is actually a VERY GOOD REASON to cling to imperial units for firearms: minute of angle. 1 inch at 100 yards is precisely 1 MOA. In metric measure, you'd have to compute one minute of angle as a shot grouping of 27.7791 (3 repeating) milimeters at 100 meters distance, or retrain your brain to compute in radians instead of degrees.
There is actually a logic to the imperial system: you can break down your base units into multiples of 2, 3, or 4 (halves, thirds, and quarters), instead of 5s and 10s. Ever tried cutting a pan of cornbread into 5 equal slices? It doesn't work well.

=1 inch at 100 yards is precisely 1 MOA.

Well, um, no. Actually 1MOA is 1.047" per 100yd. But, it's close enough for 99% of us anyways.

As an engineer, I see no reason to switch. I used both English and Metric units throughout college and neither made a problem any easier or harder. All they are is units. Does it matter is something is 1 inch long or 2.54 cm? The object is as long as it is and we are just picking an arbitrary system of measure to describe it.

LOL, yeah... guess I should've mentioned difficulty dividing PI into pieces, too...
*ducks*

I just had this conversation in a boat building forum, and no, we didn't reach an understanding there either.

What it boiled down to is that metric is more convenient when calculating due to the decimal system and imperial is better when you have to use your head due to fractions.

Even though I live in a metric country I call the 7.62 Nato the 308 when talking to other civillian shooters, it's just a name to most without any connection to the bullet size.
It's a bit ironic that you use the metric name and I use the imperial...

So, what do they call a Quarter-Pounder with Cheese in London?

Beats me.
But I have read that if you ask for a pound of butter in a Frenchified country, you get 500 grams.

On the other hand, the US liquor industry LIKES metric. A 750 ml bottle looks a lot like the traditional fifth (of a gallon) but holds less.

There is actually a VERY GOOD REASON to cling to imperial units for firearms: minute of angle.

Actually, Milliradians work quite well when using the metric system. It's what the "Mil" in "Mil-dot reticle refers to. It's an angle subtension equal to 1/1000 of the distance to the object viewed. In other words, at 100 meters, ten mils equals one meter.

It actually makes more sense in a world where most people have ten fingers. But i'm accustomed to inches

Yeah, like I said, unless you want to retrain your brain for radians... noone taught that stuff in TX public schools when I was a kid (not sure they do now).
Of course, the 10 fingers thing... If'n yer frum up North, yew might not know anyone who wears sandals so's they can counts to twelve on ther toes....
If you were from Texas, you'd know you'd better teach your own kids their 4 Rs: readin', ritin', rithmatic, and rifles. Some of the publics schools don't seem to be much good for any of 'em. *end rant tangent*

Yea true... But I'm quite comfortable with my inches, feet, yards, and miles, LOL!! Imagine the U.S. switching over? At first I was ALL for it, but then I thought: I'll have to go and replace all my tape measures and other tools!! Forget that! Lol!!
ARE YOU CRAZY ^^^ An excuse for a free pass with the wife to buy a bunch of new tools "Honey all my tools just became obsolete I got to go buy new ones I'll be home for dinner" and you're wilingl to let that just slide on by....WOW :)

"So, what do they call a Quarter-Pounder with Cheese in London?"

$5.04.

"Quarter Pounder with cheese £2.49"

www.londontoolkit.com/blog/investigates/price-check-at-mcdonalds-burger-king-in-london/

Yeah, like I said, unless you want to retrain your brain for radians... noone taught that stuff in TX public schools when I was a kid (not sure they do now).

If you were taught to calculate the area (PI*R^2) or circumference (2*PI*R) of a circle you were working with radians ...

Look up Infantry Mil versus Artillery Mil and have some geometry fun.

Actually, Milliradians work quite well when using the metric system.

Milliradians work well with any system. Radians are neither english or metric though.

I love metric system for tools--grab a 10mm socket and it fits---none of this 3/8s or 11/16s BS.

But just can't fathom distance in anything other than miles or speed in MPH.

O Yeah............

Well, you all have the same inch anyway.
Back in the day, every european country had it's own measures. That's why Napoleon Bonapart is always referred to as very short, his height was given in french feet while compared to english feet.

Sweden and Norway were united between 1814 and 1905, during that period Sweden had two different lengths of the foot, devided into 12" and 10" while Norway had an entirely different length of the foot.
Madness...

That's why it drives me CRAZY that we're not on the metric system. the people who invented our system have admitted that it doesn't make sense, and we cling to it... it's just silly.

Yeah? Just try laying out a rivit pattern on an aircraft using the metric system. You'll quickly go back to SAE.

By the way, how can the people who invented our system admit it makes no sense? They died many generations ago

Asked, answered and then wandered around for a while.