DECIMAL POINTS - My Gripe of the Day!

bhk · Jan 9, 2012

I hate to be picky, and generally say 'live and let live' on the clip vs. magazine fights. But the misuse of decimal points when describing calibers, gauges, and bullet weights is just wrong and drives me crazy. Just his morning I read about .12 gauge shotguns (no such thing), .200 grain bullets for bear (no such thing), and .9 mm handguns (no such thing) . Gee guys, lets get this stuff right! We should know better. Drop the previous decimal points and everything becomes correct. Leave them there and we are making errors of tens, hundreds, or thousands. That is not small stuff.

For decades I read these errors in the press and am not surprised by their ignorance. I often write the editor/author of these mistakes and, believe it or not, have had some success in correcting their ways. To see these things on gun pages makes me sad. I can see beginners making this mistakes, but some of the posters seem to be reasonably experienced shooters. What gives?

I try not to correct the errors of individual posters (but have on occasion) because I believe it is somewhat rude and most of us know what they mean anyway, so I am expressing my minor frustration with this post. And just maybe I have too much time on my hands.

Stophel · Jan 9, 2012

I really like the 12 guage shotguns everybody has...

rcmodel · Jan 9, 2012

Well, I know the differance.
But I sometimes find myself adding a . that shouldn't be there out of habit.

Then, it seems about 90+% of the time, a post about a caliber should have a period in front of the caliber, and it doesn't get one.

More folks make that mistake then the other one you ask about.

rc

Dnaltrop · Jan 9, 2012

Curse you, now you have me wondering how a .9mm round "Could" be, what the cartridge would look like, how many you could cram into a magazine, and how it could be designed to be effective....

Micro shaped-charges firing jets of molten copper? Miniature rockets with secondary boost and explosive charges?

tarosean · Jan 9, 2012

Ive come to the conclusion on forums I'm happy when it's coherent and they use full words.

Plus paragraphs.

firesky101 · Jan 9, 2012

I want a .12 gauge shot gun. I would not shoot it, but imagine the bore size :evil:

Red Cent · Jan 9, 2012

And when it is apparent that they have an old computer that inserts double "a"s or none at all.

Jeff H · Jan 9, 2012

I leave the decimal point out sometimes when speaking or typing 7.62. I figure that most people know what I am referring to.

btg3 · Jan 9, 2012

misuse of decimal points when decribing

Drop the previous decimals points

occassion

...whatever...

(Are you experienced with the English language or a beginner?

)

THe Dove · Jan 9, 2012

^^^

BWAHAHAHA

Now dats fuunnnyyyy!!!!

The Dove

bhk · Jan 9, 2012

btg3 said:
...whatever...

(Are you experienced with the English language or a beginner? )

GOT ME! I am fixing my typos. Can't make errors while complaining about others. I am plenty experienced, but I am lousy at proofing my own typing. Thanks for proofing.

I am sure many of the decimal errors I see are also typos. That is not a huge deal. I just want to make sure everyone knows the correct way to write calibers, gauges, etc.

CAR-AR · Jan 9, 2012

Use a spell checker.

dev_null · Jan 9, 2012

I want a .12 gauge shot gun. I would not shoot it, but imagine the bore size

We call that a naval gun, I think?

beeenbag · Jan 9, 2012

Why so anal?

You obviously get the picture...

Now I'm off to shoot my .9mm and 3.57 magnum, Maybe even a 45.0 acp, 22.3 or two.

See, you still knew what I was talking about.

beatledog7 · Jan 9, 2012

Ver.y fu.nny!

NG VI · Jan 9, 2012

Ive come to the conclusion on forums I'm happy when it's coherent and they use full words.

Plus paragraphs.

Sometimes I can't stop myself from just responding to ask the OP to please not give us one massive block of text.

deadin · Jan 9, 2012

I think there's a name for folks that seem to enjoy being upset...... :evil:

blarby · Jan 9, 2012

I want a .12 gauge shot gun. I would not shoot it, but imagine the bore size

FWIW :

A½ ga 76.20 mm 3.000in 2626.39g 92.64oz 40530gr

Would be about as close as you could get to a .12 gauge.

I too, want it.

ApacheCoTodd · Jan 9, 2012

bhk said:
I hate to be picky, and generally say 'live and let live' on the clip vs. magazine fights. But the misuse of decimal points when describing calibers, gauges, and bullet weights is just wrong and drives me crazy. Just his morning I read about .12 gauge shotguns (no such thing), .200 grain bullets for bear (no such thing), and .9 mm handguns (no such thing) . Gee guys, lets get this stuff right! We should know better. Drop the previous decimal points and everything becomes correct. Leave them there and we are making errors of tens, hundreds, or thousands. That is not small stuff.

For decades I read these errors in the press and am not surprised by their ignorance. I often write the editor/author of these mistakes and, believe it or not, have had some success in correcting their ways. To see these things on gun pages makes me sad. I can see beginners making this mistakes, but some of the posters seem to be reasonably experienced shooters. What gives?

I try not to correct the errors of individual posters (but have on occasion) because I believe it is somewhat rude and most of us know what they mean anyway, so I am expressing my minor frustration with this post. And just maybe I have too much time on my hands.

Of course the error is in fact in tenths, hundredths and thousandths rather than tens, hundreds and thousands - but pointing that out and getting picky to the degree (pun intended) of pestering folk would just plain be silly.

bhk · Jan 9, 2012

Don't get me wrong, my original post was expressing a MINOR frustration. It is not a big deal. As a matter of fact, I often find the same humor in the situation as several other posters have expressed. How large a dinosaur would be suitable game for a .12 gauge shotgun and would roaches be suitable targets for a .9mm handgun? Would the .200 grain bullet I saw posted this morning be more suitable for these roaches than for the bear the poster I read this morning intended them for? Fun stuff, not serious pickiness.

I guess my only concern was that there may be a few members here that really don’t know the difference and may have a little learning to do. Now I am going to go see how many .9 millimeter cartridges I can fit in the CLIP for my Glock.

JohnBT · Jan 9, 2012

"45.0 acp"

ACP needs to be capitalized. Proper name, etc. and so forth.

ApacheCoTodd · Jan 9, 2012

Hell BHK - if it weren't for peeves we'd all be a lot more boring.

W.E.G. · Jan 9, 2012

site picture

Sobel · Jan 9, 2012

I understand, but it makes me more upset when my friend who has a polish m44 is shocked to see my russian 91/30 has the same bolt. Even more shocked that they share the same ammo.

303tom · Jan 9, 2012

bhk said:
I hate to be picky, and generally say 'live and let live' on the clip vs. magazine fights. But the misuse of decimal points when describing calibers, gauges, and bullet weights is just wrong and drives me crazy. Just his morning I read about .12 gauge shotguns (no such thing), .200 grain bullets for bear (no such thing), and .9 mm handguns (no such thing) . Gee guys, lets get this stuff right! We should know better. Drop the previous decimal points and everything becomes correct. Leave them there and we are making errors of tens, hundreds, or thousands. That is not small stuff.

For decades I read these errors in the press and am not surprised by their ignorance. I often write the editor/author of these mistakes and, believe it or not, have had some success in correcting their ways. To see these things on gun pages makes me sad. I can see beginners making this mistakes, but some of the posters seem to be reasonably experienced shooters. What gives?

I try not to correct the errors of individual posters (but have on occasion) because I believe it is somewhat rude and most of us know what they mean anyway, so I am expressing my minor frustration with this post. And just maybe I have too much time on my hands.

I know it`s crazy ain`t it, I only know of one place where a decimal point belongs in shot gun talk & that is the .410 but O well you know how some people are........

DECIMAL POINTS - My Gripe of the Day!

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