Cartridge vs. Caliber

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mavracer said:
While you're at it call Remington.
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Giggle snort.........
 
The gun companies and especially their marketing departments, are always going to shoot for the lowest common denominator. If the wrong word is popular, they're going to use it. Popularity doesn't equal correct. Often it's right the opposite.

Sometimes they're just redundant. One good example is identifying revolvers as ".38/.357". This is so all those who don't know any better know that you can shoot .38Spl's in their .357's, without having to call the company and ask a dumb question. One that I've been seeing that makes no sense is "grain weight". It's like asking someone, "what's your pound weight"? It's all language intended to avoid confusion among those who know the least. Does that mean we should all start using it? I don't think so.
 
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film495 said:
lol ... has caliber been used that way to mean cartrdige for a long time or is that a new standard?
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I’m not sure, but here are some pictures of a few pages in one of the 1962 Winchester-Western catalogs my mom and dad had in their country store/gas station. I was 14 years-old in 1962, and my report cards would have probably looked a lot better if I would have spent half as much time studying my school books as I spent studying those catalogs.
Of course, if the internet would have been around back then, I might have done much worse in school because I would have probably spent even more time on internet gun forums than I spent studying gun catalogs like this one. I probably wouldn’t have confused “caliber” with “cartridge” though. And I would not have used the term “grain weight” any more than I would have used terms like “pound weight” or “meter distance.” ;)
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AJC1 said:
Common misuse of a word and further perpetuation kinda changes the language over time.
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I think you’re exactly right. Enlarge the pictures of the pages in the 1962 Winchester-Western Catalog I posted (post #82 in this thread) and look closely at them. It’s quite obvious that Winchester knew the difference between “cartridge” and “caliber” back in 1962. However, if you look online nowadays at either winchesterguns.com or just winchester.com, it appears they’ve forgotten. ;)
 
.308 Norma said:
I think you’re exactly right. Enlarge the pictures of the pages in the 1962 Winchester-Western Catalog I posted (post #82 in this thread) and look closely at them. It’s quite obvious that Winchester knew the difference between “cartridge” and “caliber” back in 1962. However, if you look online nowadays at either winchesterguns.com or just winchester.com, it appears they’ve forgotten. ;)
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There’s lots of words most people knew in 1962 that don’t mean much anymore. When’s the last time were asked where the nearest phone booth was located? :D

I still remember listening to a pair of old timers at the gun club arguing about whether a pistol could be a revolver or if the word referred to the shape of a self-loading handgun. Also recall more recently debates at my old club whether handguns were generically anything that was not shoulder or pintle mounted or if it only referred to weapons which could be fired with one hand. The topic came up in reference to pistol grip shotguns - no butt stock.
 
GeoDudeFlorida said:
There’s lots of words most people knew in 1962 that don’t mean much anymore. When’s the last time were asked where the nearest phone booth was located? :D

I still remember listening to a pair of old timers at the gun club arguing about whether a pistol could be a revolver or if the word referred to the shape of a self-loading handgun. Also recall more recently debates at my old club whether handguns were generically anything that was not shoulder or pintle mounted or if it only referred to weapons which could be fired with one hand. The topic came up in reference to pistol grip shotguns - no butt stock.
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I infer you are referencing the Shockwave witch is not something I would own but fits your talking point.
 
AJC1 said:
I infer you are referencing the Shockwave witch is not something I would own but fits your talking point.
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No, this was around 1997/98 - unless the Shockwave is actually that old??? - and iirc the guys debating were talking about how movies show things being used like a handgun that nobody would ever consider a handgun - so some joker had to claim, if it’s used like a handgun, then it’s a handgun. Well, you know what happened next…
 
it reminds me of the video game thing, where kids say "We're versus the Crawfish" today, instead of saying we're playing the Crawfish today, crawfish being the name of another team. heard this a lot, always seemed weird, but - it is so common from learning things from video games, it is just the new language.

another example I have is from pledging a fraternity in college. we called people who were considering pledging to be "Perspectives". this was the language used for 2 semesters, everyone in the fraternity used the same term the same way. one day someone pointed out the word should really be "Prospects" and that we were just using the wrong word. we gave up saying Perspectives pretty quickly once we realized how dumb it actually sounded.
 
film495 said:
it reminds me of the video game thing, where kids say "We're versus the Crawfish" today, instead of saying we're playing the Crawfish today, crawfish being the name of another team
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Naw, crawfish is mudbugs and make for real good eats. They’re talking popcorn and turkey in another thread. Y’all are just awful for my waistline! :rofl:
I try not to get too juiced over things like whether it’s a Dodge Caliber or an ink cartridge - unless we’re talking fountain pens - but clips are for chips, dagnabbit!:cuss:
 
Jitters said:
There is some potential for not understanding the difference leading to a wasted trip and wrong ammo or worse a wrecked gun or injury. Maybe a 7MM Mauser in a rifle marked 7MM Express or something like that.
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That's true, and in the case of the 280 Remington, Remington added to the confusion by changing its name to "7mm Express" in 1979, then back to 280 Remington a little while later. o_O
BTW, welcome to the forum, Jitters! :)
 
.308 Norma said:
That's true, and in the case of the 280 Remington, Remington added to the confusion by changing its name to "7mm Express" in 1979, then back to 280 Remington a little while later. o_O
BTW, welcome to the forum, Jitters! :)
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Yes, the firearm industry really has not done us any favors in naming cartridges.

The European system has some sense to it (caliber x case length such ad 9x19) but it has some anomalies that add to confusion.

The US cartridge designation system is down right confusing at times. Example, a 44-40 is 44 caliber bullet (actually .429 diameter) and 40 grains of black powder. But, a 38-40 cartridge is a 40 caliber bullet over 38 grains of black powder.

The inconsistencies in nomenclature are endless.

So, one needs a “dance card” to know the basics of each cartridge.

It is no wonder we are so confused. :)
 
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Calibers? Inches! Or fractions thereof.
I’m done with this thread!
I’m BORED!
.303? 9.3? .308?

All bores!


How’s that!?
 
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