Kalos
Member
For as long as I can remember, I was given to believe that the caliber of a particular ammunition referred to the diameter of the projectile, generally in decimal inches--hence, a .22 would be .22" in dia, a 9mm would be, well, 9mm, a .50 would be half an inch, and so on.
Then, I happened to fire a friend's gun, and got hooked. So I started learning more about firearms, and came to an interesting anomaly--you can fire .38 spl rounds in a .357 mag revo. Now, if a .357 is .357" and a .38 is .38", you'd not be able to fit a .38 round into the chamber of a .357 and a .357 would fall right through the chamber of a .38. (Never mind, for now, that pesky rim.) After asking about, I find out that a .38 isn't .38, it's .357". Then I find out that a .45 isn't .45, it's .454. I had a table listing these things, but dunno where it's off to--but the point is still there. Whatever the caliber of a round is referring to, it's obviously not the size of the bullet.
So what is it? Or is there anything at all--do the numbers just get slapped on there willy-nilly? I'm rather curious.
Then, I happened to fire a friend's gun, and got hooked. So I started learning more about firearms, and came to an interesting anomaly--you can fire .38 spl rounds in a .357 mag revo. Now, if a .357 is .357" and a .38 is .38", you'd not be able to fit a .38 round into the chamber of a .357 and a .357 would fall right through the chamber of a .38. (Never mind, for now, that pesky rim.) After asking about, I find out that a .38 isn't .38, it's .357". Then I find out that a .45 isn't .45, it's .454. I had a table listing these things, but dunno where it's off to--but the point is still there. Whatever the caliber of a round is referring to, it's obviously not the size of the bullet.
So what is it? Or is there anything at all--do the numbers just get slapped on there willy-nilly? I'm rather curious.