caliber
2007-03-20 04:46:23 · 7 answers · asked by Chris E 1 in Sports ➔ Outdoor Recreation ➔ Hunting
The smallest pistol caliber is the obselete 2.7mm Kolibri. Then come the 3mm and 4.25mm. I assume you are asking about guns fired from the shoulder or in the hand, not 32 inch cannons. The biggest caliber made in some quantity for such guns is the nominal 4 bore (actually 5-6 bore, usually). A true 4 bore is about 1.035". A few 2 bores were made. Sir Samuel Baker had one in Africa in the 1880's. He said when he fired it, he was spun about like "a weathercock in a hurricane".
2007-03-21 04:02:42 · answer #1 · answered by miyuki & kyojin 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's a confusing issue. For artillery, caliber can mean the length of the barrel in relationship to its bore size, but in general use for personal firearms it has to do with bore size. Rifled barrels, in both pistols and rifles, have rifling grooves cut or otherwise impressed into them, so the bore size is the distance between the lands, but there's also a slightly larger measurement, the distance between the grooves, as well. Either, and sometimes only a general approximation can be used, and the measurement may be expressed in tenths or hundredths of an inch, or in millimeters. Insofar as I know, the smallest caliber firearm ever was the 2.7 mm Kolibri pistol, and there is occasional interest in 14 caliber rifles, and they go up to the 700 Nitro Express, not to mention the old "bore-guage" rifles, in which a 4 guage means that if it were loaded with a spherical ball of pure lead (which they aren't) it would be of such a size as to have 4 balls to the ounce.
Of course manufacturing tolerances are not always that precise, and sometimes they're purposely given a name with a number that's slightly off in order to avoid confusion with previously existing cartridges. For instance, the 22 caliber cartridges include a slew that have a groove diameter of .224" and they're named with such colorful if not completely accurate names as the 218 Bee, 219 Wasp, 22 Hornet, 220 Rocket, 221 Fireball, 222 Remington, 223 Remington (AKA 5.56x45 NATO), and 225 Winchester. I'd suggest Barnes's Cartridges of the World as a good starting spot to learn some of the calibers that are and have been available.
2007-03-20 05:57:20 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Caliber is a way of measuring width or diameter. The 'sub-calibers' are: .17; .22; 5.7mm (approx. .23 caliber); and .25; then they range from about .30 caliber to .700 (in the .700 Nitro Express). I am excluding the cannons and howitzers.
If you are asking, "How are they measured?" That is a convoluted process too complicated to try to explain here. Sometimes the actual diameter of the bullet itself is measured and sometimes it is the inside diameter of the barrel firing the bullet that is measured.
I hope that helped, anyway.
H
2007-03-20 06:35:12 · answer #3 · answered by H 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Caliber is a measure of the inside diameter of the barrel in inches or hundredths of an inch.
Modern small arms range in bore size from approximately .17 (4.5 mm) up to .50 caliber (12.7 mm).
2007-03-20 04:53:25 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
the smallest is .17 right now I believe, an expression of the inside diameter of the bore in inches. Can also be expressed in millimeters, the .223 M16A2 is 5.56 mm. there is commonly the .22, the .30-'06 (refers to the year it was developed,) the .50 is the highest in rifle or pistol I believe. AK 47 is 7.62 mm, and many variations on this theme.
2007-03-20 04:53:35 · answer #5 · answered by David B 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hand guns: 17; 22; 25; 32; 9mm; 40; 10mm; 357; 38; 44; 45; 50; and on and on.
Rifles: 17; 22; 222; 223; 243; 270; 7mm; 284; 300; 308; 325; 338; 44; 444; and on, and on, and on, and on, and on and, on!
2007-03-20 04:58:28 · answer #6 · answered by LBP 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
is a 357. mag more powerful the a 9mm or 40 ca. s&w?
2017-03-06 17:22:12 · answer #7 · answered by kynn M 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋