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Caliber

The term caliber or calibre designates the interior diameter Diameter

n geometry [i], a diameter of a circle [i] is any straight line segment [i] that passes through the cen ... 

 of a tube or the exterior diameter of a wire or rod. It comes from the Italian Italian language

Italian is a Romance language [i] spoken by about 70 million people, primarily in Italy [i] ... 

 calibro, itself from the Arabic Arabic language

The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic [i] branch of the Afro-Asiatic [i] ... 

 qulib , which itself derives from the Hebew 'Kholeb', meaning mold. The term most often appears with respect to firearm Firearm

A firearm is a weapon [i] that fires either single or multiple projectile [i]s propelled at high velocit ... 

s, as a measure of the size of the barrel Gun barrel

The barrel of a gun [i] or other firearm [i] is the tube, usually metal [i], through which a controlled ... 

 in inch Inch

An inch is the name of a unit [i] of length [i] in a number of different systems, ... 

es.

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Encyclopedia

The term caliber or calibre designates the interior diameter Diameter

n geometry [i], a diameter of a circle [i] is any straight line segment [i] that passes through the cen ... 

 of a tube or the exterior diameter of a wire or rod. It comes from the Italian Italian language

Italian is a Romance language [i] spoken by about 70 million people, primarily in Italy [i] ... 

 calibro, itself from the Arabic Arabic language

The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic [i] branch of the Afro-Asiatic [i] ... 

 quâlib , which itself derives from the Hebew 'Kholeb', meaning mold.

The term most often appears with respect to firearm Firearm

A firearm is a weapon [i] that fires either single or multiple projectile [i]s propelled at high velocit ... 

s, as a measure of the size of the barrel Gun barrel

The barrel of a gun [i] or other firearm [i] is the tube, usually metal [i], through which a controlled ... 

 in inch Inch

An inch is the name of a unit [i] of length [i] in a number of different systems, ... 

es.

Firearms

In firearms, the caliber is the diameter of the inside of the barrel. In a rifled Rifling

Rifling refers to helix shaped grooves that have been formed into the barrel of a firearm.... 

 barrel the distance is measured between the lands.

If the measurement is in inches then the caliber is quoted as decimal of an inch, so a rifle with a diameter of 0.22 inch is a .22 cal .

Calibers of weapons can be referred to in metric, as in a "caliber of eighty-eight millimetres" or "a hundred five-millimetre caliber gun" .

Small arms range in bore size from approximately .17 cal. up to .50 cal. Arms used to hunt big game may be as large as .80 caliber. In the middle of the 19th century, musket Musket

A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smoothbore [i] long gun [i], which its user generally fires from the should... 

s and muzzle-loading rifle Rifle

A rifle is a firearm [i] with a stock and a barrel that has a spiral groove or grooves cut into its int ... 

s were .58 cal or larger.

Caliber as measurement of length


The length of the barrel is often quoted in calibers. The effective length of the barrel is divided by the barrel diameter to give a value. As an example, the main guns of the Iowa class battleship Iowa class battleship

The Iowa-class battleships were the biggest, the most powerful, and the last battleship [i]s built f ... 

s can be referred to as 16"/50 caliber. They are 16 inches in diameter and the barrel is 800 inches long . This is also sometimes indicated using the prefix L/, so for example, the most common gun for the Panzer IV Panzer IV

The Panzerkampfwagen IV, more commonly referred to as the Panzer IV, was a tank [i] developed by Germany [i] ... 

 tank is described as a "75 mm L/48," meaning a barrel 75 mm in diameter, and 3600 mm long.

Alternative measurements of bore

Measurement of the bore of large weapons can be, and often was, expressed in pounds. The weapon would be named according to the weight of a sphere of lead Lead

Lead is a chemical element [i] in the periodic table [i] that has the symbol Pb and atomic number [i] ... 

 of the same diameter as the bore. The density of lead was used because it is a traditional material for projectiles.

This leads to certain guns being referred to as 6-pounder, 25-pounder and so forth. However this relationship between calibre and projectile weight changed with the introduction of the cylindrical rifled shell. The gun continued to be named by the weight of projectile it threw although this no longer gave a direct indication of the barrel size.

Shotguns are named according to gauge, a related expression. The gauge of a shotgun refers to how many lead spheres the diameter of the bore would equal a pound. In the case of a 12-gauge shotgun, it would take twelve spheres the size of the shotgun's bore to equal a pound. Counterintuitively, a numerically larger gauge indicates a smaller barrel: a 20-gauge shotgun requires more spheres to equal a pound, therefore its barrel is smaller. This metrics is used in Russia as "caliber number": "shotgun of the twelve caliber". The sixteenth caliber is known as "lordly" .

Rockets and missiles


Dimensions of rockets and missiles, particularly the location of the centre of pressure, are usually expressed in calibres, where one calibre is equal to the body diameter.

Aviation bombs


Some countries use the "caliber" term to classify aviation bombs. The Russian/Soviet bomb caliber is expressed in mass/weight units, but may not be equal to the mass/weight of the munition.

Other uses

In architecture Architecture

* Architectural history [i]
  • Architectural mythology [i]

... 

, the caliber of a column is its diameter. In electricity Electricity

Electricity is a general term for the variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge [i] ... 

, the caliber of an instrument of measure is the maximum value it can measure. In nautical parlance, the caliber of a chain is the diameter of the metal rod used to make each chain link. Agricultural Agriculture

Farming redirects here. For Farming in computer games, see Farmer [i].
... 

 produce is also often ranked by caliber , for instance olive Olive

The Olive is a species [i] of small tree [i] in the family [i] Oleaceae [i], native to coastal ... 

s, pea Pea

A pea is the small, edible round green bean [i] which grows in a pod on the leguminous vine [i] Pisum [i] ... 

s or eggs. In typography Typography

Typography is the art and technique of setting written subject matter in type [i] using a co ... 

, the caliber of a font designates the size of the eye of a character, neglecting any risers or descenders.

In horology, the term is used to distinguish the size and type of movement used within a timepiece.

See also

  • Gauge
  • List of cartridges by caliber List of cartridges by caliber

    For an explanation of caliber, see the main article on calibers [i].... 

  • List of handgun cartridges List of handgun cartridges

    Flat list of handgun [i] cartridges [i], loosely in order of increasing caliber [i]:... 

  • List of rifle cartridges List of rifle cartridges

    Flat list of rifle [i] cartridges, loosely in order of increasing caliber: ...