Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 90, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 February 1917 — WHAT CALIBER OF GUN MEANS [ARTICLE]

WHAT CALIBER OF GUN MEANS

Term as Applied to Artillery Is Cause of Confusion in the Popular Mind. Confusion as to the meaning of the term caliber arises chiefly from its use as an adjective to indicate length, as when we say “a 50-caliber six-inch gun.” The word caliber, as applied to artillery, signifies the diameter of the bore of a gun measured diametrically from face to face of the bore, of course somewhat larger. A gun, thefl, of six-inch caliber is a gun whose bore is just six inches. For convenience and because the power of a gun when once its bore has been decided upon depends so greatly upon its length artillerists are in the habit of defining the lengilvof the gun in terms of the caliber. Thus the 12-inch United States naval gun.', which is -k) feet in length, is spoken of as a 40-caliber 12-inch, the length being just 40 times the bore. The (>-ineh rapid-fire gun is a trifle under 25 feet in length ami is therefore known as a 50-caliber gun. In the case of small arms the caliber is expressed in hundredths of an TiTch, as .when we sfly a 22-cutiber volver -we mean one with a bore that has a diameter of .22 of fin inch.