The word caliber just means diameter. So my rifle shoots bullets that are .243 inches in diameter. That is the easiest way to put it. When talking to someone, you will hear them say "I have a 30 caliber." At first you might say, that's a small round, right? after all, 243 is not a big round, so 30 must be tiny!! Not so. My 243 is .243 inches in diameter, and 30 caliber is actually .30 inches in diameter. So depending on the round, you might here a 30 caliber called a "300" or a "30", it really just depends on the caliber of the gun.
Below is a chart that shows the size of a few of the most popular hunting calibers:
There are two different measuring systems when it comes to calibers. There is the imperial system (what Americans use i.e. fractions of an inch), and the metric system. So, for example, I shoot a .243, which according to the chart is smaller than a .270 Winchester, and larger than a .223 WSSM (Winchest Super Short Magnum). Makes sense, right? Excellent, but to the right is a 7mm Remington Magnum! So what is the difference between a 7mm and a .270? Also that 7mm Mag is wedged between a .270 and a .30-06 two rounds over!! I get that the .30 means 30 caliber, but what is the -06 for??
There are MANY different calibers out there. And some give you more information than others in their name.
For example:
.243 Winchester - a bullet that is .243 inches in diameter, and was created by Winchester.
A lot of times, the name of the company that created the round is in the name somewhere.
To name a few:
Winchester
Remington
Lapua
Federal
Springfield
Other times, the name or nickname of the round gives you more information:
7mm Remington Magnum - a bullet that is 7 millimeters in diameter, was created by Remington, and is a magnum. What is a magnum? It just means that it has more gun powder behind it that its predecessor the 7mm-08. What's the -08? See below:
.30-06: a bullet that is .30 inches in diameter. The -06 is the year in which it was created. Same for the -08 for the 7mm. So it's a 30 caliber round, and it was created in 1906, for the U.S. Army.
What about others? Like the .30/30, It wasn't adopted in 1930... See, this is yet another way to express the round's characteristics. This is also a 30 caliber round, but the second 30 in its name is how many grains of powder that it has in the casing.
Now you can see why so many people get confused when it comes to caliber characteristics. A lot of it comes down to memorization. The larger the caliber of the bullet, does not always mean the more powerful the gun. For example a .357 Magnum might get confused for an ultra powerful rifle round. Right? It's bigger than my .243, and it says Magnum behind it. It must be a big powerful round! Nope, The .357 Magnum is a short caliber, used in lever-action rifles, and pistols. So it's a very powerful caliber for a pistol, but a pretty small caliber for a rifle. Once again, it just takes memorization. There's no real rhyme or reason to it, other than the bullet caliber telling you the diameter. So while the diameter of the .357 is larger than my .243 Win, the .243 Win is still a longer, heavier round, with much more gun powder behind it.
You will always know the caliber by what the person says. Whether its a .308, .300 Winchester Magnum (often pronounced 300 Win Mag), or a .22, just by hearing the number in the front of the name. Once you can see what the casing looks like and just remember how much more power is behind each round, you'll be fine.
We will talk trajectories, and ballistics in a later post.
Please leave comments below if you have any questions, or need clarification on anything. I'd be happy to help you understand, or maybe we will both be able to learn something new together!
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