I have a very /noguns/ question. Caliber is supposed to be an

>>32211148

Calibre is the diameter of the round.

>>32211148
There is no standard for naming cartridges. None. The 30-06, for instance, is named after its bore diameter and the year it was introduced. Sorry if it's confusing.

>>32211148
AE:12.7×33mm
BMG:12.7×99mm
See the similiarity? .50 calibers is the 0.5 inch diameter of the barrel before the rifling is cut into it. It is the bullet itself that is relevant here.

>>32211175
>>32211332

From pic related it kind of looks like the bullet itself has a different diameter, or is that just a bad angle?

>>32211184

What about the 2nd question? how come bigger caliber bullets are usually weaker than lower calibers? .45 vs 44 for example

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One is a pistol caliber the other a revolver caliber, the diameter maters but the amount of powder and the velocity also

>>32211405

>Stainless steel casing.

How does it compares to brass?

>>32211352
The amount of powder behind the round is what makes it powerful. .44s have more powder than .45s usually.

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>>32211352
>how come bigger caliber bullets are usually weaker than lower calibers
There's no rule to it, it's just firearms designers doing as they please and people not using the real definitions because it's easier not to.
.44: 10.9×33mm
.45: 11.43×23mm
The .44 has a 10mm longer case, so despite it being .53 thinner, it's actually a larger round. The caliber is just the diameter of the bullet.

>>32211352
>From pic related it kind of looks like the bullet itself has a different diameter, or is that just a bad angle?
Despite being of the same caliber, the .50BMG is actually 3mm thicker.

Not op but I've always wondered why the .44 was even called .44 if the actual caliber is like .427 or.428

>>32211352
>.45 vs 44 for example
.45 what ?
.44 what ?

different calibers have different names


to the typical firearms owner .45 means .45ACP and .44 means .44mag

but do you mean the same ?

>>32211529
historical reasons

it took like 20 different cartridges to land at the 38special and it's far away from a .38" bullet

>>32211535
>but do you mean the same
He clearly lacks in-depth knowledge of ammunition, so yes, he means .44 magnum and .45ACP, because thats what everyone means when they talk of .44 and .45.

>>32211148
Like Phil said, there is just about no standard for naming cartridges. To cover your questions:

.50 AE and .50 BMG are both the same diameter at the base of the bullet, the bullet being the copper/lead at the tip of the cartridge. Caliber used to be referred to as 'of an inch', that's why old paper ammunition says "44/100s of an inch caliber' because a 'Caliber' is literally an inch. So .44 caliber is 44/100 of an inch.

Now, names like "45-70" are derived from
45 = diameter of bullet and
70 = grains of black powder in cartridge
Govt. simply denotes its use as a military cartridge.

A .45 is weaker than a .44, but only in most cases. The reason why is because simply ".45" can refer to .45 Auto (most commonly) .45 Colt (blackpowder revolver cartridge which was very powerful for it's time) or .454 Casull, which far surpasses .44 Magnum.

Now, you could also say .'44' refers to .44 Magnum (most commonly), .44 Special (the precursor to .44 Magnum, which is much weaker) or even .44-40, a blackpowder .44 chambering in revolvers and leveractions.

Now you see that, yes, a .44 REMINGTON MAGNUM is more powerful than a .45 AUTO

But a .44 SPECIAL is less powerful than a .454 CASULL.

The problem isn't necessarily a flawed system, it's a lack of specification as to which cartridge you are speaking of.

The basis of the question is also slightly flawed because a .38 Special is definitely less powerful than a .45 Auto.

Notice a .357 Magnum has the same diameter as 9MM, but 9MM denotes 9x19MM Parabellum, a rimless semiautomatic handgun caliber, while .357 Magnum denotes a rimmed revolver cartridge.

Now your question on '.40 and .45 being on the same level' comes down to understanding the factors in ballistics. .45 Auto is .45 caliber, moving at 900 FPS at 230 grains for 352 Footpounds. .40 S&W is .40 caliber moving at 1,050 FPS at 180 grains for 441 footpounds.

Combining velocity and weight and diameter gives a rough understanding of power.

>>32211548
well a 100 years ago everybody meant 45Colt and 44 S&W or 44Russian

who knows what cave he crawled out of

>>32211574
Well, he certainly doesn't have Google in his cave that's for sure.

>>32211574
Yeah, but these days .45ACP and .44 Magnum are found everywhere in the media. 1911 are classics in games, and .44 Mag revolvers are pretty much always THE big revolvers in whatever they're in, thanks to
>I know what you’re thinking: 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do you, punk?

>>32211352

bullet diameter doesn't strictly mean more powerful, this is due to mainly the powder charge and slightly less so to bullet mass. i.e a long bullet has more energy and mass than a shorter bullet of the same diameter assuming both have equal powder charges.

>>32211567
Continuing off my previous post, cartridges cannot really be measured in power because typically service handgun cartridges have little variation in efficiency below a certain cartridge.

9MM, .40 SW, .45 Auto, etc. see little difference in how well they work, but once you move into magnums like .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, .454 Casull and etc. you start to see much more 'stopping power' so to speak.

Now even though .40 SW has more footpounds, you don't really see a difference compared to .45 Auto. Why? Because the true king of power comes down to one factor:

Shot placement.

Now, of course, as you move up in caliber, especially rifle calibers (.223 Remington, .308 Winchester) it becomes less precise as a factor, but .22 Long Rifle actually comes out on top a lot of times in terms of lethality simply because so many shots are fired because of the low recoil and the small diameter, weight, and rather high velocity tend to cause the bullet to literally bounce around inside the body.

Ballistics are such a complicated matter which is effected by literally dozens of factors that depend not only on the round, but the firearm, shooter, target, and anything that physics can throw at you.

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>>32211597

>>32211428
It's actually just nickel plated brass.

Steel, however, is generally a worse material for cases than brass because it isn't as malleable as brass.

>Caliber is supposed to be an unit of measurement

Not really. Centimetre is a unit of measurement, miles are a unit of measurement. Calibre is just a measurement, like someone's height, or the distance between two cities. It's what you measure, not what you count the measurement in.

The exception is that the barrels for big guns (tank guns, anti aircraft guns, naval guns, that kind of thing) are often measured in calibres, in which case it's the calibre of that gun in question. So a 120mm L40 gun has a calibre of 120mm, and the barrel is forty calibres long, 120mm*40 = 4.8 metres long. It's very rare to see anyone talk about the barrel lengths of handheld guns like that though.

>>32211744
>"In guns, particularly firearms, caliber or calibre is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel, or the diameter of the projectile it fires, in hundredths or sometimes thousandths of an inch. For example, a "45 caliber" firearm has a barrel diameter of .45 of an inch."

Per wikipedia.org

>>32211148

.50 cal means .5 of an inch from the widest radius from the side of the projectile, not tip to tail. Caliber just means inch-in-diameter. The measurement of the cylinder of the projectile itself.

For instance, .50BMG is a .5 inch projectile. The case length from neck to rim = 99mm with a 12.7 (.50 Cal projectile). This makes it a 12.7x99mm.

.50AE is a 12.7mm projectile that is VERY short compared to its anti-material counterpart, allowing it to function in a handgun or rifle easier. The casing from neck to rim is 33mm (35? Can't remember). This makes it 12.7x33mm, or .50AE.

.223 caliber is .223 of an inch, which equals 5.56mm. The case length from neck to rim is 45mm. 5.56x45mm. Take note that .223 Remington is a 55g projectile while 5.56x45mm NATO is 62g projectile weight, meaning it needs more and hotter propellant which can be a problem for .223 rated weapons.

.40S&W is a 10mm projectile with a 25mm case neck to rim.

Casing neck/lip = contact point between case and projectile, rim = bottom of the casing.

>>32211148
The approximate bullet diameter is the same, but the 50 BMG is designed to fired in a machine gun, while the 50 AE is designed to be fired in a handgun.

>>32212630
.223 of an inch is actually 5.66mm. Why did people classify it as 5.56mm?

>>32211529
because the .44 Russian used a heeled .440 diameter bullet, and the .44 special did away with the heeled design