Posted: 11/9/2008 7:03:36 PM EDT
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my wife asked me "why .45?" how does the caliber "inventor/originator" decide on how big his bullet will be?
Why .38, .45, .36 .22 ?? why not just 20, 30,40,50 for all calibers? I am asking about original calibers, like when they were created, not modern calibers like .40sw or .357sig. |
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I bet if you researched it you'd find that it did start out with nice whole numbers.
The early muzzleloaders were 50 caliber, if I remember correctly. But as time went on, people experimented with different diameter bullets, different length bullets, different shape to the bullets, different materials, different gunpowders, etc, etc. And we are left with the things we have today. You may even find that there were no dimensions when guns were first made. It was probably more of a "yeah that looks about right" by the builder, and as a result parts were not interchangeable between guns of even the same model. It's all in the quest to making a "do it all" round with "no compromises". Engine sizes have been the same way. |