Can you explain the diameter measurements used in bullets?

Bullets are measured by calibers, which indicate their diameter in inches. Find out more about bullets and measurement in this podcast from HowStuffWorks.com.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to brain Stuff from house stuff works dot com
where smart happens. Hi. I'm Marshall Brain with today's question,
can you explain the diameter measurements used in bullets? Bullets
come in a variety of different calibers. The caliber indicates

(00:23):
the diameter of the bullet. Some common calibers include two caliber,
thirty eight caliber, forty four caliber. For example, you've probably
heard of a twenty two caliber rifle. In all these cases,
the caliber number indicates the diameter of the bullet in inches,
So a caliber bullet is a quarter of an inch

(00:44):
in diameter. Words like magnum like a forty four magnum,
or special like a thirty eight special imply that a
higher energy powder is used with that bullet. Then there's
shotgun shells. The gauge numbers for a shotgun, for example
of gauge or fourteen gauge indicate the size of the shells.

(01:05):
If you were to make lead balls, the diameter of
the gun barrel. How many balls would it take to
make a pound of lead. If it's twelve balls, it's
a twelve gage shotgun. If it's fourteen balls in a
pound of lead, then that's a fourteen gage shotgun that's
about as weird as units get. For more on this
and thousands of other topics, because it how stuff works.

(01:27):
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