What is the difference between calibres

John McAdams over at The Big Game Hunting Blog did us a huge favor by clarifying some of the general misconceptions on converting caliber to mm and vice versa. Caliber is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel on a particular firearm or the diameter of a bullet and is usually expressed in inches or millimeters.

In addition to using different units of measurement, different countries sometimes use different methods of measuring caliber. Because of these factors, deciphering the actual diameter of a bullet or the bore size of a firearm can be bewildering. Read on to find out exactly how to convert caliber to mm. Switching between the metric millimeters and imperial inches systems of measurement is relatively straightforward.

There are 10 millimeters mm in 1 centimeter cm and 2. Therefore, multiply a bullet or bore caliber given in inches by The opposite is also true: divide a given caliber expressed in millimeters by For example,.

I intend to invest in another rifle with a larger calibre and was thinking of. I want it for red deer, the odd fallow and hunting trips abroad.

What calibre would you suggest? When deer stalking, I thought the smallest calibre rifle I could use was a. Does the. Fox control: Why do all the rifle experts have such a low opinion of the. I have taken numerous foxes at ranges of yards — measured not guessed. Can you recommend a calibre that will cope equally well with all three species? Q: I want my son to come out stalking with me; he is keen and a good shot.

Clearly, if you hit them in the head, for example, it may only take one "round". In most cases, you'd be aiming for the center of mass, chest or largest target. Bullets can have other traits that will cause damage to organs if not hit directly.

There is also another term " hydrostatic shock " but we'll leave that well alone here. We'll now focus a few commonly known or referred to calibers out there, there are many, many more.

Yup of "Uzi" fame these are actually the same as. They differ, however, by the amount of gunpowder behind the projectile. These bullets tend to have very low recoil and are used in many guns. Compact 9mm guns can be used for concealed carry, for instance. They usually come in magazines of rounds. These tend to be the standard round for NATO forces and most police forces around the world.

They tend to vary from grains with variable stopping power. The good ol' "three-o-eight" inch is pretty much the same of the NATO "seven-six-two" mm round.

These are popular hunting rifle rounds that have moderate recoil and high stopping power. They come in a range of to grains.

Yup, these are very popular for shotguns. Seemingly contradictory, 20 gauge is smaller and 10 gauge is bigger than the 12 gauge. The reason for this apparent contradiction is that the term "gauge" refers to the amount of lead balls you can fit in the barrel. It derives from conventional imperial measurements of how many equal diameter balls you can make from 1 pound or 0.

You're welcome. These have variable recoil from moderate to high depending on the round itself. Shotgun ammunition is very versatile and can comprise of birdshot with lots of small balls.

It could be buckshot with fewer but larger balls. Or it could be a slug which is simply a pure metal shot. Stopping power with these should be self-explanatory at short range. These are the mother of all bullets for handheld firearms and are not very common for civilian use. These are huge by comparison to other ammunition.