Caliber

“ France.—The guns adopted in the French service are both breech- and muzzle-loading, and are, for the land service, a siege-gun, 24-pounder rifled breech-loading, weighing 40.55 tons, caliber 6.01 inches, for fortress guns a 24- and 12-pounder rifled muzzle-loading, weighing 5953 and 3307 pounds, and having calibers of 6.01 and 4.77 inches respectively. ”

“ The caliber of American weapons is expressed in inches; thus a .30-caliber weapon has a barrel which is thirty one-hundredths or three-tenths of an inch in diameter. The caliber of continental European weapons is measured in millimeters. A 6.5-millimeter caliber weapon corresponds to an American .257-caliber weapon, that is, its barrel diameter is about one-fourth inch. ”

“ A powerful seven-shot gun; made specially for Rangers, mountaineers and men working in unprotected places, requiring a safe and efficient weapon. Quick as a flash, with great penetrating power and true marksmanship. Carry this gun with you, and you will feel fully protected. Made of best blue steel, rifled barrel. Hammer with safety. Fires regular 32.20 or 38 caliber ammunition.
SEND NO MONEY: Simply send us your name and address, stating caliber desired. We mail immediately. You pay postman on arrival, our low price plus few cents postage. ”

“ All furniture is of plain, not engraved, German silver and the escutcheon plate under the forearm embraces the screw that attaches the forearm to the barrel. The forearm nose is fluted. The barrel is full octagon, and its caliber is .400. ”

“ The empty case is withdrawn from the barrel by an extractor attached to the cylinder containing the firing-pin. With each revolution of the crank the 1-inch gun fires once, and the 1⁄2-inch gun three times. The 1⁄2-inch gun is reduced to caliber .45 inch, in order to use with it the projectile of the breech-loading musket. ”

“ With a supply of finished guns of large caliber already on hand, to which additions should now rapidly follow, the wisdom of providing carriages and emplacements for their mount can not be too strongly urged. ”

“ A twelve-inch breech-loading gun, fifty calibers long and weighing eighty-three tons, will propel a shell weighing eight hundred and eighty pounds, by a powder charge of six hundred and twenty-four pounds, at a velocity of over two thousand six hundred and twenty feet per second, giving an energy at the muzzle of over forty thousand foot-tons and is capable of penetrating at the muzzle, forty-five inches of iron. ”

“ The larger calibers are much preferable for the general purposes of an arm of this character. The difference in weight is slight, while the power and effectiveness of the large calibers is important and a great advantage. ”

“ This one follows that example. Caliber is .410. Has German silver furniture and with ramrod. The barrel markings on #2, #255, and #284 use the same single stamp.
The barrel is marked in three lines as follows:
Mand for
Hyde and Goodrich
Agents, N. O.
In a City Directory of 1853 this company was listed as dealers in “guns, pistols and military goods.” ”

“ The breech is of solid metal, from the bottom of the concave cylinder or chamber to the cascable. 2d. The trunnions, which project on each side, and serve to support the cannon, hold it almost in equilibrio. 3d. The bore or caliber, is the interior of the cylinder, wherein the powder and shot are lodged when the cannon is loaded. The entrance of the bore is called the mouth or muzzle. It may be generally described as gradually tapering, with the various modifications of first and second reinforce and swell, to the muzzle or forward end. (See Gun.) ”

“ Dwayne’s bad chemicals made him take a loaded thirty-eight caliber revolver from under his pillow and stick it in his mouth. This was a tool whose only purpose was to make holes in human beings. ”

“ Length of bore, 50 calibers. Number of grooves, 24. Twist of rifling, 1 in 50 calibers at the breech and increasing to 1 in 25 at the muzzle. Kind of powder, smokeless. Weight of charge, 5 pounds. Weight of projectile, 15 pounds. Muzzle velocity, 2600 feet per second. Muzzle energy, 702·9 foot-tons. Penetration in steel, at the muzzle 5·37 inches; at 1000 yards, 3·82 inches; at 2000 yards, 2·72 inches; at 3000 yards, 1·94 inches.
Q. Point out the following parts of the breech-block:
Block. ”

“ No person who understands anything about a rifle would select a light gun with a large bore, any more than he would have a heavy carriage for a small horse. If the man objects to the weight of the rifle, let him content himself with a smaller bore, but do not rob the barrels of their good metal for the sake of a heavy ball. The more metal that the barrel possesses in proportion to the diameter of the bore, the better will the rifle carry, nine times out of ten. ”

“ Ordnance is, as already noticed, of several species, as guns mounted on fortresses, naval guns, siege guns, field-guns, etc., and the size of the pieces under each of those heads is distinguished sometimes in one, sometimes in another of three different ways. We may name it by the weight of the gun itself in tons or hundredweights, as “a 35–ton gun,” etc.; or by the weight of its projectile, as “a 68–pounder,” etc.; or by its calibre, that is the diameter of its bore, as “a 4–inch gun,” etc. ”

“ The French were generous in giving us assistance in corps and army artillery, with its personnel, and we were confident from the start of our superiority over the enemy in guns of all calibers. ”

“ A good gunman would not try to look through such small openings, nearly closed by the barrel of a rifle. But why a rifle, for a good gunman? "He'd need all of a hole to look through, an' a good gunman likes a hip shot. That's it: Eyes to th' upper, six-gun at th' lower, for a range too short to allow a miss." ”

“ Experience alone will enable you so to proportion your charge [260] that you shall come at the full powers of which your gun is capable. The gauge, the length, the weight—all must be taken into account, and provided for. For the ordinary run of fowling-pieces, the following is a fair proportion:—A shot-charger that holds an ounce and a half of shot may be filled to the brim with powder, which wall serve to load with, as also to prime: the same measure filled up with shot will constitute your charge of lead. ”

“ Sportsmen are seriously disappointed; almost everyone has brought out either rifle or gun, and many have carried both. Now, when our luggage is limited to seventy-five pounds, the weight of even one rifle, with its bullet-mould and a good stock of lead and powder, is a very material consideration; and, after the sacrifice of many little comforts to retain the rifle, it is very hard to find that it is quite useless. ”

“ Artillery officers should know the weight of metal in iron and brass guns of every calibre: they should know the difference between the weight of metal in guns formerly and at present, and the reasons for the reduction of the weight of metal; they should know the length as well as weight of guns, and the weight of cannon ball, and the windage allowed for cannon shot; they should know the weight allowed for case, cannister, and grape shot; and the weight of powder in every case. ”

“ Is a machine gun, the 1 inch composed of six and the 1⁄2 inch of ten rifled barrels of steel, made to revolve around a central axis parallel to their bores, by means of a hand crank. As each barrel comes opposite to the hopper on the left side of the cylinder, a self-primed metal case cartridge falls into a groove of the cartridge-carrier, is pressed into the breech by a plunger, and held there until exploded by the firing-pin. ”

“ I could no longer carry the shattered and bloody fragment of my rifle, and dropped it. Bullet-pouch, shot-pouch, powder-horn, water-bottle, hatchet I let fall, keeping only my knife, belt, and the thin, flat wallet which contained my letters from Lois and my journal. Even my cap I flung away, moving always forward on a dog-trot, and ever twisting my sweat-drenched head to look behind. ”

“ Divide the product of the number of Calibres and the diameter of the bore, in inches, by 12, and the quotient will be the length in feet and inches.
To find the Number of calibres in the Length of a gun.
Divide the length of the gun in inches by the number of inches in the calibre.
Gun metal is a compound of 8 lb. or 10 lb. of tin, to 100 lb. of copper. The property of tin being to harden, the largest proportion (10 lb.) is used for mortars, they requiring a greater degree of hardness than guns.
Ordnance cast of gun metal are generally designated Brass Ordnance. ”

“ Even in a dead calm no satisfactory shooting can be done beyond two hundred yards with a lighter ball than half an ounce, and any one who becomes interested in rifle-practice will soon grow impatient of being confined to short ranges and calm weather. This brings us, then, to the question of calibre, which I conceive to be the first one to be decided in selecting a gun, and the decision rests upon the uses to which the gun is to be applied. ”

“ A head bends low; a left eye closes; the right, brown as a hawk’s and as fierce, glares, from beneath corrugated brow, along a barrel that rests as though in a grip of steel. The keen report of a sporting rifle—not loud, but crisp and clear—rings through the silent wood, and there is a heavy fall and a groan. ”

“ As we rode to the rear we emerged from the woods and to our left was a large open field, in which was a six gun battery having a picnic. I said: " Sergeant, that is my branch of the service. As we are not under any special orders, please ride over and let us watch the guns." When we arrived we found a six gun battery of 3-inch steel rifles—then the best gun known for field use. The guns were new, the harness, men and horses were spick and span, but they were doing some very poor shooting. ”

“ The finely-finished rifle or sporting gun, fitted with the last improvements, breech-loading or otherwise, and finished with marvellous perfection and accuracy, is worth four times as many pounds as the common muskets, made for exportation to Africa for the use of the natives, are worth shillings. ”

“ Besides all this varied wealth, there were piles of arms of all nations—richly chased scimitars of Eastern manufacture, the clumsy cutlasses of England, long silver-handled pistols of Oriental form, bluff little "bull-dog" revolvers, cavalry sabres, breech-loading rifles, flint-lock muskets, shields, spears, bows and arrows—in short, a miscellaneous armoury much too extensive to be described. ”

“ Man the gun again, and you, Cross, come below with me and fetch a canister of grape-shot and a full business charge to load the piece. You lads who are not wanted for the gun, each of you take a musket and an axe. ”

“ Then every cheek flushed crimson, and strong jaws set like steel, and the veins on the hands that clasped the rifle handles swelled almost to bursting with the fervour of the grip, and that look from those silent, armed men spoke more eloquently than ever spoke the tongues of orators. ”

“ Yu can't hit a saloon at twenty paces with that there toy. Here," drawing his own long barrelled revolver, "is a gun! This here baby c'n shoot when th' man that's a-holding it is worth a gun. Th' barrel is about seven inches long, I reckons, an' she throws a whole plenty o' lead. She's a Colt, she is, an' that says a whole lot. Have yu got a rifle, too?" ”

“ If the arm is to be a double-barrel shot gun, the barrel next goes into the hands of a workman who joins it to another barrel with the [26] utmost nicety; to attain which, levels and other suitable instruments are brought into requisition. Like the man who straightens the bore, the man who joins the barrels must be a workman of great skill. ”

“ The extra weight incurred in being obliged to carry a sufficient number of cartridges for a day’s sport, in a very cumbersome leather case, with iron compartments, considerably exceeds the ordinary weight of powder-flask and shot-pouch, with ammunition for a similar amount of sport. ”

“ Sauntering up to the latest recruit, he said:
"See here, my man, this thing is a rifle, this is the barrel, this is the butt, and this is where you put the cartridge in."
The recruit seemed to be taking it all in, so the officer, continuing, said:
"You put the weapon to your shoulder; these little things on the barrel are called sights; then to fire you pull this little thing, which is called the trigger. Now, smarten yourself up, and remember what I have told you; and, by the way, what trade did you follow before you enlisted? A collier, I suppose!"
"No, sir," came the reply ”

“ By putting this weight of ball into a conical form of good proportions, the calibre of the gun may be made about ninety gauge. which, for a range of four hundred yards, cannot be excelled in accuracy with that weight of gun.
But in a rifle the grooving is of the utmost importance; for velocity without accuracy is useless. ”

“ The rifles commonly used in the United States carry, I am told, a bullet of thirty-two to the pound. The adoption of so small a calibre, I take to have been occasioned by the use of the rifle being, in that country, originally and generally confined to the interior of thick forests, wherein it seldom happens that an object is to be fired at beyond the distance of one hundred yards; and where, moreover, the wind is much less felt than in an open country. ”

“ If a gun has been spiked with a Common steel spike, load with a charge of powder equal to half the shot’s weight: lay a leader of quick match along the bore, and double shot the gun, introducing the shot, however, very carefully. ”

“ For instance, we may see a brace of pistols, superbly mounted, crossed over the mantel-piece—a flute upon the table—a rifle leaning against the wall, and, I declare, fishing-tackle thrown carelessly down, all among those delicate knackeries so beautifully arranged on yonder marble slab—just like the men! ”

“ The bore of their rifles seemed small for bear-shooting, carrying a half-ounce ball, but they seemed to{113} consider that their skill in shooting counter-balanced this deficiency. I carried the only rifle that I ever used of those I took out, one of German make, carrying a ball of an ounce and a half. I should say here that our rifles were often the subject of discussion with these honest fellows. ”