Calibres, How And Why Did They Choose Them?

[PeskyWabbits 464]

What I mean is, why pick .177/4.5 and .22/5.5, why not round it up at the beginning?

 

Even if you look at imperial measurements, surely no one is going to say, 'this looks the right size, oh that's .177, that'll do'

 

Everything seems so random.

 

And if you follow the metric path: 4.5mm not just 4 or just 5, same as 5.5mm wasn't 5 or 6.

Then get further up the scale with 9mm, why not 10mm.

 

Go on you academics, or enthusiasts, why?

 

[Rez 4,961]

Oh dear... here we go...

 

Speaking openly.

 

.177 is for shooters that just want to hit everything. Every time.

 

.20 is a niche.

 

.22 is for those who want to learn to hit everything. Every time.

 

.25 is a niche.

 

My first rifle was a chinky B2 in .177 only when I was like 8. Sound. But I've always thought .22 is a better caliber, not for anything other than it's a harder caliber to shoot accurately over the distances we shoot at.

 

Judging distance is the holy grail in air gun shooting. .22 makes you earn that, .177 doesn't. Within reason.

[walshie 2,804]

I think the question was rather "Why are the calibres that specific size" i.e .177 instead of .178, .15 or .20 etc. rather than what people use them for.

 

Damned if I know the answer though.

[mark williams 7,558]

I know this reply is a little tangent to the question but Rez`s reply was too.

Going back to Rez`s answer.

 

.22 for me, is a calibre a lot use because it makes up for inaccuracy, or poor shot placement, with clout.

 

.177 for me, is for accurate and capable shooters as shot placement always trumps power. ( bare in mind .177 is just as powerful as .22 at the muzzle)

 

.25 - might as well throw a brick underarm - awful trajectory.

 

.20 - the American calibre, not for me.

 

Back to the original question.

 

I`m with Walshie,- no idea.

 

 

atb Mark.

[bigmac 97kt 13,796]

FECK ME A POST OFF MARK WITH OUT THE PHOTO

 

:thumbs:

[just-A-snap 1,269]

Probably the starting point for any tools that was available at the time, almost every one works and shops in metric, but just how fast will their car go and how far is it from A to B? Being the better option is not a winning formula, Betamax and VHS for one

All the very best

[Rez 4,961]

FECK ME A POST OFF MARK WITH OUT THE PHOTO

 

:thumbs:

 

"THE PHOTO"

[Rez 4,961]

I think the question was rather "Why are the calibres that specific size" i.e .177 instead of .178, .15 or .20 etc. rather than what people use them for.

 

Damned if I know the answer though.

 

Yeah your right just read the OP back. I was rather blurry eyed admin. Sake.

[mark williams 7,558]

"The Photo" has been sent to Rezmond and Chief Shit Stirrer x

[Rez 4,961]

"The Photo" has been sent to Rezmond and Chief Shit Stirrer x

 

It sure has mate... Soooooo over the moon with it too...

 

 

x

[just-A-snap 1,269]

Ever priced, Mac Computers. Nothing better for graphics though. Got us by the.

All the very best for you and yours Rez

[mark williams 7,558]

Ha! Ha! Ha! just brilliant !

[Rez 4,961]

Again, a honest topic has been hijacked by the usual members and turned into a f'kin comedy show

 

Love THL.

[pianoman 3,587]

If I remember reading this rightly, it was something to do with how efficient the numbers of barrel lands or rifling spirals in small calibre firearms barrels that could be made, that determined the size calibre of ammo to be made commercially available. .22 was the only small vermin sporting round for many years and pellets followed the pattern for barrels for air rifles and air pistols. Then .177 followed as an air rifle specific calibre. It was envisaged as a smaller round that could be well-suited efficiency and accuracy just for air rifles and air pistols. and so it proved to be.

 

You devise a calibre of barrel. Make a test prototype or two, and then, make the ammo for it and see how it performs.

 

.177 emerged after a series of trial and error experiments which saw others like .150 .165 calibres rejected, as the smallest practical calibre that could be made for an airgun.

 

A certain Mr Whitworth (as in later, the Armstrong Whitworth armaments companies) was a brilliant engineering mathmetician who, in the late 1860s was obsessed with calibres and bullet spin co-efficiencies and he first noted that the smallest practical dimensions for a functioning rifled barrel was .177 but, he never persued it further. He was only interested in developing military small arms and artillery pieces for the British Army and didn't see any real future in a military rifle with a bullet that small.

 

He envisaged larger manstopping power in large bore rifles with extreme precision accuracy. He later devised an octagonal barrel where the whole thing was spiralled and a octagon-backed 45 cal. bullet was made for it. It was to be one of the most accurate rifles ever made at that time but the British Army rejected it for some reason. The Confederate States Army bought it and used Whitworth rifles during the American Civil War where they became highly prized on both sides.. The Boer farmers in South Africa however bought Whitworth's rifle for dangerous predators like big cats and Rhino on their farms and they developed as lethal snipers who were to fight against Great Britain in the South African Boer wars bought it and used it to terrible effect against British troops; but that another history lesson.

 

But someone picked up on Whitworth's original workings and in a process of time, the .177 calibre air rifle barrel and pellet came into being.

 

It's like everything else that is made and used and enjoyed. Someone, somewhere questions the norms and sets out to improve, change and challenge them with something else of an alternative.

[tomburras 2,730]

Wow interesting stuff!