Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Do you really need to call a cartridge or chambering a caliber?

Flugag buwuhh mowati digumdo shatezi.

You'd think it's the off-season around here or something.

Brad,

Yep, the 7mm Remington Magnum is the ONLY 7mm caliber to many Montanans!

Ingwe used to work at Capital Sports in Helena, where I met him 30 years ago. Every year somebody would come in just before hunting season and asked for a box of Seven Em Ems. He'd ask which one, and they were always puzzle because EVERYBODY knows there's only one Seven Em Em. (Unless, of course, they called it the Big Seven, which is what many Montanans called the 7mm Remington Magnum when it first appeared in 1962, because back then everybody knew that you had to be a real man to handle a MAGNUM.)

Apparently things really have changed since then. Today you apparently have to be a real man to know (and properly use in conversation) the difference between cartridge and caliber.

Seven MM Remington? You mean the 7-08?

LOL freezer is full.

Well said.

The Mossbergs and Remingtons that I shot on the 50' range at Camp Pinnalce in Lyme, NH, had Lyman peep sights on them. I called 'em peep sights until I learned that sights mounted on the tang or bolt were peep sights, while those that were attached directly to the side of the receiver were receiver sights. Nomenclature can be a b1tch!

Scopes back then were mostly Weavers and anyone with a Redfield, Leupold, Lyman, or Untertl was looked upon as being sophisticated well above average. European scopes were war trophies and anything from Japan was Jap crap. People still remembered Pearl Harbor and many, maybe most, still held anything Japanese in contempt in 1964.

Calling a cartridge a caliber.

"How many calibers (cartridges) does your clip (magazine) hold?"

A sight mounted on a bolt! OMG that never would have passed the stink test at home. LOL

Nits in the English language are among my favoritest nits to pick.

The problem is that there is no one word that specifically refers to the entire group of individual cartridges or rounds of ammunition that fit a specific firearm's chambering.

Cartridge refers to a round of ammunition, cartridges being plural, but that could be subject to some stretching.

"What cartridge does your rifle use?"
"It uses the first, second and ninth cartridges in this box of 20 but not the rest".

Chambering is correct for an individual firearm but is awkward when referring to cartridges. "Gimme a box of them .30-30 chamberings."

Many words in the English have two or more meanings based on context. A tear can be a drop of water from the eye or a rip in some material. "That mine is mine", said the prospector. The man in the lead told the group to get the lead out. You cannot judge the caliber of a man by the caliber of his firearm's bore.

Therefore, since caliber is already in common use I propose that we legitimize that word and call it good. Even the almighty google unknowningly uses it in that regard.

cal·i·ber
/ˈkaləbər/

1. the quality of someone's character or the level of their ability.
"they could ill afford to lose a man of his caliber"

2. the internal diameter or bore of a gun barrel.
"a .22 caliber repeater rifle" (Hey google, is that .22 LR or a 22 Hornet?)

Let's add #3. the group of cartridges of like case dimensions that fit a specifically named chambering.

So when someone asks, "what caliber is that?", we can henceforth hold our heads up high and state in a firm and confident manner, "it's a .338 lah-poo-ah mangum and it's got a Lee-uh-pold scope on it."

I’ve probably done it a time or two during my lifetime 😊

A guy at work said the whole hunting camp had 300 magnums. I asked which one, he repeated 300.

And nodding knowingly as you read the scribe's words describing the latest whizbang rifle with a detachable clip?

Muzzle break. Go...

What about caliper?

Aren't all clips detachable?

I know one guy that was all fugged up and couldn't understand how I had a Ruger in 243 Winchester.

He thought if you had a Winchester chambering it was always in a Winchester rifle and so on with Remingtons rifles/chamberings and such.

Not schitting one bit.

Depends whether you're an accurate or close enough wordsmith. Or should that be precise?

Good enough.

No, no, no. It was meant to spur the discussion between accuracy and precision!