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Difference Between Bullets, Cartridges & Calibers

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SteveVPerez @SteveVPerez · May 10, 2021

Some people have the misconception that Bullets, Cartridges & Calibers are common names for ammo. But if you are new in the industry, you must know about the common difference between Bullets, Cartridges & Calibers.


A bullet is a hard projectile propelled by a gun or air gun and is usually made of metal (usually lead). A bullet does not contain explosives, but tissue disintegration through impact causes damage to the intended target. The term "bullet" is sometimes mistakenly used to refer to a cartridge, a combination of the bullet, casing (case or shell), ammo, and primer. See ammunition. The Oxford English Dictionary's definition of a bullet is "a projectile of lead ... for firing from rifles, revolvers, etc."

 

Cartridges

A significant development in the history of rifle bullets occurred in 1883, when the director of the Swiss laboratory at Thun, Major Rubin, invented the copper-jacketed bullet; A long shot with a lead core in a copper envelope or jacket. Copper jacketed bullets allow much higher muzzle velocities than lead alone because copper has a much higher melting point, more specific heat capacity, and is more challenging. Hot-fired lead bullets may be prone to surface melting due to hot gases and friction with the bore.

 

The design

 

Bullet design involves solving two primary problems. They must first make a seal from the bore of the gun. Seals resulting from rapid combustion of propellant charge, more gas leaks the bullet, reducing efficiency. The bullet must also attach to the rifle without damaging the bore of the gun. The tablets must have a surface that will form this seal without causing excessive friction. What happens to the bullet inside the bore is called internal ballistic. One bullet should also correspond to the next shot so that shots can be fired correctly.

 

Cartridge

 

A cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, ammo, and primer into a single metal case, precisely designed to fit a fireman's firing chamber. The primer is a small charge of an impact-sensing chemical located at the center of the case head (centerfire ammunition) or its rim (rimfire ammunition). Electrically operated cartridges have also been made. Cartridges without bullets are called empty; entirely inactive One is called a dummy.

The design

The cartridge case seals a firing chamber in all directions except the bore. The firing pin ignites the primer. The spark emitted from the primer ignites the powder. Burning gases from the powder expand the case to seal against the chamber wall. The projectile is pushed in a direction that releases this pressure at the bottom of the barrel. After dropping the projectile, the barrel is released pressure, allowing the cartridge case to be removed from the chamber.

 

Essential specifications include caliber, bullet weight, expected velocity, maximum pressure, headspace, overall length, and primer type. Minor deviations in many of these specifications can cause damage to the firearms, and in extreme cases, cause injury or death to the user. 

 

The diameter of a bullet is either measured as a decimal fraction of an inch or in millimeters. The length of a cartridge case can also be specified in millimeters.

 

Pacifier

The term often appears about firearms, an inch or a hundredth of an inch or millimeter in diameter inside an inch barrel. In firearms, the caliber is the approximate diameter of the bullet used. The distance between opposing land or grooves in a rifled barrel is measured; Drain measurements are common in cartridge designations occurring in the United States, while land measurements are common elsewhere. This is very important when handloading, as the bullet must closely match the barrel diameter of the barrel to ensure a good seal. When the barrel diameter is given in inches, the abbreviation "cal" is used in place of "inch." For example, a (Smallbore) rifle with a diameter of 0.22 inches is a .22 calorie, although the decimal point is usually dropped when speaking, making it "twenty-two caliber."

 

Caliber measured in length

Barrel length, often quoted in calibers. The effective length of the barrel (from breech to muzzle) is divided by the barrel diameter to give a value. For example, the main guns of Iowa class warships can be referred to as 16 "/ 50 caliber. They are 16 inches in diameter, and the barrel is 800 inches long (16 x 50 = 800).

 

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Therefore, after reading about the above material, you will recognize the difference between bullets, cartridges, and calibers.