Does anyone know the reason(s) for caliber names?

[RSR]

Marketing decisions often involved. Gotta make ya boolets sound sexy!

I'm always amazed that brassier marketers haven't renamed the cup sizes starting at C or D. 

They have, and have done so for most clothing sizes actually: https://www.kirbyplasticsurgery.com/blog/vanity-bra-sizing-how-popular-bra-retailers-are-misleading-women/

A Bigger Bra for Smaller Breasts?
Professional bra fitters have also noticed this evolution in bra size labeling. A 34 band size may now measure a few inches larger than it did years ago, while cup size has decreased, causing women to need a larger cup size. Some women are delighted to feel that they are “thin” enough to wear a smaller band size, or busty enough to be a C instead of a B. Other women are simply confused as to why their traditional size no longer works for them.

[Clint007]

An interesting read is the origins of “gauge” as it relates to firearms.   

C

[Bret]

One of my favorites is the 307Win.  It's simply a 308Win cartridge with a rim for use in lever action rifles.  The bullet diameter is exactly the same, but bullets with pointed tips are not to be used.

[Phyffe]

I must say I was expecting this thread to go a different way.

I was hoping to see why for example -

1. Why is it called the .38 "Special" when it isn't really?

2. Why is it called the .44 "Russian" when its an American gun?

3. Why is it called 9mm "Short"?

4. Why is it called 30-30?

5. Why is it called .300 "Blackout"

6. Why does a .38 Special round fit in a .357 revolver?

7. What do the French call their 5.56 ammo that the FAMAS needs so that it doesn't suck?

8. Why did they call hollowpoint rounds "dum-dums"

You know, gun trivia only people like us really care about.

How many did you actually know instead of having to google it?

[Clint007]

Ok now you have to answer these for us…..

C

I must say I was expecting this thread to go a different way.

I was hoping to see why for example -

1. Why is it called the .38 "Special" when it isn't really?

2. Why is it called the .44 "Russian" when its an American gun?

3. Why is it called 9mm "Short"?

4. Why is it called 30-30?

5. Why is it called .300 "Blackout"

6. Why does a .38 Special round fit in a .357 revolver?

7. What do the French call their 5.56 ammo that the FAMAS needs so that it doesn't suck?

8. Why did they call hollowpoint rounds "dum-dums"

You know, gun trivia only people like us really care about.

How many did you actually know instead of having to google it?

[M1A4ME]

The guy/company that comes up with the idea, new or not, gets to name them. 

Sometimes if means something to them and not to us (like personalized license plates.)

.30-06 - .30 caliber, 1906 variant.  It replaced the .30-03 that the early Springfield 03 rifles were chambered for. 

.30 Remington.  A .30 caliber cartridge close to the Winchester .30-30 in performance but with a case made for pump and semi auto deer rifles instead of a rimmed case for lever action rifles.

.45 acp (and a lot of other acp tagged cartridges - Automatic Colt Pistol.)

If you sit down with a book on cartridge development/history it can be pretty wild sometimes. 

[M1A4ME]

I must say I was expecting this thread to go a different way.

I was hoping to see why for example -

1. Why is it called the .38 "Special" when it isn't really?  More powder/velocity than the older .38 caliber revolver cartridges.

2. Why is it called the .44 "Russian" when its an American gun? To let people know it wouldn't take a .44 Special cartridge and because some were made for shipment/sale to Russa but stuff ends up staying here, or returning here anyway sometimes.

3. Why is it called 9mm "Short"?  Because they wanted to let people know not to use it in 9MM Luger or to buy 9Mm Luger to go in their new 9MM Short semi auto pistol.

4. Why is it called 30-30? Thirty caliber bullet with 30 grains of black powder in the case.  The .30-40 was a .30 caliber bullet with 40 grains of black powder in it.  We don't use black powder in them anymore but the case is the same size and fits the rifles, even the old ones.

5. Why is it called .300 "Blackout"  About the same as the .300 Whisper.  Not sure why they renamed it unless they didn't want to catch grief (and maybe a lawsuit) from the designer/developer of the .300 Whisper.  J.D. something, the last name escaped my old memory right now.

6. Why does a .38 Special round fit in a .357 revolver?  Because the case is shorter.  .38 Special came about because the old .38 Short, .38 Colt, .38 Long, etc. weren't powerful enough at the time.  The .357 Magnum was developed because many people didn't think the .38 Special was powerful enough.  So, how to keep someone from buying .357 magnum ammo and putting it in their old .38 Special revolver and blowing it up?  Make the case just a bit longer so the cartridge wouldn't chamber in the .38 Special (and even older/weaker revolvers).

7. What do the French call their 5.56 ammo that the FAMAS needs so that it doesn't suck?

8. Why did they call hollowpoint rounds "dum-dums"  They weren't.  Dum dums comes from the attempts made by English soldiers to make their lead rifle bullets more effective by using a knife to cut an X across the point of the soft lead bullets.  When you shoot people (often hopped up on drugs or their belief a bullet won't kill them you want to do more damage faster because even someone who is dying can still kill you if he can still move/act.

You know, gun trivia only people like us really care about.

How many did you actually know instead of having to google it?

Is the FAMAS as big a disaster as a lot of the French designed/made guns in the last 150 years?

Where's Wobbly?  I bet he knows all this stuff.

[Philintheblanks]

I'm glad I started this thread. The answers, and new questions are great!

Phil

[david s]

As M1A-4ME mentions the designer gets to be the namer, sort of. The 38-40 was originally the 38 W.C.F, same with the 44-40 being a 44 W.C.F.. The 38 Special is actually the 38 S&W Special. A more modern example would be the 40, which is actually the 40 S&W round and so registered with SAMMI. Other firearms manufactures tend to not like marking their guns with other makers (the competition) names. This seems more prevalent with pistols than rifles but isn't exclusive to either. Sometimes different makers offer the same basic cartridge with a slight difference but with their name on it. The 32 S&W Long and the 32 Colt are the same cartridge case the difference was in the bullet offered. One makers cartridge used a flat point bullet the other a round nose bullet. Muscle flexing by different manufactures to add to the confusion.

[Wobbly]

Where's Wobbly?  I bet he knows all this stuff.

Wobbly done got old and forgetful. 

[eastman]

.380 ACP (or AUTO in the USA) has the name 9mm Browning Short in Europe to differentiate it from the 9mm Browning Long which was introduced a few years earlier (not from the 9x19 Parabellum)

[Grendel]

Dum-Dum bullets are so-called because expanding bullets were given the name Dum-dum, or dumdum, after an early British example produced in the Dum Dum Arsenal, near Calcutta, India by Captain Neville Bertie-Clay.There were several expanding bullets produced by this arsenal for the .303 British cartridge, including soft-point and hollow-point designs. These were not the first expanding bullets, however; hollow-point expanding bullets were commonly used for hunting thin-skinned game in express rifles as early as the mid-1870s. Neither was the .303 the first military round with this trait, the old .577 Snider bullet had a hollow core, leaving wounds known for being particularly nasty.The use of the term "Dum-dum" applied to expanding bullets other than the early .303 designs is considered slang by most ammunition and ballistics sources.

[RSR]

.380 ACP (or AUTO in the USA) has the name 9mm Browning Short in Europe to differentiate it from the 9mm Browning Long which was introduced a few years earlier (not from the 9x19 Parabellum)

.32 acp and 7.65 browning are similar -- slight dimensional differences, at least originally -- and I think the 7.65 was loaded slightly hotter...

[Phyffe]

Is the FAMAS as big a disaster as a lot of the French designed/made guns in the last 150 years?


Certainly not on the scale as guns like the Chauchat, but on the balance the French made very serviceable firearms from the Lebel onwards.

Its just that the FAMAS was a bit of an odd duck, pioneering the service bullpup trend with the AUG and the SA80, the FAMAS had the idiosyncracy of being able to take 5.56NATO but needing a special round to operate optimally. Plus you see they actually started replacing them with HK 416s, which are descended from the AR-18 system, apparently. Reading into the fact that the French would actually choose to adopt a German gun based on an American design.....

[eastman]

.380 ACP (or AUTO in the USA) has the name 9mm Browning Short in Europe to differentiate it from the 9mm Browning Long which was introduced a few years earlier (not from the 9x19 Parabellum)

.32 acp and 7.65 browning are similar -- slight dimensional differences, at least originally -- and I think the 7.65 was loaded slightly hotter...

I have seen rim dimension differences (diameter, thickness and shape of the extraction groove) between USA made .32 Auto and European 7.65 Browning. The Euro 7.65 works in all of the pistols, but some of the Euro ones don't like the USA .32. Could be the dimensions or the pressure, I'm guessing the Euro ammo has a little something extra in the loading.