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Gauge was determined from the weight of a solid sphere of lead that will fit the bore of the firearm and is expressed as the multiplicative inverse of the sphere's weight as a fraction of a pound, e.g., a one-twelfth pound lead ball fits a 12-gauge bore. Therefore with a 12-gauge, it would take 12 balls of lead of the same size as the 12 gauge ...
In the case of a 12-gauge (18.5 mm) shotgun, it would take 12 spheres the size of the shotgun's bore to equal a pound. [12] A numerically larger gauge indicates a smaller barrel: a 20-gauge (15.6 mm) shotgun requires more spheres to equal a pound; therefore, its barrel is smaller than the 12-gauge. This metric is used in Russia as "caliber ...
Military use of combat shotguns through the 20th century has created a need for ammunition maximizing the combat effectiveness of such weapons within the limitations of international law. 12-gauge has been widely accepted as an appropriate bore diameter to provide an effective number of projectiles within an acceptable recoil. Early 12-gauge ...
The 4, 8, 24, and 32 gauge guns are collector items. There are also some shotguns measured by diameter, rather than gauge. These are the .410 (10.4mm), .380 (9mm), and .22 (5.5mm); these are correctly called ".410 bore", not ".410-gauge". The .410 bore is the smallest shotgun size which is widely available commercially in the United States.
For example, for a 12 gauge, the bore diameter of the barrel is nominally 18.5 mm (0.73 in), although different manufacturers do vary their as-manufactured bore from this diameter slightly. This is commonly called "overbore", when the as-built diameter exceeds the nominal actual diameter of 18.5 mm (0.73 in).
A typical round for defensive use would be a 12-gauge 2 + 3 ⁄ 4-inch (7.0 cm) length 00 buck shell, which contains 9 pellets roughly 8.4 millimetres (0.33 in) in diameter, each comparable to a .38 Special bullet in damage potential. New "tactical" buckshot rounds, designed specifically for defensive use, use slightly fewer shot at lower ...
Common rifle cartridges, from the largest .50 BMG to the smallest .22 Long Rifle with a $1 United States dollar bill in the background as a reference point.. This is a table of selected pistol/submachine gun and rifle/machine gun cartridges by common name.
The .410 bore, for example, is readily fired in many .45 Colt firearms (like the Thompson Center Arms Contender), and that's firing a 67.5 gauge shell in a 51 gauge barrel, and the nearly 10% difference in bore diameter causes no problems. The difference between a 1 and 2 gauge bore, however, is 25%.