03-27-2008, 11:58 AM
| #1 | |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Maine, USA
Posts: 1,897
| Definition of Shotgun Gauge I thought I'd share this info with you all (I hope it wasn't posted elsewhere already). Some of you might already know, but I didn't, so I figure at least someone else out there doesn't know. Growing up, I always knew that the smaller the shotgun gauge, the bigger the shotgun shell was. That's all I knew, and I took it for granted. If you've ever wondered why a 12-gauge shotgun is 12-gauge, and why a 28-gauge is 28-gauge, here's why: Quote:
The same goes for a 20-gauge. It takes 20 0.615-inch diameter lead spheres to make 1 pound of lead, and thus a 20-guage shotgun has the bore diameter of 1 of those spheres. This goes for every shotgun gauge (10,12,16,20,24,28,32), except .410. The .410 shotgun is actually a measurement of caliber, meaning the ball leaving the barrel is 0.41" in diameter. If the .410 shotgun were to be measured in gauge, it would be a 67.5-gauge shotgun. Also, old cannons were also sometimes measured in gauge, although their measurements were based off of the weight of iron, rather than lead. Just some facts, I hope someone learned something  Source: Gauge (bore diameter) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia | |
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03-27-2008, 02:17 PM
| #2 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Southern New Mexico
Posts: 966
| wow! that actually helped a lot. I was wondering what the difference was between a .410 and the 20. Now I know! thanks |
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03-27-2008, 02:25 PM
| #3 | |
| Banned Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Tn
Posts: 623
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03-27-2008, 02:38 PM
| #4 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,466
| Correct Many people have just stared at me when I explained the lead ball deal to them. Glad you made the post. |
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