WEBVTT - Can you explain the diameter measurements used in bullets?

0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:03.640
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from house stuff works dot com

0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:14.280
<v Speaker 1>where smart happens. Hi. I'm Marshall Brain with today's question,

0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:19.560
<v Speaker 1>can you explain the diameter measurements used in bullets? Bullets

0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:23.840
<v Speaker 1>come in a variety of different calibers. The caliber indicates

0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:28.120
<v Speaker 1>the diameter of the bullet. Some common calibers include two caliber,

0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:32.000
<v Speaker 1>thirty eight caliber, forty four caliber. For example, you've probably

0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:35.440
<v Speaker 1>heard of a twenty two caliber rifle. In all these cases,

0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:40.080
<v Speaker 1>the caliber number indicates the diameter of the bullet in inches,

0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:44.000
<v Speaker 1>So a caliber bullet is a quarter of an inch

0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:48.040
<v Speaker 1>in diameter. Words like magnum like a forty four magnum,

0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:51.519
<v Speaker 1>or special like a thirty eight special imply that a

0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:55.480
<v Speaker 1>higher energy powder is used with that bullet. Then there's

0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:59.680
<v Speaker 1>shotgun shells. The gauge numbers for a shotgun, for example

0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:04.920
<v Speaker 1>of gauge or fourteen gauge indicate the size of the shells.

0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:08.520
<v Speaker 1>If you were to make lead balls, the diameter of

0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:11.319
<v Speaker 1>the gun barrel. How many balls would it take to

0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:14.479
<v Speaker 1>make a pound of lead. If it's twelve balls, it's

0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.959
<v Speaker 1>a twelve gage shotgun. If it's fourteen balls in a

0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:20.960
<v Speaker 1>pound of lead, then that's a fourteen gage shotgun that's

0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:25.000
<v Speaker 1>about as weird as units get. For more on this

0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:27.640
<v Speaker 1>and thousands of other topics, because it how stuff works.

0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:32.280
<v Speaker 1>Dot com