Friday, May 18, 2012
What Do Bullet Numbers Mean?
When you are new to firearms & trying to decide which one to buy, a question may pop into your head. What do all these boxes of ammo mean? There's 7.62X39mm, .45ACP, .223 Remington, .22LR, & thousands more. Well, you're gonna find out today!
Bullets were originally lead pellets that were propelled by black powder. The first cartridge was produced in 1857, but it wasn't until the 1870's that cartridges came into their stride. Thanks to Colt Firearms we got the .45 Long Colt. A bullet is the metal piece that is propelled by the gun powder. Cartridges & rounds are the same thing, which is the bullet, shell casing, primer, & powder.
Some rounds have an standard (American) measuring number versus a metric number. A good example is the .45 Long Colt which is called 11.58X32mm in the metric system.
Some rounds are named after the company or the type of gun it will be used for. For example, the 6.5mm Arisaka round was designed for the Imperial Japanese rifle in WWII. Also, the .22LR was designed for long rifles. The .223 Remington was designed by Remington but can be used in any firearm of that caliber.
Long range rifles like long heavy ammo such as the .308 Winchester. In close combat situations one would want a lighter, shorter round like the .223 or the 5.56X45mm Nato. The German's invented the first automatic machine rifle called the Sturmgewehr which shot a 7.62X33mm round. It was later blown away by the Russians's 7.62X39mm AK47 round.
So what does 7.62X39mm mean?
The 7.62 means that the bullets diameter is 7.62 millimeters wide
The 39mm means that the round is 39 millimeters long from base to tip
So what does .223 Remington mean?
The .223 means that the bullets diameter is .223 inches wide.
The Remington stands for what company designed the round.
The round is 45 millimeters long, but that information is not associated with the name.
So what does .308 Winchester mean?
The .308 means that the bullets diameter is .308 inches wide.
The Winchester stands for what company designed the round.
The round is 51 millimeters long, but that information is not associated with the name.
So what does 9X19mm Parabellum mean?
The 9 means that the bullet diameter is 9 millimeters wide.
The 19 means that the bullet is 19 millimeters long.
The parabellum means "To Prepare for War" in latin. It was named by its creator Georg Luger.
The round is often referred to as 9mm or 9mm Luger.
So basically the round will be measured in inches or millimeters & have some name attached to it.
What Is Grains & What does it Matter?
Grains is the actual weight of the bullet. So if you're shooting .223 Remington 55 grain versus 45 grain, the 55 grain will shoot slower but retain its trajectory farther. Lower grain equals faster initial speeds & shorter distances. For example Hornady Manufacturing makes a 9mm target round that weighs 90 grains. They also make a personal defense round that weighs 124 grains. The difference is that the 124 grain bullet will be slower & not pass through an attacker, a couple walls, a window, & hit little Joey in the ass.
So if i'm going to put ammo in a firearm that was going to be used for defensive purposes, I would definitely look for a higher grain count.
The most important thing is that the ammo you buy matches your gun. just because 7.62 is .308 doesn't mean that you can put a 7.62X39mm round into a .308 rifle.
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Well done. And I would add: It's my understanding since different bullet weights (grains) behave differently, don't expect your 30.06, for example, to shoot the same with a 150gr as it does with a 180 gr. If you set it up to shoot with one, then switch, you'll have to make some adjustments.
ReplyDeleteExcellent article. This just cleared all my confusions that always bothered me. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI am a gunsmith and it has always drove me nuts that European calibers are make so much more sense than what we have here in the good ole US of A . I try to explain this to customers and they look at me with this blank look !! ie 30.06 : 30 cal made in 1906 !! makes sense hah ?
ReplyDeleteThe blank look is perhaps caused by not explaining the fact that this is an exception to the rule, not the rule for 30 calibers, even in American standard measurements. It's better explained (for the 30.06) that it is the NAME given to the round, not the full measurements ergo 338 Lapua, etc. The first 2 digits are even rounded off and the term of 30 caliber bullet is used but if it were the real American standard, it would be .308 inches diameter. The metric full measurement of diameter of the largest part of the projectile or the bore of the rifle coupled with the full height of the Bullet (which is the casing and the projectile) is 7.62mm x 61mm or 7.62mm in diameter at the largest part of the projectile by 61mm of total height of the casing and projectile. Using a 30.06 would OF COURSE cause the blank look when explained that way as the under educated may also assume you are insinuating that others like 30-30 Winchester would be a 30 caliber first produced in 1930. While it is a 30 caliber or more specifically .308 inches, the nomenclature of the second 30 is from the "name" born from Winchester's designation as it has nothing to do with the year made since they were first introduced in 1894-5. Explaining this would easily turn blank faces to that of recognition instead of purposely induced confusion. The easiest (in most opinions) way to describe the dimensions of the bullet is to use the Metric measurement of each/any round which is the first the diameter in millimeters of the projectile base, then the height of the entire bullet (casing and projectile) hence the 30-30 or 30.06 (both being 30 calibers in the sense of they are both .308 inches) but more specifically a 30.06 is 7.62mm in diameter at the base of the projectile or bore of the rifle by 61 millimeters from the bottom of the casing to the top of the bullet's projectile or total height inclusive of the entire bullet. This way, all the 7.62's out there can be explained, void of blank looks by the "learning" and their "learning curves" being noticeably sharpened by knowing the AK round, the 308 round, the 30.30 round, the 30.06 round, the military's popular 54mm height rounds etc etc are ALL 7.62mm in diameter of their projectiles for a common and easy to understand first measurement and easy to picture in their heads as well, then the differences of each by the total height of each round ergo the AK47 round being 39mm total bullet height, the 308's (same diameter) round being 51mm's total height, the 30.06 being 61mm's total height and so on. So when you speak of the standard M16 round, they can EASILY wrap their minds around and picture the bullet's dimensions of 5.56x45 which it's counterpart (though this one is slightly different in the necking but close enough) the .223 meaning .223inches but STILL, 5.56x45 or the FN Five Seven being 5.7mm x 28mm's. Using the metric measurements of just the two most important in getting the size or idea of it. If they wish to go further they can easily get the metric measurements of the diameter of the projectile, the neck of the casing, the diameter of the casing base or rim the diameter of the largest part of the casing, and the smallest part (or necked down portion) and the full height of just the casing. TWO measurements is all it takes for every bullet in metric, then the explanation of either the original inventors "NAMING" of said bullet or the hundredth or thousandth of an inch measurement from the list across the top of the box they came in if not in metric. I'm going off what I perceive as sarcasm from your statement of "makes sense hah?" after telling customers that the bullet was made in 1906 as there is sense to it all if you go on to explain the difference between a "name" of a bullet being not related to the measurement and those that ARE the measurements in 3 numbers to the right of the decimal point using inches as the unit of measurement.
DeleteSo your sayin that higher grain count means its not as strong, but lower grain count packs more of a punch
ReplyDeletethe lighter bullet will be moving faster, and therefore have a greater chance of through-through penetration - in one side, and out the other, BUT leaving your target standing. The heavy will knock down the target.
Deletelove the explanation, nice and simple ..as a female, I have the license to carry, know how to shoot and can break down and clean my OLD S&W 9mm .. now I feel like I know all I need (snicker) .. thanks
ReplyDeleteI agree but that is for certain distances as the lighter or lower grain count of the bullet (weight) will lose its trajectory much faster than the larger or higher grain amount of the bullet (weight again) and hence the FT/LBS will drop much sooner and more drastically than the heavier grained projectile(s). This is akin to quoting Mr. Einstein's "an object in motion tends to stay in motion" but including the motion distance directly related to the mass of the object (or bullet projectile in this case). In other words, less grains does mean more penetration in the beginning but the loss of energy prohibits that aspect much sooner than the bullet with more grains. ALSO TO NOTE: Their is also much confusion if not specified as to which grains we are speaking about. Powder, like the 5.4 grains I use in my ball ammo for USPSA practice (in 45 acp and 230grain weight of the projectile vs maybe 5 grains of the same type/brand of smokeless powder on my 45 acp loads that are 200 or even 185 grains in projectile weight). This makes for some very interesting ballistic discussion. It's all ft/lbs and distance at which the projectile is striking its target. Apples to Apples though, the statement of more penetration from a lighter bullet compared to the same bullet of heavier grain weight in the distance of which both of them still have their flat trajectories is TRUE. Change one littttle thing and you get (at times) large differences from that TRUE statement.
DeleteVery well put!
ReplyDeleteWow! Such an amazing and helpful post this is. I really really love it. It's so good and so awesome. I am just amazed. I hope that you continue to do your work like this in the future also https://thesurvivallife.com/firearm
ReplyDeleteThe usage of the words case, cartridge, round, and bullet are being used kind of loosely here, but I get what you meant. I'd like to point out just a couple of things here. "The 39mm means that the round is 39 millimeters long from base to tip". The 39mm represents the the measured CASE length (excluding bullet). See "Cartridge dimensions" here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.62%C3%9739mm . In fact the "defined" case length at that wiki page shows it is 38.70mm which rounds to 39mm, and this is common in manufacturing.
ReplyDelete"The 19 means that the bullet is 19 millimeters long." Again, this is not the bullet length, it is the case length which are two very different things. If the bullet were that length, there would be no room for gunpowder to fit into the case!
Note: be weary of situations like "can a .223inch be shot in a 5.56mm or vice versa" since those measurements are very similar to each other. The reason to be concerned is that while most would agree a .223 can be shot using a 5.56 rifle, the opposite is not a good idea. This is due to differences with the gunpowder and pressures involved in shooting, and you may eventually damage your gun, or worse. One time a guy at an outdoor range a couple of tables down from me was shooting his AR-15, and the thing practically exploded! I remember overhearing the range master saying that he loaded a clip with mixed calibers and that's never a good idea!
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You forgot my favorite one: 30-06 or (thirty ought six). It was a Springfield Arms trade name for a very popular 30 caliber bullet (hence the 30) coupled with its year of introduction in 1906 (hence the ought 6). This was the standard US rifle round in WWI and WWII, plus a very common sporting round.
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