How do you determand the cal of a gun

old · Feb 8, 2013

Ok so here is what I need to figure out. On Monday a guy will be bringing me a single shoot black powder hand gun. He does not know what cal this thing is so how do you go about determining cal of it when you have one that does not have that stamped on the gun any place.
Thanks
Yes I figure you can measure the barrel some how but once done how do you know with those numbers what it is??

Robert Mull · Feb 8, 2013

Google Caliber and read definiation under wikipedi

Mike M · Feb 8, 2013

Mic it. if it measures .450 then its a 45 cal. and so on.
Black powder shouldn't have too many choices.

old · Feb 8, 2013

Google would be fine if I was not on dial up. Every time I try to Google something it takes forever and two days to get any place then it sets up 20K sites to sort out

farmer boy · Feb 8, 2013

Is this site actually faster than Google for you? When I was on dial-up, this site was the 2nd fastest site next to Google search. Google was dang fast as far as dial-up goes.

old · Feb 8, 2013

Y-T is one of the fastest sites I go to but maybe it is because I am on here so much so the computer knows where it is going LOL

Anonymous-0 · Feb 8, 2013

Old,

Remember, usually in the US the bore diameter is measured in the grooves as opposed to the lands. The lands are the raised areas resulting from the rifling operation. To determine the actual cartridge, you should do a chamber casting. Let me know if you want me to elaborate on that.

RN · Feb 8, 2013

Black powder caliber standard is land to land measurement. works best on even number of lands and grooves- but the diameter of land height is same on the odd number groove like Enfield M53, etc. Pistol bore measure with inside caliper or get to muzzle and use a ruler on top of land and hopefully opposite land. A land to land of .44 gets a 44 caliber- and with usual patch means use a .425 to .430 ball. Old cut standard was 6 to 8 thousands groove so a difference of .012 to .016 groove diameter to land was normal. Musket groove during civil war was shallower on springfields like Colt 1863 and some single shot Dragoon pistols of same .57 caliber-- .004/.005 difference. Lots of modern made replicas use a shallower groove- more like current standard of .003/.004- since they"re being made with "modern" tooling. Dixie had some .35, .36, .38 calibers of pocket pistols from varying makers- english, spanish, Italian. and they did vary from deep cut to shallow.

old · Feb 8, 2013

I did a wax cast on that Argentine rifle I had and that worked pretty well but on a black powder hand gun not sure how I could do that and get it back out of the bore

Anonymous-0 · Feb 8, 2013

There is a silicone (I think) material, that shrinks just a little, on drying, that law enforcement uses to cast the ID of guns that have been intentionally damaged, at the ends of the barrels. I saw it on one of the How catch-em cop shows, on TV. If you have a Cop Buddy, ask about it, or google it.

John D Smith · Feb 8, 2013

Old, first go to castboolits.com they have 25,000+ members that are experts on everything gun and more. Signup is free and you will get prompt, expert repies.
John

old · Feb 8, 2013

Cop and buddy in this area does not mix since about 75% of them are on the take like most in the court house. Some people call the court system in this area the Little mafia

Bret4207 · Feb 9, 2013

(quoted from post at 18:04:05 02/08/13) Old, first go to castboolits.com they have 25,000+ members that are experts on everything gun and more. Signup is free and you will get prompt, expert repies.
John

Yeah, just be careful you don't stand up to any of the super special favorite posters or they'll ban you. That place has gone to the dogs.

old · Feb 9, 2013

You know if this works this is the easy way to get to a site when you give them a site
Gun sight

old · Feb 9, 2013

You know if this works this is the easy way to get to a site when you give them a site but guess I did something wrong or you did not list it right since it does not work
Gun sight

RGMartin · Feb 9, 2013

(quoted from post at 08:51:18 02/09/13)

(quoted from post at 18:04:05 02/08/13) Old, first go to castboolits.com they have 25,000+ members that are experts on everything gun and more. Signup is free and you will get prompt, expert repies.
John

Click to expand...

Yeah, just be careful you don't stand up to any of the super special favorite posters or they'll ban you. That place has gone to the dogs.

Did you get banned? I agree, I was away from it for a while, and came back in recent months and it was somehow different.

Anyway to the OP, Best way to know for sure it to unbreech it, and drive a soft chunk of lead through it.

Assuming an even number of grooves, easiest way it to simply throw a set of calipers into the end of the barrel and measure groove to groove, and land to land. Report back with your findings.

Traditional Farmer · Feb 9, 2013

Was it a Argentine 7.65 X 53 Mauser?

old · Feb 9, 2013

Yes and long since sold

Bret4207 · Feb 10, 2013

Yeah Rich, banned then re-instated simply for defending myself. I was there since day one, not anymore. They like to play favorites.

Mike M · Feb 10, 2013

This site is still the fastest even on higher speed connections. Don't have all the ads and junk bogging it down.

How do you determand the cal of a gun

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