...by any other name...

[pantannojack]

A couple hunert years ago when it came time to escape from confining parental influences my natural wisdom lit up and I enlisted, unconditionally, in US Marine Corps. In boot training they correctly stressed the concept that a small arms cartridge consisted of four components: 1) cartridge case, 2) primer, 3) propellant charge, and 4) projectile. These mentioned parts assembled is called a ROUND. Nowadays, many writers, speakers and descriptors insist on referring to a empty case as a "round" rather than a piece. What's up with that? Is it because a brass or other metal case has a round hole at one or both ends? Is it because with loosening of nomenclature also allows a .45 colt cartridge to be referred to as a "LONG COLT" because it is longer than a "SHORT COLT"? What is a Short Colt? Is it a .45 Automatic Colt Pistol? Why did JM Browning overlook naming it a .45 Automatic Short Colt Pistol?

 

[mikld]

I agree. A round is a complete cartridge. A bullet is one piece of a complete cartridge/round. Bullets are not "pills" or "heads", etc. I think some say these things to sound like they know something about the subject, or being cool using "slang". Same with "hard cast". When/what BHN does a cast bullet become "hard cast"?? I never heard the term until about 10-12 years ago. Sometimes a person will use an incorrect term, and an equally ignorant person reads it and thinks it's right (maybe from a person with a higher post count?) then repeats it, then another, and another, et al., and "Long Colt" and "hard cast" become common...

 

[mikerjf]

"He took two rounds to the chest."

What, the shooter ran over and pounded the brass in too?

 

[MarkL_01]

Possibly an older usage of the word, but I'm remembering that 'round' meant the firing of one shot per shooter.

I had some trouble finding support for this lingering memory, but the Merriam-Webster online dictionary includes 'one shot fired by a weapon or by each man in a military unit' as one of the definitions.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Probably originated about the same time as the phrase "lock, stock, and barrel" referring to a complete and functioning firearm, but now applied to several other things in common usage. Relatively few gun makers actually produced every component; a far more common practice was specialized makers for locks, barrels, and other parts, and the gun maker usually contributed his skills in stock-making and fitting all the necessary parts into a completed firearm.

A "round" originally referred to everything needed to fire a shot; i.e.: powder, shot, cap. Since the advent of cartridge firearms the term has been applied to a complete cartridge. Personally, I think the most correct term for a complete round of ammunition is "cartridge". But even "cartridge" is a derivative of an earlier practice of using nitrated paper cartridges to assemble a charge of powder and a bullet, easily and quickly loaded by simply tearing (or biting) the paper at the end of the powder charge, then ramming the whole thing down the muzzle of the weapon.

Such cartridges were very commonly used for muskets and rifles (originally called "rifled muskets", differentiating them from "shot-guns" and smooth-bores in general) during the Civil War. Prepared cartridges of paper, powder, and bullet were issued for use in muskets, rifles, and revolvers (originally called "revolving pistols" by Col. Samuel Colt and contemporaries of the day).

Correct nomenclature, common usage, and slang have twisted things quite a bit over the past 160 years or so.

 

[LostintheOzone]

 

[Protocall_Design]

I shoot a lot of .38 Short Colt ammo, and there is also a .38 Long Colt, which is still shorter than a .38 Special.

 

[rvolvr]

shell casing.............

 

[cracker57]

I let things like that slide off my back like water on a duck, I have seen people do a flip when someone says CLIP..

 

[dave1918a2]

Sounds like a Gallager comedy skit.

 

[M E Morrison]

A couple hunert years ago when it came time to escape from confining parental influences my natural wisdom lit up and I enlisted, unconditionally, in US Marine Corps. In boot training they correctly stressed the concept that a small arms cartridge consisted of four components: 1) cartridge case, 2) primer, 3) propellant charge, and 4) projectile. These mentioned parts assembled is called a ROUND. Nowadays, many writers, speakers and descriptors insist on referring to a empty case as a "round" rather than a piece. What's up with that? Is it because a brass or other metal case has a round hole at one or both ends? Is it because with loosening of nomenclature also allows a .45 colt cartridge to be referred to as a "LONG COLT" because it is longer than a "SHORT COLT"? What is a Short Colt? Is it a .45 Automatic Colt Pistol? Why did JM Browning overlook naming it a .45 Automatic Short Colt Pistol?

Mostly because there was a 45 Schofield, which was considerably shorter.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

When I was in my teens and twenties, an empty and fired piece of brass on the ground was referred to as a spent round.

But then, I'm not from the hood!

Ivan

 

[GyMac]

I use cartridge or round interchangeably, mostly rounds I think. As in, I fired 80 rounds today. Fired cartridges are cases, probably because I reload. What really bothers me is when someone refers to a chamber as a cylinder! I hear it all the time! Just saying…

 

[johnnydogs]

Of course I prefer to say 'Bullets' (as in 'Give 'em back!).