The British used the term pounds (I assume something to do with the shell weight) to describe the caliber of their guns in early to mid WW2, how does this compare with a metric cannon?

eg. the 6 pounder Churchill vs a Panther 75mm?

What effectively I'm looking for is, a "conversion" chart to see, metric guns of the time against the British equivalent "pounder" guns.

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Der große Stoß Büstenhalter auf Ihrem Kopf!!

Now, somewhere on this Forum about a year back, someone actually researched this...but I can't remember who or where it was

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Here it is:

2-pr : 40mm
6-pr : 57mm
17-pr : 76mm
25-pr : 89mm

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

Thanks Mr. H! This little idiosyncracy of British arms nomenclature always had me scratching my head when making comparisons.

You're welcome, Penn!

I know what you mean. It always drove me crazy until Martin was so kind last year to post those equivalents. [img]smile.gif[/img]

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

Just a minute ! [img]graemlins/no.gif[/img]

It was the others who had the idiosyncracy..... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

( Honestly ! Give these people an inch and they'll take a mile... )

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Thanks again Friedrich!

I wonder though how this comparison was done as one is reliant on weight and the other is diameter. Did they just fire the guns in different combinations on the same piece of metal till they got a match?

[ 14. November 2003, 03:57 AM: Message edited by: BratwurstDimSum ]

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Der große Stoß Büstenhalter auf Ihrem Kopf!!

Actually it is give them an inch and they take a kilometer!

actually it should be centi-metre

I thought the Russians were Europe's weirdos thanks to their different architecture, religion, calendary, alphabet, rail width and everything different to Western Europe, but it were the bloody English the ones who use a very silly and ambiguos measure system! [img]graemlins/no.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

At least we invented the Common European Language ! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

At least they didn't measure their guns in stone! (for those scratching their heads, a stone is 14 lbs and still a common measure of personal weight in England).

The origin of the "pounder" system goes back to the cannonball era, when a gun was described by the weight of the spherical shot it fired. Of course, when rifling and pointed shells emerged this rather distorted the relationship between shell weight and calibre, but nothing is more reactionary than military tradition so the 'pounder' system continued. So you get the 12 pdr and 17 pdr guns both having a calibre of 76mm, and the 6 pounder Mk 7 anti-tank gun of WW2 firing 7 pound shells, but never mind [img]smile.gif[/img]

Incidentally, when describing the gun, 'pounder' is shortened to 'pdr' or 'pr', but when describing the ammo weight, 'pounds' are shortened to 'lbs'. Just to puzzle you a bit more!

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion
forum

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Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website