Wait, not like that - Lemmy.World

Metric was too confusing for bullets, so we use both, and but neither of them are actually the diameter of the bullet, most of the time.

.223" is the same diameter as 5.56mm (which is 5.7mm across), but if you use 5.56 in a 223, it might kill you.

223 in 556 is fine, might fail to cycle.

then why is it called 556 if its actually 5.7?

556 was the measure of the inner diameter of the rifling of a barrel of a gun that shot 556.

It’s confusing. That’s why for most shotguns, we measure the width by the number of spheres of that diameter that would equal one lb, eg a 12 ga shotgun is the diameter of a 1/12lb sphere of lead.

The problem is it’s impossible to tell whether you’re joking or being serious
he’s serious. The old casting method for round shot was to dump a measured amount of molten lead from a tower into a pool of water 40 feet below. the molten lead would form a sphere in free fall and fully set in the water, so it was convenient to define gauge diameter by fractional weight of a pound. Twelfth pound sphere fits a 12 gauge gun, etc.
The problem is it’s impossible to tell whether you’re joking or being serious. Throwing molten metal off the tower sounds like the most ridiculous thing ever, but apparently is a real thing.
Shot tower - Wikipedia

Here’s where it gets political. I learned about shot towers in passing and though that was a good idea. You learned about shot towers with a detailed explanation, and thought that was ridiculous. One of us is prone to rational thought and the other is not.

Ah no, it’s just that from reading this, I imagined it being poured outside, not inside the tower.

Like, someone looking at Galileo doing his experiments dropping weights off of Pisa tower saying:

— What if we put a bucket underneath? What a splash it’d make!

And another one going:

— Yeah! And why just weights, let’s throw molten lead off! What safety concerns? Haven’t heard any

Hot Pennies Day - Visit Devon

Dating back to the 13th Century, Honiton’s Hot Pennies Ceremony remains unbroken for several hundred years, and still takes place on the first Tuesday after July 19th each year. This year the event will be held on Tuesday 25th July.   The original celebrations involved the wealthy residents of Honiton throwing hot coins to peasants on the street below and enjoying watching them burn their fingers while trying to collect the change. In keeping with the tradition, every July the residents of Honiton take part in a similar celebration, throwing warm – not hot – coins into crowds of children below. The first pennies of the event are thrown from the balcony of the former Assembly Rooms, above the Old Pannier Market, and then a procession follows the garlanded Pole to a number of pubs and public houses where ‘hot pennies’ are thrown to the gathered children. The event will begin at 12 noon in the Old Pannier Market, The Town Cryer, accompanied by The Mayor and local dignitaries.