Also known as: pounder and caliber.
| Pounder system | Named by the weight of the round shot, as a 12-pounder |
|---|---|
| Caliber system | Named by the bore diameter in inches, as a 3-inch |
| Note | Both were in use, and a chart converts between them |
Two ways of naming
American guns were designated in two ways. The older pounder system named a gun by the weight of the round shot it fired, so a 12-pounder took a roughly 12-pound ball. The caliber system named a gun by the diameter of its bore in inches, as a 3-inch rifle.
Both were in use during the war, the pounder terms for the smoothbores and many rifles and the caliber terms for others, and a caliber-to-pounder chart relates the two, since a given bore corresponds to a given weight of shot.
On this site
Sources & further reading
- United States Army, Ordnance Department. The Ordnance Manual for the Use of the Officers of the United States Army. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1862.
- Gibbon, John. The Artillerist's Manual. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1860.