Metric/imperial?

[tigbrand]

Why do you find a mix of metric and imperial terms on British ammo? I have a recently aquired 2 pdr case marked as such on base but stencilled 40mm on the side.i have sent spotter a pic to post of a 2 PDR proof stamped as such on top,but marked 40mm on side. I know they are technically the same size but England was imperial at this time.Cheers Tony.

 

[spotter]

Tony,s picture

 

[Chris 42 RQ]

The fight between Imperial and Metric will continue for many years, but I think the reason we find some "old" items marked in metric calibre's goes back to where the weapon itself originated from ?:unsure:

2 Pounder and 6 Pounder were always classed as 40 MM and 57 MM respectively as were 20 MM Hispano and Oerlikon but the Naval kit tends to stay on the side of the Imperial measurements.
Most of the "Big Guns" were always reffered to in Inches as opposed to millimeters 8" Inch or 203 MM for instance-most often just plain 8" inch !

 

[DAZ REICH]

Its just to make things more interesting for us i think ,all german stuff below 2cm is in mm and above in cm

 

[TimG]

Whilst, on paper we were an imperial country, I have seen numerous technical documents and the like that show that a great deal of our scientists in the ordnance sphere were using metric units before the end of the nineteenth century, with the engineers following likewise during the Great War.
One thing that I find odd is our insistence on using millimetres whereas the Europeans use centimetres i.e. 20mm to their 2cm etc.
Although a lot had seen the light, one assumes that the engineer(s) who designed the 'Red Queen' (c1949) projectile wasn't totally convinced which might explain why the fuze thread is 24mm diameter but 20 threads per inch Whitworth form.

Tim G.