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[OC] Projectile ring for ammunition inside the 16 inch main gun of the USS North Carolina
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this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2025
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Is 16inches referring to the top point of the "bullet"? I've always wondered this as well.
For guns of this type 16 inches is the diameter of the barrel of the gun, measured from the lands.
The shell bodies are 16 inches, with the brass rings around them slightly wider to account for the grooves in the rifling.
Those look so much bigger than 16" oh my lord
Well you know what they say, the camera adds 10 lbs.
Your boyfriend was lying about its size.
Yeah, I was reading this thread thinking that 16” was the diameter of the bore of the gun barrel. Thanks for posting that!
I don't mean to confuse you, but yes it is the diameter of the bore. I specified from the lands since measuring land to land, or groove to groove diameter can result in different sizes.
You didn’t. I was thinking the earlier conversation was missing how the diameter was measured.
It’s long been a debate where you measure from
Base of the balls and the whole shaft
Christ sake man way to ruin the innuendo
Look man , I'm just saying it ain't no debate.
16 inches is the maximum diameter of the shell. They're about as big around as a man's chest. There's video on Youtube of a man squeezing down the barrel of one of these guns.
"Caliber" in naval guns actually refers to the length of the barrel in multiples of its bore. USS North Carolina's main guns are 16 inch, 45 caliber. Which means they're 45*16 inches =720 inches / 12 inches to a foot = 60 feet long. The Iowa class' guns are 16 inch 50 caliber, they're about 7 feet longer.