why is it called a round?

[bohoki]

i was haveing an argument that we call a cartridge a "round" because it is one complete series of procedures or a "round of loading" as it comes from the old muzzleloading days of bullet powder and primer being all seperate

but a friend was saying it was called a round because the bullets were origonally round shaped being spherical

so what y'all think

[Josh3239]

From Wikipedia, who knows the true accuracy of the page though?

A cartridge packages the bullet (also known as a "round"), gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm.

If the bolded is true, that a bullet and a round are the same thing then a round is not a "round of loading", a cartridge is. A cartidge being the bullet, powder, primer, and shell.

Originally, bullets were metallic or stone balls placed in front of an explosive charge of gun powder at the end of a closed tube. As firearms became more technologically advanced, from 1500 to 1800, bullets changed very little. They remained simple round lead balls, called rounds, differing only in their diameter.

If the above is true, then the word "rounds" come from the bullets themselves and not from cartidges or "round of loading".

[bruceflinch]

Good tidbit of trivia! Thanks

[eaglemike]

Remember wikipedia is not always 100 percent correct - as it is user maintained.

From reading older text, my understanding would be that it was taken from an abbreviation for "round ball," as in round ball type of shot being used.

Later use would be the complete cartridge, so pretty much as above.

all the best,

Mike

[Saigon1965]

Cool info still. Thanks.

[smle-man]

It was to differentiate between a single spherical projectile (round) and a shot charge for smooth bore muzzle loading military weapons. Later on a favorite load was 'buck and ball' which was a duplex load of a ball and shot. Still later the term for full jacketed military cartridges co-opted the word 'ball' from 'buck and ball' to denote a FMJ projectile and the word 'round' to designate a complete loaded, unfired cartridge. This is according to what I was taught at Aberdeen Provings Grounds in 1977.

[Xerxes]

why is it called a round?

Because it is not
..a square
....or a triangle
........or a hexagon
...........or a pentagon
...............or an octogan.

IN SHAPE!

The triangle cartridge does exist and it called a.....drum roll please

.....a TROUND.

If you ever looked at a cartridge you will see it is

R_O_U_N_D

hence why it is called a
ROUND

[Army]

Round is short for "round ball", to differentiate it from the "Minie' ball" in the supply trains. Up until the Civil War introduction of the Minie', it was just a ball.

[bohoki]

so its like how people call cartridges bullets?

a cartridge has a bullet but a bullet doesn't have a primer

its like the whole clip magazine thing that annoys so many

because roundness a coke can is round its not a spherical ball

damn english and its multi meaning words

like the word lead