$ 3 billion gold bullion - photo

[mklotz]

OK, I'll schedule stops at Beretta, Holland & Holland, Rigby too.
BTW, Beretta at 496 years old, highly likely that gauge hoo-haw started that era.

re pinch; anyone here with a grandmother. used that cooking and baking every day.

found a terrific quote.
America is a young country, and American gun owners and manufacturers always keep an eye on the future. However, we can learn some important lessons from the longevity of Old World gun companies. What’s Beretta’s secret?

“Beretta has been continuously reinventing itself for nearly 500 years,” Francesco Valente, General Manager and COO of Beretta USA, said. “We think in terms of decades, not quarters – that is why we can invest so much in research and development and invest in environmental conservation to preserve the future of our planet."

The shotgun gauge thing may hark back to the days of muzzle loading cannons which were referred to by the weight of their shot rather than the diameter of the bore.

Your former employer, the USN, is not innocent of measurement confusion. They list the Iowa's main guns as 16 inch, 50 caliber. What genius decided to measure the length of the barrel in multiples of the bore? And then use the same term that has an entirely different meaning in the small arms arena.

BTW, I most definitely do not argue to ensure everything "winds up base 10". Reread my white paper here...

A glimmer of hope

and you'll understand why powers of ten simplify, but are not the real substance of a rational measurement system.