British pounder designation system

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The pounder system was used as a designator for various British weapons up until the Cold War. This system has largely been replaced by a calibre system, which is the standard today for most weapon systems of the world.

The pound system was based on projectile weight and dated back to the early times when black powder guns fired solid cannonballs. The designations bore only an approximate relationship to the actual weight of the projectile when it was applied to modern artillery.

The table below lists the metric and imperical calibres of various British weapons, which utilized the "pounder" system:

Name	Type	Calibre
		Metric	Imperical
2 pounder	Anti-tank gun/Anti-aircraft gun	40 mm	1.27 inch
6 pounder	Anti-tank gun	57 mm	2.24 inch
10 pounder	Mountain gun	70 mm	2.75 inch
12 pounder	Light field gun	76.2 mm	3 inch
13 pounder	Light field gun	76.2 mm	3 inch
15 pounder	Field gun	76.2 mm	3 inch
17 pounder	Anti-tank gun	76.2 mm	3 inch
18 pounder	Field gun	84 mm	3.45 inch
25 pounder	Gun-howitzer	87.6 mm	3.33 inch
60 pounder	Heavy field gun	127 mm	5 inch

[edit] References

• Rottman, Gordon L.: Elite 124 - World War II Infantry Anti-Tank Tactics, Osprey publishing, ISBN 1-84176-842-1 p.16