Line

A steel rule with gradations based on 1/10 of an inch on the upper and 1/16 of an inch on the lower scales.

The line is a unit of measurement, one line being equal to 1/10 or in some cases 1/12 of an inch.

In use

The line was most useful in machining and became a standard to which small arms ammunition was manufactured. A 7.62 mm caliber round seems a numerically arbitrary round, until it is realised that 7.62 mm is 0.3 inches, .30 cal or three-lines. The Russian Mosin-Nagant rifle for example is known as the "Three-line rifle". There was also the "Four-line" Swedish 12.17 x 44 mm round, although rarely referred to as such the 12.7mm Browning HMG round is a "Five-line" round. The actual calibre of the round would differ as the actual value of the inch would vary from country to country. It was also used extensively in older botanical texts, as in the term 'awns 3 to 4 lines long'.

References

• Military small arms of the 20th Century, 6th edition, Ian V Hogg and John Weeks, Guild Publishing, 1991.

See also

• Imperial unit
• Ligne
• Obsolete Russian units of measurement