What does "BBL" stand for?

D

DougB

New member
I feel a little silly asking this, but I've never been sure what BBL stands for. I know it refers to the barrel, and I used to think it meant "bull barrel," but I've frequently seen it used to refer to barrels that I wouldn't consider "bull barrels" (which, to me, means a large diameter heavy barrel with little or no taper). Anyway, I'm sure many here can clarify this for me. Thanks.

Doug
 
BBL stands for barrel only, not bull barrel. I'm not sure where or why the initials originated, but I believe the petroleum industry used it first to stand for their standard measure barrel of oil and the firearms public picked it up from them.

[added]
You piqued my curiosity on the origin of bbl. First of all, it should be lower case only. BBL stands for Billion Barrels of Oil as it turns out. "bbl" came about in the 1800's when oil was delivered in barrels of lots of different capacities. Standard Oil standardized their oil delivery in 42 gallon barrels and painted them all blue - hence bbl stands for blue barrel. Funny how the original meaning still fits the firearms industry, or at least it did until stainless steel barrels came along! :)
 
Last edited:
Mal - - -

I am in awe! Thank you for the explanation. It has been bothering me for decades, but I hadn't realized it.:p

Best,
Johnny
 
Now wait a minute. That is a term for those "plus" sized "healthy" women.

Big Beautiful Ladies.

Ever heard the song "Whole Lotta Rosie"
 
That's really interesting.:) Thanks
The term the "whole nine yards" came from the WW1 aircraft. Thier gunes had nine yards of ammo on the feed belt. If they used all their ammo for their machine guns, they would say,"the whole nine yards":cool:
 
I have heard COP stands for constable on patrol - you guys probably knew that, but I wanted to throw something in...

Nice work on explaining bbl

- Makarov
 
makarov, In reference to "cop" I heard at one time that the buttons of prison guard's uniforms where made of copper. Hence the "cop". But like everything else, it's just what you hear. Your explanation sounds better than mine. Maybe I'll go with yours from now on.:)
 
I have also heard and read (before Al Gore invented the internet) that Cop came from the copper buttons and I agree that "constable on patrol" makes more sense. However, the beat officers in Jolly Ol' were commonly called "Coppers" and it was shortened to "Cop", so I have to stick with the unofficial Cu theory.
 
How 'bout lbs. as an abbreviation for pounds?
Why is Colonal pronounced with an "r" in there so it sounds like kernal?
Why does a mirror reverse left and right but not up and down?
If you hook your car battery up backwards, why don't your headlights cast shadows? Why doesn't your radio listen to you? Why doesn't your horn suck?

4thHorseman, there's a lot of different explanations for "the whole nine yards" and yours is one of 'em alright. Another is that bolts of cloth originally came in lengths of 9 yards and when a customer wanted the entire bolt he would ask for "the whole nine yards". Here's a bunch of "whole nine yards" explanations.

Trivia question for the day: Where did the word sabotage come from?
 
"Why are pounds, when used as a weight, abbreviated lbs?"

The origin is in the Latin word libra, which could mean both balance scales (hence the symbol for the astrological sign Libra, which was named after a constellation that was thought to resemble scales) and also a pound weight, for which the full expression was libra pondo, the second word being the origin of our pound.

World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion, 1996-. All rights reserved.
Page created 3 October 1998.
 
"Why doesn't your radio listen to you? "

You mean yours doesn't? TV's listen and watch. It's all part of a huge conspiracy that dates back to.....No!! Wait!! I wasn't finished!! No, I don't want to back to my padded room!
 
Thoes "Copper buttons"

The copper button theory as I was told came from Napoleon, as his gaurds stood watch or attention they were to be obedient and professional. As the weather got cold the gaurds were wipping their noses with their cuffs and he didn't want to apear sloppy so he had these buttons sowen on the cuffs so they couldn't wipe their noses with their sleeves. But who knows the real story.
 
Brass Monkey

How about "It's cold enough to freeze the balls of off a brass monkey?"

Brass monkeys were used to hold cannon balls on the deck of a warship so that they didn't roll around and damage things. They were like a big plate with circular dishes to hold iron cannon balls.

When warships sailed in the cold arctic and antarctic seas, the brass would shrink from the cold faster than the iron balls shrunk and the balls would pop off of the monkey. Thus the saying.
 
Last edited:
The version I read years ago (forget where, of course) is that "BBL" stands for
Bored Barrel Length. I have a hazy recollection that was meant to distinguish the actual lenght of the barrel from the chamber. IIRC they used to have something called a "Paradox"-a large caliber should arm that was rifled for only half its barrel length, the other half being smooth.
 
BBL is a pretty strange abbreviation for barrel considering that the word only has on B in it. So I've always thought it was an abbreviation of bull barrel and people just incorrectly used it to refer to any kind of barrel (as people are apt to do).

Here's another. "Balls to the wall" was used to refer to a plane being put into full throttle. Since the throttle levers usually have balls on the ends where you would hold them. On some planes pushing them all the way forward (to full throttle) would cause the balls to touch the instrument panel. Hence balls to the wall.

And here I've always thought it was something dirtier (and weirder) than that :D
 
Interesting . . . now awe me gentlemen . . . can anyone of you explain how LE got to be known as the "FUZZ"? Curious minds would like to know! :D:rolleyes::eek:
 
Probably from the fuzzy wool of the early uniforms. So I've heard anyway. I was alway quite careful to use tape to remove any fuzz or cotton lint from my navy blue uniform.

How about "balls out?" From the old governor on steam engines. When the spinning governor spun at high speed, the weighted balls would cause a valve to release steam pressure to keep the engine from over reving.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top