Guns, and local buisiness owners

[KBCraig]

The gun shop owner where I got my 38 special , (is there supposed to be a period mark before the 38?)

Yes, it specifies the caliber of the barrel as a fraction of an inch.

And just to make it fun, neither the bore nor bullet are 0.38 in diameter. The bullet diameter is actually 0.357 in., the same as the .357 Magnum. (And the .44 Magnum is actually 0.429 diameter.)

Caliber terminology has changed a lot over the years. For example, the .45-70 was a .45 caliber bullet loaded over 70 grains of black powder, while the .30-06 was a .30 caliber round introduced in 1906.