[Glossary](/glossary.md)/[Gunnery](/glossary/category/gunnery.md)

# Caliber

The diameter of a gun's shell in millimetres, which sets what armor it can overmatch as well as roughly how hard it hits.

Also known as calibre, shell caliber, gun caliber.

Caliber is a physical property with a mechanical consequence. A [shell](/glossary/shell.md) whose caliber is more than three times the thickness of the plate it hits ignores the angle of that plate entirely, which is the [overmatch](/glossary/overmatch.md) rule and the reason large-caliber guns punch through sloped roofs and thin sides that smaller guns [bounce](/glossary/ricochet.md) off.

It also drives the shell's [high explosive](/glossary/high-explosive.md) potential, since a bigger shell carries more filler, and it correlates with [alpha](/glossary/alpha-damage.md) without determining it.

## Related terms

[OvermatchThe rule that a shell with a caliber at least three times a plate's thickness cannot ricochet off it, no matter the angle.](/glossary/overmatch.md)[Alpha damageThe damage a single penetrating shell deals, before the plus or minus 25 percent the game rolls on every shot.](/glossary/alpha-damage.md)[High explosiveA shell that explodes on contact, dealing reduced damage through armor it cannot penetrate and splashing everything nearby.](/glossary/high-explosive.md)[PenetrationHow much armor a shell can defeat, in millimetres, rolled plus or minus 25 percent on every shot and compared against the effective thickness it hits.](/glossary/penetration.md)

[Every World of Tanks term](/glossary.md)

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